Rumble in the Bronx (1995) [Film Review]

Rumble in the Bronx; or, A Fish Out of Water
     That’s my uncle’s car!
Fresh after the success of Police Story 3: SuperCop (1992) and Project S (1993), the duo composed of director Stanley Tong and action star Jackie Chan continued their fruitful cooperation in yet another bombastic project called Rumble in the Bronx. This movie would go on to prove itself especially important for Jackie’s career because it is often cited as one of the 90s flicks that made the Hong Kong actor recognisable in the United States.

Release Info

Directed by: Stanley Tong Starring: Jackie Chan, Françoise Yip, Anita Mui

Language: Cantonese, English Original Title: 紅番區 Runtime: 90 min

Synopsis
Keung (Jackie Chan) arrives in New York to visit his uncle (Bill Tung) who is going to remarry soon. Uncle Bill sells his grocery shop to a businesswoman called Elaine (Anita Mui). Nevertheless, problems arise when local thugs raid the shop. Keung helps out Elaine, but for his heroic action, he is assaulted and wounded by the bandits. He is looked after by his neighbour Danny (Morgan Lam), a physically-disabled boy, and his sister Nancy (Françoise Yip). In the meantime, a crime syndicate is looking for stolen diamonds in the neighbourhood. In order to fight the syndicate and protect his friends, Keung will have to join forces with the thugs.

Street Fighter
Rumble in the Bronx was made in-between Jackie’s popular Police Story movies, so it comes as no surprise that the team behind this franchise (director Stanley Tong, producer Raymond Chow, and screenwriter Edward Tang) crafted this particular motion picture. What is more, the movie was shot primarily on location in Vancouver, Canada, so the crew had to make sure that the setting would resemble NYC cityscapes.

The narrative premise as well as the fact that the film was shot outside of Hong Kong are reminiscent of Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon (1972). In that film, Bruce plays a well-meaning newcomer from Hong Kong who finds it difficult to operate within Western culture, but who tries his best to protect his friends from baddies. This is exactly what Jackie channels in Rumble in the Bronx and he does that very well indeed. The movie is packed with breathtaking action stunts, meticulously choreographed fight sequences, and a light-hearted humour (mostly coming from Anita Mui’s character).

When it comes to US releases of Jackie’s films, as always there are differences in various cuts. The most popular edition of the Rumble in the Bronx from New Line Cinema runs at 90 minutes and is very much watchable; however, the Hong Kong release actually provides different contexts for the characters through the Cantonese dubbing. For instance, in the original cut, it is said that Keung is actually a cop and he has a girlfriend back in Hong Kong. In the American cut, there’s absolutely no mention of such a thing.

With regard to performances, Jackie as always shines on the screen as the happy-go-lucky everyman who never wants to cause any trouble. For some of his 90s productions, Jackie had this great skill of choosing pretty wooden actors, especially Western ones, but this is not the case with Rumble in the Bronx. Françoise Yip does well as the friend/love interest character, and (that’s only my observation), she reminds me a lot about young Cherie Cheung. It is always great to see the late Anita Mui alongside Jackie, especially in a comedic role. The actors playing thugs, such as the late Marc Akerstream, and Gavin Cross also did quite well, and it is clear that they must have had a lot of fun on the set.

Unsurprisingly, the only person who did not have fun on the set was Jackie himself who badly injured his leg. In the making-of footage during the end credits, you can see that he filmed some of his stunts with a leg in a cast that had a sock coloured to resemble a shoe!

Recommendations
Needless to say, Rumble in the Bronx marks Jackie’s epic entry into the Hollywood showbiz. 27 years after its original release, the movie is still an enjoyable ride. I saw it for the first time on a promo-VHS copy from Imperial Entertainment Home Video and the memories of the hovercraft chase stayed on with me throughout childhood.The DVD edition I have contains the standard Miramax cut and no bonus features, but there is a DTS audio track.

Overall score: 8/10

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A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989) [Film Review]

A Better Tomorrow III; or, We’ll Always Have Saigon

     When Mun came, he told me over and over that if you find someone whom you truly love, never give them up, even if it means death. He said that you'd never betray me. But now I know what kind of person you are. Even if you aren't my enemy, I never want to see you again as long as I live.

