| Johnnie To directed this remake of Chang Cheh's 1975 Shaw Brother's movie Disciples Of Shaolin with Aaron Kwok now in the Fu Sheng role. The story of the corruption and evil within wealth with innocence as the pawn is familiar and that's something Johnnie To can't escape. The developments of Kwok's character is expected but would've felt less so I think if To hadn't attacked the material so ferociously. Simply put, a little melodramatic restraint would've done the trick. No doubt, the film is fairly powerful despite and boasts terrific production values as this was a co-production with Shaw Brother's. However where Johnnie absolutely succeeds in implying rather than stating is in the growing romantic bond between Ti Lung and Maggie Cheung's characters. It's two performers and performances that instantly gels and even overpowers the main story, which is perhaps not the result you'd want to go for as a filmmaker though.
Lau Kar Leung directed the action back in the 1975 film and in a pleasant surprise is back on board once again in the same capacity. By this time, the new wave of martial arts cinema had hit and the heavily wire-assisted martial arts was definitely more the in thing rather than traditional styles. The latter being Lau's forté and he's one that has often spoken out against the extensive use of wires. He's given much free reign to keep things grounded here thankfully. With Aaron Kwok's dance background, Lau also is able to use less doubling than usual compared to martial arts vehicles for bigger stars. The choreography is intricate and entertaining, albeit a bit short overall (all those old Shaw Brother's movies by Lau definitely spoils you). Wires are mainly used for specific moments not so much related to the fights but when they are, its usage feels warranted.
[At the time of this writing] there's no dvd release with the original Cantonese language track (the Thundermedia dvd from Taiwan only comes with a Mandarin track). Various VHS editions have that though, such as the UK Made In Hong Kong tape. |
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