Tiger Cage (1988) [Film Review]

Tiger Cage; or, Between a Rock and a Hard Place
     We bachelors really envy your true feelings. You're lucky, you're quitting tomorrow.
Tiger Cage is a trilogy of films made by Yuen Woo-ping between 1988 and 1991 which focus on the hard life of Hong Kong cops who solve criminal cases. The first movie in the series is a hard-edged thriller with an excellent cast and explosive action.

Release Info

Directed by: Yuen Woo-ping Starring: Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam, Donnie Yen, Carol Cheng

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 特警屠龍 Runtime: 92 min

Synopsis
Officer Hsiu (Leung Kar-Yan) together with his anti-narcotics team raid the smuggling den. The policeman is chasing a bad guy (Johnny Wang) during the raid. The mobster is presumably shot dead, but he actually survives and takes his revenge on Hsiu by killing him. Shirley (Carol Dodo Cheng) who was about to marry Hsiu finds it hard to get over the loss of her fiancé. She is consoled by Inspector Wong (Simon Yam). In the meantime, two officers, Fan Chun-yau (Jacky Cheung) and Terry (Donnie Yen) discover that their partner, Uncle Tat (Ng Man-Tat) actually cooperates with drug dealers. When they present the evidence to Inspector Wong, they unknowingly put themselves in danger…

Upholding the Law
Tiger Cage seems like a prelude to Yuen Woo-ping's other classic action film In the Line of Duty IV (1989). Indeed, action set pieces are exhilarating and Donnie Yen appears as the righteous cop. (Un)surprisingly his character is killed off early on in the picture, mostly due to the fact that Donnie was not then as popular as Jacky Cheung who is the real leading man.

Great cast and excellent fight sequences are indeed the main advantages of Tiger Cage. It is a pleasure to see Donnie Yen facing off against Michael Woods and Jacky Cheung battling the intimidating Simon Yam. Interestingly, Carol Cheng (during pre-Her Fatal Ways days) shines in the film, in spite of having small screen time. Also, Ng Man-Tat has a lot of stuff to do in the movie, contrary to being just a comic relief as in his many other roles from the 1990s.

The only disadvantage of Tiger Cage, I would say, is the film’s tendency to crank up that aspect of uncomfortability to the max in certain scenes. For instance, the death scene of the character played by the graceful Irene Wan is too harrowing and too out of the blue. In contrast, Uncle Tat is the story’s main punching bag, but he survives every ordeal.

A word of caution: if you expect to see traditional sequels, it is best to say out-front that Tiger Cage 2 and Tiger Cage 3 are completely unrelated to the original film, even though some of the cast members (Donnie Yen and Carol Cheng) return in new roles. The follow-ups present completely independent storylines.

Recommendations
That being said, I admit that Tiger Cage is a pleasant viewing. If you like the cops vs. bandits spectacles , then I recommend the film. In addition, the 1980s vibes and suave Simon Yam as well as Jacky Cheung on the edge are awesome bonuses. Gotta love classic Hong Kong productions.Overall score: 8/10

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Bullet in the Head (1990) [Film Review]

Bullet in the Head; or, Justice for a Friend

     You always called me Big Brother, I said being friends was enough. Among friends, rank is irrelevant.

Bullet in the Head is a 1990 action drama directed by John Woo. Originally planned as a prequel to the successful A Better Tomorrow (1986) film, the movie became a stand-alone story after Woo’s falling out with his long-time collaborator Tsui Hark (who went on to make his own A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (1989)). Does Bullet in the Head live up to being “John Woo’s most emotionally powerful film?” Let’s find out in this review.

Release Info

Directed by: John Woo Starring: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Waise Lee, Simon Yam

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 喋血街頭 Runtime: 126 min

 

Synopsis

The movie tells the story of three friends: Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (Waise Lee), who regularly brawl with gang members in Hong Kong during the 1960s. Unfortunately, Frank accidentally kills one of the mobsters and the friends decide to flee Hong Kong. They go to Saigon, in order to work as smugglers in the ravaged by war Vietnam. However, things do not go as planned and the protagonists find themselves on the run, together with a hitman Luke (Simon Yam) and a nightclub singer Sally (Yolinda Yam), from the Vietcong soldiers. Eventually, Paul betrays his friends for a box of gold…

 

Casualties of War

Bullet in the Head stands out of John Woo’s rich repertoire as not being just a standard bullet-ballet flick. It is neither as fast paced as A Better Tomorrow nor as spectacular as Hard Boiled (1992). Nevertheless, the film’s primary asset is a human drama set against the background of a harrowing military conflict. John Woo’s reinvents the “bromance formula” known from his other films by turning it into a war epic similar to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

 

That is not to say that the film is simply a melodrama. Bullet in the Head is filled with magnificent action set pieces (nightclub shootout) and wonderful David Lean-like sequences involving large crowds of people (riots scenes the evoking Tiananmen Square incident or Vietnam exodus scene). However, the real show stealer is the final battle sequence involving the characters played by Tony Leung and Waise Lee.

 

With regard to performances, Tony Leung is simply awesome in the leading role, together with his co-stars Jackie Cheung and Waise Lee who give him a run for his money. In addition, Simon Yam does great in the supporting part and is given a surprisingly large amount of screen time. Yolinda Yam’s short but memorable performance also deserves to be noted.

 

Allegedly, the film’s original runtime was approximately three hours but John Woo had to cut it down to a little over 2 hours (original theatrical version). Nevertheless, there are still some releases in circulation which contain 10 to 11 minutes of additional footage, including an alternate (very low-key) ending.

 

Bullet in the Head is not a highly recognisable John Woo film, not because it is a bad movie, but due to the fact that the picture was forced to compete with Tsui Hark’s A Better Tomorrow III at the box office. As a result, Bullet in the Head did not do well financially and John Woo moved on to more conventional action flicks like Once a Thief (1991) and Hard Boiled.

 

Recommendations

If you are interested in John Woo’s filmography and do not know where to start, then give Bullet in the Head a chance. If you are a long-time fan, however, please revisit the film. I always discover new things in this movie whenever I come back to it. To me, Bullet in the Head is indeed Woo’s masterpiece.

Overall score: 9/10

Women Prison (1988) [Film Review]

Women Prison; or, The real meaning of equality

Straight from the golden era of Hong Kong movies, Women Prison is not just a standard prison-film rip-off but a real, forgotten gem tackling on such important issues as moral justice, living with dignity, and the efficiency of the penitentiary system.

Release Info

Directed by: David Lam Starring: Pat Ha, Carol Dodo Cheng, Bo-Bo Fung, Simon Yam

Language: Cantonese Original Title: Nu zi jian yu Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 93 min

Plot

A young girl called Kelly Ho is preparing for her wedding day, but the celebration is disturbed by two thugs who come in order to reclaim the debt her fiancé made while recklessly gambling. An unexpected fight breaks out and Kelly hurts one of the thugs, due to which she is sentenced to serve 18 months in a containment facility for women. When arriving there, the girl does not know that she has found herself in the middle of a war for power between fellow inmates and a desperate struggle to hush things up by an incompetent prison superintendent.

Hong Kong Redemption

At first, we get a standard arrival sequence, a bus ride, a strip search,  a medical examination, and the allocation of toiletries. On the surface, the prison seems pretty ordinary, but Kelly discovers the strict and unconformable rule of a two-faced female superintendent, who tries to maintain order in the facility by favouring one of the prison gangs led by the psychotic, but controllable ‘big sister’ Fatty. Needless to say, these actions result in disastrous consequences.

The movie provides probably one of the most vivid and accurate images of prison life exemplified by vivid characters who share the pain and sufferings of Kelly while serving their terms. One could claim that there are too many “innocent” inmates, but the focus of the picture is not ultimately centred on the whole prison, but on the struggle of the weakest (and least deranged) links. Apart from the educated Kelly, we have a strong and tough as nail Lynn, who is on a quest to regain her leadership in the prison society, Jean who cares for her 8-year-old son more than anything else, and Mandy who is caught in the crossfire of gang influences and eventually raped. For a 90-minute picture, this has a wide range of personalities to include.

However, this whole mash-up seems to play perfectly well. Not only due to the well-written dilemmas each character has to face, but also skillful acting by each of the actresses. Whoever was responsible for the casting did one hell of a job. Pat Ha was very convincing as an ordinary girl who got jailed for fighting back. She is our everyman inside the prison and through her perspective we get to know about the formidable conditions of daily inmate existence. The supporting role of Bobo Fung as Kelly’s friend and the loving mother was extremely moving and, without a doubt, realistic. Nevertheless, it is the performance of Carol Dodo Cheng that wipes the floor. Every time she appears, she steals the scene for herself. In contrast to her other roles in comedies or action movies, this time she literally played a female version of Cool Hand Luke. Smooth, confident, cocky, ruthless, but righteous more than anything.

Recommendations

If you are keen on prison films, this is definitely something for you. If you don’t, even better. In my opinion, this is easily one of the best movies of its kind and it can without a shadow of a doubt be placed among other prison classics. Imdb rating gives this one a 5.8 score, but it is further proof not to believe interent ratings. If you have a free evening and want to experience some morally-conscious cinema, give this film a chance. You’ve got to see this for yourself.

Overall score: 8/10