The time has finally come for the review of the explosive A Better Tomorrow trilogy’s final instalment. However, in case of the third movie, John Woo dropped his gun and backed down, and it was Tsui Hark who served as the directorial replacement. In view of such a creative change, is A Better Tomorrow III a worthy conclusion of the bloody tale about brotherhood and friendship in the times of hardship?

Release Info

Directed by: Tsui Hark Starring: Chow Yun-fat, Anita Mui, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Saburo Tokito

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 英雄本色3-夕陽之歌 Runtime: 119 min (BR cut)

 

Synopsis

Vietnam, 1974. Mark Lee (Chow Yun-fat), before he became the living legend, arrives in Saigon with the intention of bringing his cousin Cheung Chi-mun (Tony Leung Ka-fai) and his father (unforgettable Shih Kien) back to Hong Kong before the city will plunge into chaos. The cousins accidentally encounter and help a woman called Chow Ying-kit (Anita Mui) who deals with smuggling and gun trading. She takes Mark and Michael under her wing and eventually helps them escape from Saigon. Nevertheless, Mun falls for Kit, but she becomes infatuated with Mark who does not want to get involved. When she joins them in Hong Kong, the romantic drama ensues. However, Kit’s true lover and mentor, Tanaka (Saburo Tokito), returns and forcefully takes her back to Saigon. Mark returns to Vietnam in order to save the love of his life.

 

Song of the Setting Sun

Even though being a prequel to the original movie, A Better Tomorrow III turns out to be much better than the second part of the trilogy. Most importantly, the screenplay does not go bizarre, but tries to play things safe in the long run. There is the purpose (getting out of Vietnam), well fleshed-out characters, shootouts, and explosions. In fact, I dare to think that in many ways, Love & Death in Saigon could work as an independent movie.

 

However, if you expected Chow Yun-fat to carry the weight of this prequel on his firm shoulders, then you are gravely mistaken. There are two words which make this movie work: Anita Mui. Portraying a character quite different from her other famous roles (see Rouge (1988)), Anita proves in ABT III that she can play a tough and independent woman who can handle herself in every situation. The scene where she guns down hordes of charging Vietcong soldiers is an excellent example of her onscreen awesomeness.

 

While her character perpetuates the first and second acts of the picture, only the finale is handed over to Chow Yun-fat as he grabs the machine gun and goes on a killing spree. Even though it is Mark Lee’s origin story, the movie does not seem to focus on him as the central character. Obviously, all of the main events revolve around Mark: we get to see how he is given glasses and a coat, but he feels as if cast aside for the purpose of building up this whole world of rotten smugglers in the times of war. Nevertheless, I do not regard this as the film’s disadvantage, but if you expect a similar tone as in ABT I and II, you may feel a bit disappointed.

 

What the movie suffers from is the noticeable lack of Ti Lung, but Tony Leung Ka-fai serves as a decent replacement. Mark and Mun have a good chemistry together and it really seems that they got through more than one action in their lives. However, the most gripping subplot is the one about Mun’s father, which could serve as the basis for a whole separate movie. Namely, Mun’s father took in to his house Pat (Cheng Wai-lun), a Vietnamese kid who lost his parents. Although they can’t communicate in one language, Mun’s father treats Pat like a son and, when he is due to depart together with Mark and Mun, his farewell to Pat creates a strong emotional scene. As a result, we get a very impactful foster parent/foster child stuff that the previous A Better Tomorrows did not even touch upon.

 

Saburo Tokito (at the beginning of his career) also provides a worthy addition to the film as the main villain. However, his role of Tanaka is quite limited so he does not manage to achieve the bad-to-the-bone rank of Waise Lee from the first movie. However, it is cool that at least his character was given a back story (a Japanese pretending to be Chinese in order to survive WWII), which makes his confrontation with Mark in the finale much more interesting. In addition, I have to mention there exists a full, uncut, Taiwanese version of the film that runs 145 minutes long, but it is quite difficult to track down.

