| After his appearance in the superb actioner 'The Blade' Chiu Man Cheuk was obviously keen to push into different areas, appearing in Tsui Hark's highly acclaimed drama 'The Chinese Feast' and the action/drama/comedy/romance 'Mahjong Dragon'. 'Dragon' is a film that allows Chiu to develop his acting but what I think he should have been doing was looking for roles that could capitalise on his Wu Shu skills and build his position as a leading action star. After all, his main selling point is Wu Shu and its something that sets him apart from most other Hong Kong movie stars. It was also about the time of 1997, when Mahjong Dragon was made, that action films went into decline in Hong Kong and Chiu Man Cheuk's career unfortunately suffered as a result with less suitable roles around.
While 'Mahjong Dragon' does contain a number of action scenes there are not nearly enough for the film to be considered a satisfying follow up project to 'The Blade'. Rather the film has a hard time deciding what its trying to be; there's a bit of comedy, some drama, a bit of romance and, in the end, action and kung fu. One thing that is especially noticeable by its absence is any real gambling despite the title. The gambling in the film is eluded to as something from Chiu Man Cheuk's past but, other than a short scene at the start, we dont really get to see anything that would back up his character's reputation and justify the name of 'Quick Hands'. So Chiu Man Cheuk plays an ex gambler who moves to Hong Kong from China to escape his past. Having just been released from prison for taking revenge against the gang who murdered his gambling partner 'Quick Hands' is keen to start a new life but the gang, and Ken Lo in particular, want him to gamble again for them.
Josephine Siao plays a gambling addicted policewoman who comes to China to find a husband and strikes a mutually beneficial deal with 'Quick Hands' that will allow him to move to Hong Kong with her. In Hong Kong Chiu meets and falls in love with a young girl (Desiree Lam) while his wife hopes that the marriage of convenience might develop into something more.
Apart from the serious opening the film is played mainly for laughs with most of them coming from Siao and Blackie Ko. Chui, as you would expect, is the straight man. Aside from a sprinkling of martial arts the main feature isn't what you would call action packed, rather it saves all that for the end. But it is a superb ending which features a great battle between Chui Man Cheuk and Ken Lo. For me this is the main reason to watch the film. The fight features plenty of kicking techniques and is staged on a stack of boxes with the key objective being to avoid touching the ground (for reasons that become clear when you watch the film). The sequence is wonderfully edited and choreographed and could possibly be one of Chui Man Cheuk's best screen fights. Sadly the rest of the film is totally average. |
Reviews:
