Reportedly a troubled production, hence the multiple directors and even an unofficial directing credit for producer Tsui Hark (1*), The Big Heat came during the heyday and afterlife of the Tsui Hark produced A Better Tomorrow. 2 years on, always the visionary Tsui wanted to shake things up a bit seemingly. So Gordon Chan's script comes with personal drama, relationship frailty, corruption and the all too familiar 1997 Handover comments, all merely an excuse to take pessimism out onto the quite heavy violence. So there's two ways to look at this production. Either it was "only" meant to be a seriously hard hitting and gory exercise way above what John Woo allowed or that aspect wanted to be combined with a compelling story. The Big Heat gets aaaaalmost thumbs down in the story department but looking at it as a conventional effort coming in the wake of A Better Tomorrow, it deserves the status of classic.

In an interview, lead Waise Lee related to the fact that Andrew Kam first started as helm of the film before Tsui Hark deemed his work unsatisfactory and brought in Johnnie To who later also left or got the boot. Showing respect by crediting the two directors for the work on the film. in fact Tsui Hark finished and re-shot parts of the film with some help by I Love Maria director David Chung (2*) Despite all this being a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, you're still given a key to properly analyze the film. Perhaps one focused mind could've done something better is a thought that initially manifests itself as the drama is not very smoothly integrated but credited parties To and Kam gives us a beast in the end that manages to somewhat work as a character driven film, complemented by types that make for a good supporting character gallery.

Waise Lee, in one of his best performances far removed from any over the top choices that plagued movies like Bullet In The Head (3*), has the arc of the stereotypical cop hell bent to avenge and take down every bad guy while the system does its best to work against him. However it's very well sold by the filmmakers due to them instructing Waise to take things a few notches down. A pet phrase of mine is "quiet dignity" and as the film rolls along, Waise pretty much nails that age old facet, within the confines of this genre. He has an upcoming marriage pushed aside in favour of a case, a medical condition that's bound to crop up in critical moments but key touches do make this journey compelling and in affecting on a minor level. Aided by a number of actors supporting well as the typical cop types (rookie, long time partner, foreign acquirement. I.e. Wong Hin-Mung, Phillip Kwok and Lo Ging Wa), the comrade is nicely put forth and it all aids the generic story. Even lifts it a bit.

A few details in the narrative does seem to be forgotten or even ignored in favour of excess, especially the development between Joey Wong and Wong Hin-Mung's characters as they are suddenly an item after very few scenes together. Take a look at the theatrical trailer and it's revealed that the film probably was a bit more fuller before creative differences was taken out on the editing of shot footage. Nevertheless, The Big Heat takes a beating into sloppy territory at times and clichés aren't always won over either.

Fine is the pace and tension throughout though, even in potentially mundane things like dialogue scenes, police procedure and interrogation, which leads us into the often mentioned aspect of the film, the gunplay. You wouldn't really want to put drama as a sub genre in the film because it's hard to come away thinking heart and tears when the action directing team (4*) takes the violence up to levels hinted at early on. I dare even say this is akin to the first heroic bloodshed splatter movie. Yes it is over the top, connecting to the equally over the top pessimism of the film but concerns are valid, carrying over into the action in a twisted way. I could condemn it largely but there is a childish thrill in watching insanely staged gore such as this. Hands are drilled through, fingers blown off, we get decapitations, bodies torn to pieces and everyone can be a victim (5*). It's definitely memorable and one area where Tsui Hark's vision comes to life actually.

You can only review a reportedly noisy production on its current merits and the largest problem seems to stem from deleted footage that makes The Big Heat in its form now a sloppy, conventional narrative work. But the co-directing team AND Tsui Hark knows what makes cop thrillers exciting and heroic bloodshed movies also affecting. It's from the era where filmmakers may have done this on autopilot but when the efforts is on display, those of you who discovered this genre before anything else is reminded of how blown away you can be by flawed Hong Kong action cinema.

(1) He would go on to clash with legendary director King Hu during the production of Swordsman, leading to a groundbreaking film that now has 6 credited directors, including Andrew Kam who was making his debut with The Big Heat. Later directed Red And Black with Lam Ching Ying and the underrated heroic bloodshed movie Heart Of Killer, starring Yu Rong Guang.

(2) Reader Michael also reports that Chung was credited as music editor and editor on the film so his presence was already on the production.

(3) Director John Woo isn't one to bad mouth anybody but with a hint of respect, he has in fact admitted to this minor flaw in his otherwise masterful Vietnam movie.

(4) Consisting of Phillip Kwok, Joe Chu & Paul Wong. Kwok would log another fine hour in capacity as actor and action director in John Woo's Hard Boiled. Joe Chu has several fine action directing credits under his belt including Prison On Fire, School On Fire and A Moment Of Romance. Paul Wong can be seen acting in Police Story as well as being the co-action director on the film.

(5) Here's where a pessimism later found in Johnnie To's future Milkyway films such as Expect The Unexpected and The Longest Nite enters. Equally unflinchingly brutal.

In the movie, Waise Lee plays a cop who wants to retire due to his hand being crippled, but decides to take one last case after he finds out a drug lord (Chu Kong) killed his former partner. Lee forms the usual rag-tag team (the hardened old vet, the enthusiastic rookie, etc.) and sets out to bring Chu down. Even after being (you guessed it) taken off the case, Lee and his team press on. But is it already too late?

Well, I'm sure you already know the answer. The Big Heat follows the "cop movie rulebook" all the way, down to one of the team being snuffed out and providing inspiration, the standard dumb gweilo commander, and an "interesting" way for Lee's crippled hand to come into play during the climax. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself. The Big Heat just has a "been there, done that" feeling, especially when compared to other crime/action films of the time -- specifically those by John Woo and Ringo Lam, who were still fully in their prime at this point.

It doesn't help matters that the script is really underwritten. None of the characters are really developed at all, and there are several (such as Joey Wong, in a total "flower vase" role) that really didn't need to be in the film at all. Combined with the less-than-stellar acting (Waise Lee is really not cut out to be a leading man), things could have been really bad.

However, as with many cheap crime movies of the period, the action in The Big Heat is really well-done. Done under three action directors, the stuff here is fast, brutal and violent. In just the first ten minutes, a drill goes through someone's hand, a guy's brains are splattered all over the wall and some poor sap is run over several times. Later on, Robin Shou is chopped in half by elevators, which is definitely one of the coolest "kills" I have seen in a movie like this. As a whole, the gunfights are staged very well and help elevate the movie, even during the parts when there isn't a lot of blood on-screen.

Even though the ultra-violence is fun, there's too many "dead" periods between it where the movie's shortcomings shine through. As I said before, The Big Heat isn't horrible or even bad, it's just the same thing over again, albeit with a bloodier body count. If you're a fan of the genre, this is worth checking out -- just set your expectations a bit lower.