If this is supposedly an inside look at Triads, one must wonder after watching this yawn fest how they have managed to stay in power for so long. Every character in this movie is just so wishy-washy, it was near impossible to find someone to care about, much less root for. The basic story has $$ID=Chow Yun Fat$$ coming to Hong Kong after his father's (Tin Fung) death at the hands of a rival gang headed by perpeptual smarmy villain Kelvin Wong. For some reason, even though Chow wants nothing to do with the Triads, the old-timers (led by Michael Chan and $$ID=Shing Fui On$$) eventually push Chow into becoming the leader. This angers some of the younger guys, including Roy Cheung, playing one of the first (but certainly not the last) of his "hot-headed hooligan" roles.The result of all this is a bunch of choppers being produced, some people getting killed, and just general boredom to be had by the viewer. Everything moves at too much of a slow pace, and when events do happen, there's no explanation given to them, so that the viewer is not only bored, they're confused -- not a good combination. It doesn't help matters any that most of the actors give pretty poor performances. It's really not a good sign when Shing "Big Silly Head" Fui-On does a better job in a Triad movie than Chow Yun-Fat (who also hampers matters further by strangling a cat, er, "singing" some of the songs in the movie). Actually, it is a pretty good sign -- a sign to stay the hell away from this stinker, that is. Review Courtesy of Neil Koch |
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