Recommendations

While it moves away from the style set by the antecedent movies, A Better Tomorrow III is bold due to its strong characters and exotic setting, which provides opportunities for a tragic love story, slow-motion showdowns, and exploding tanks. Yet, it does not quite fulfil the premise of telling us “how Mark became Mark” and does not even live up to the status of a bloody adventure epic like, for example, John Woo’s Bullet in the Head from 1990. In other words, A Better Tomorrow III is a good prequel and I will definitely revisit it more often than ABT II, but the real A Better Tomorrow can be only one.

Overall score: 7/10

Rouge (1988) [Film Review]

Rouge; or, Chinese (Anti-)Love Story 
This week’s review will be about a classic Hong Kong production from 1988, starring Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung in the leading roles. Rouge, excluding Hong Kong's 3rd category flicks, probably the most bizarre and stylistically extraordinary movie that came out of that particular Asian film industry.

Release Info

Directed by: Stanley Kwan Starring: Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Alex Man, Emily Chu

Language: Cantonese Original Title: Yan zhi kou Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 96 min

Plot 

We follow the story of a high-class courtesan called Fleur (Anita Mui) and her passionate relationship with a rich gentleman known as “12th Young Master” (Leslie Cheung). Initially, it is only a sexual relation, but 12th Young Master becomes so infatuated with Fleur that he develops deeper feelings for her and vice versa. Unfortunately, due to the objection from the Master’s family, the couple is unable to get married. Therefore, not willing to live separately, they decide to commit suicide and search for themselves in another life.

 

Then, the story cuts to a newspaper journalist in Hong Kong of 1987 who sees Fleur walking up to his front desk. The woman came back as a ghost from the afterlife over 50 years after her death in order to find her beloved one. Troubled journalist and his girlfriend resort to help the courtesan before she completely fades away.

Ghosts, courtesans, and a modern cityscape 

Now that’s what I call a crazy ghost story. I have no idea why, but Hong Kong filmmakers had this strange affinity for ghosts and incorporated them in every possible genre (maybe they were profitable trope?). Anyways, as I said previously, the perfect word to sum up this film is the adjective bizarre, however not in a negative sense. What I mean is that the director Stanley Kwan simply plays with his audience as the story goes on. Initially, it seems that the film’s going to be a historical drama (set in 1934, with great scenography and costumes), but then it shifts to a stereotypical love affair, only to shift once more to a comedy/ghost story. During the first 20 minutes of the film, there’s a careful set up of the plot and the characters when completely out of the blue Hong Kong of the 1980s shows up (which is quite confusing, because the whole stuff with suicide and soul-searching is explained way later in the film through Fleur’s flashbacks), but this unexpected transfer of the setting is a good thing, for it keeps the viewers engaged. In addition, there’s also a factor of entertainment.

 

It’s quite hilarious to see an ordinary modern guy like Yuen (Alex Man) to interact with ghostly Fleur who manifests her paranormal presence pretty straightforwardly, but it still takes a lot of time for the journalist to get the picture. Interesting is also the quest of Fleur. She’s been through hell and back (quite literally) and still hasn't found the 12th Young Master yet. She has only three days left to find him, before disintegrating on the anniversary of their death. Yuen and Chor (Emily Chu) got at lengths in searching for the missing lover, which in turn pushes them to re-evaluate their own relationship. All in all, the whole thing is about trying to understand the meaning of true love (but not in soap-opera style).

 

Needless to say, the movie is engaging, entertaining, and surprising with a big twist at the end and the heartbreaking reunion between Fleur and the 12th Young Master that left me gobsmacked. Not only Stanley Kwan did a splendid directorial job, but also Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung who were absolutely perfect in their roles. On a side note, Rouge is said to be a cursed film, because its both leads died in 2003 (Anita suffered from cancer, whereas Leslie committed suicide). Whether it is true or not, I’m not going to be the judge of that. It is a great shame that such great actors passed away so early and won’t make any worthwhile pictures as this one.

Recommendations

Yes, I consider Rouge a worthwhile film. I had a great fun watching it and unlike other flicks about love-from-the-afterlife such as Truly Madly Deeply or Dragonfly you’re not required to suspend your disbelief and the story doesn’t leave you with a bitterness at heart. All things considered, Rouge is a solid motion picture and I recommend it to anyone who’s on the lookout for some interesting film.

Overall score: 8/10