| Working his way up the ranks by assisting the likes of Sammo Hung on Enter The Fat Dragon, Eric Tsang made his directorial debut in the old school martial arts vein with The Challenger (also known as Deadly Challenger). An effort more known thanks to the better reunion movie the year after (The Loot), problematic Tsang's direction may be but it gives way eventually to some astounding martial arts. Basically teaming up a thief (David Chiang) driven by money and Norman Tsui's character driven by revenge, unfortunately the film is also driven by tedious direction favouring grating genre-comedy. What Tsang does right however is mostly letting the fights play out at a high class level always rather than inserting pratfalls or Dean Shek into the choreography. But thoroughly rockin' the film becomes during the second half as the magical duo of Chiang, Tsui and baddie Phillip Ko deliver incredibly fluid and detailed choreography under the direction Chik Ngai-Hung (who also worked on The Loot) and Huang Ha. Especially Ko cements his legendary status. Tsang does definitely have playtime cinematically (as seen in a flashback done in the style of a silent movie) but The Loot showcased the better wit and therefore also showcases the growth of the filmmaker. Debut-wise, Tsang does give us classical martial arts cinema overall. Also with Lily Li. |
Quick Takes:
