| Marketed as a sequel to Hard Boiled when released on video in the UK, there exists a valid theory that director Wong Jing might've heard of John Woo's plans for the climax of the classic actioner as that shoot went on for a long time before release in 1992. Eastern Heroes anyway figured that gunplay and a finale set at a hospital warranted the deception, despite being released the year before said classic. Anyway...
Shot on location in Singapore, The Last Blood doesn't represent Wong Jing bringing anything worthwhile to the table as the humour is lame and plotting routine. I bet the overabundance of celebrity jokes (including ones aimed at the celebrities actually in the film) is a riot to Wong but it gets tired fast. Having said that, the proceedings are made much more bearable thanks to action director Blackie Ko who logs some entertaining and effective gory mayhem from the good old days of the heroic bloodshed genre. That genre, headlined by John Woo, came with its share of pale imitators and while The Last Blood is one among them, it doesn't take much to make it a passable, pale imitation. However, it is a bad movie. Andy Lau, Alan Tam, Eric Tsang and Leung Kar Yan stars. |
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