Cheang does a Halloween-esque (not style) opening where there's no logical explanation of the sudden murderous burst of violence Ryu Narushima (Shawn Yue) inflicts on his parents. Being under the age of 18 and therefore protected by Juvenile Law, he does get a prison sentence but it only lasts 2 years. During this time he's raped, abused by the sadistic warden (Ryo Ishibashi) and taught karate by no nonsense, hard assed master Kenji Kurokawa (Francis Ng). When Ryu is out, he begins searching for his lost sister (Pei-Pei Wing - Dog Bite Dog) but is also drawn to the status the Lethal Fight boxing matches promises. All while his sidekicks and only friends, among others an equally lost prostitute played well by Annie Liu (Exodus), stands by his side...

To answer a question, there's no true need for a Category III rating despite the story content as Cheang is content and confident with treating his violence head on without the aid of over the top gore OR he's merely giving us glimpses of aftermaths. Which is especially true of the opening murder which will be shown in more clear glimpses as the movie rolls on. Otherwise, it's non-subtle imagery of animals, creeping closer and closer to Ryu's animalistic being that sets us on his track as well. It's a sucky world to the max, where selfishness rules so does the introduction of the mysterious Francis Ng sifu tell us that someone will bring light to Ryu's life? It's a mystery I'm glad is there when knowing the full picture but as the assault start, with numerous beatings, politically incorrect behaviour and an unsympathetic child of a character, Shamo plays out without much dedication towards anything else but the story-beats in need to be ticked off. And a 100+ minute running time doesn't signal good things either.

Ironically enough, it's the lesser of the problems staying put for that long and there's certainly positives to be had in between the little engagement. Jack Long's action choreography mixes shaky, tightly shot little brawls but a fair amount of clear looking ones that despite a repetitive sound design, elevates the movie. Especially the boxing scenes set at the Lethal Fight arena have teeth, clarity and memorable brutality that eventually interacts with the storytelling skills of Soi Cheang too. He takes Shawn Yue's Ryu onto a downwards spiral seemingly where either the character is unknowing of what his act has done to his fate in society or he's accepted the hatred towards him. Acceptance is never thought of as something you can achieve, hence Ryu going all out to appear on the winning side, including taking steroids and fooling his ultimate opponent that he's raped his wife. But emotional confrontations shows not all is dead inside Ryu and I'm happy to report that the central story of him looking for his sister really turns Shamo during the last 20-30 minutes into something worthwhile.

Here we're challenged to re-think the pessimism of the world and witness a possible stab at individuality, a stab at claiming the right to breathe and this combo of a tuned visual sense of Cheang, Jack Long's effective boxing choreography and Shawn Yue never veering from any of the rigors his character needs to be put through, makes Shamo take on a watchable nature eventually. Structurally perhaps there should've been made efforts to lure us in emotionally earlier but I kind of feel the experience is worthwhile, if not entirely successful as an adaptation. Without the last 20-30 minutes, Wikipedia will help you enough in understanding the plight of Ryu Narushima. Without Soi Cheang, we wouldn't have been affected by it late in the game.

(1) Co-writer, co-producer and contributed to the screenplay for Katsuhiro Ôtomo's classic Akira in 1988. Izo also has dabbled in directing, among other things Evil Dead Trap 2 and this isn't his first Hong Kong/Japan connection as he was part of the writing team on Nam Nai-Choi's The Peacock King in 1989.

Chock-full of sex and violence, but still just friendly enough to garner a IIB rating, Shamo is perhaps not surprisingly based on a Japanese manga. The main character, Ryo (played by Shawn Yu), is sent to jail after killing his parents. The notoriety of Ryo's crime makes hime a prime target, which results in (as the plot description on the back cover politely puts it) a "buggering". After the attack, Ryo attempts suicide, but is saved by Kenji (Francis Ng), an old-timer in the jail who teaches Ryo to defend himself.

After getting paroled, Ryo sets out to find his sister (Pei Pei Wei-Ying), and decides the best way to get her attention is by defeating the champion (Masato) of a popular TV show called "Lethal Fight". Ryo's reputation proceeds him, and he quickly becomes one of the top stars on the show. But getting to his sister and the real reason he killed his parents won't be as easy as just winning a few matches for Ryo.

So, yeah, you could throw Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal, or, hell, even Jeff Speakman ala their prime back in the halcyon days of around 1986 into Shawn Yu's role and probably get the same results. And that's really Shamo's charm.

Part loving homage and part mocking parody to the brainless action movies that garnered shelf space at your local video store back in the eighties and still are a mainstay of late-night cable viewing, Shamo throws a ton of stuff at the viewer. Thankfully, like the better Hong Kong films, some of it actually sticks.

Yeah, the acting isn't that hot (besides Francis Ng, who would probably still look cool if he was filmed for an hour doing nothing but eating noodles) and the story is pretty much garbage. Even the overall look of the movie, which features spiky-haired manga funneled through a pseudo sci-fi tint, is somewhat perplexing.

But Shamo, at the very least, is a damn interesting movie that -- for better or worse -- will hold your attention. Whether it's because it's exciting or akin to a cinematic train wreck is up to the individual viewer, but at least you won't be bored. And that's a lot more than a lot of movies, from both HK and the US, can claim nowadays.