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Darkside of Chinatown
Days of Being Wild
The Dead and the Deadly
Dirty Ho
Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog
Double Tap
Dr Wai and the Scripture with No
Words
Dragons Forever
Dreadnaught
Drunken Master
Drunken Master 2
Drunken Tai Chi
Duel to the Death |
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Darkside of Chinatown (1989) |
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Low-budget gangster thriller from kung-fu director Yuen Cheung Yan which follows the misadventures of a HK youth living in Canada, and the circumstances which lead to a brutal and bloody act of vengeance in Hong Kong. An unusual setting and an ambitious plot stake out its lofty ambitions, but not even the appearance of Hwang Jang Lee can elevate this potboiler above straight-to-video
status. |
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Days of Being Wild (1991) |
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Leslie Cheung stars as a gigolo in ‘60s Hong Kong, caught between his feelings and his stroppy, selfish demeanor in Wong Kar Wai’s typically languid drama. Despite looking as great as his films always do and boasting several sterling performances, there is something hollow about “The Days of Being Wild”. Perhaps it’s an intentional reflection of the main characters soulessness, maybe it is supposed to be about style – in any case, while remaining ten steps ahead of much Hong Kong drama it is neither as interesting nor as entertaining as the rest of WKW’s canon. |
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The Dead and the Deadly (1982) |
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More ghostly comedy from Sammo Hung, this time with sly Ng Ma roping our rotund hero into helping him fake his death – except he really gets murdered and starts haunting Sammo… Lower on martial arts than usual, this still has some furious arse-whacking and is extremely funny – Lam Ching Ying as a doddery old master is particularly entertaining. |
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Magnificent old-school kung fu from Liu Chia Liang, starring Gordon Liu Chia Hui and Wong Yue as a prince in hiding and his crafty sidekick. Whilst being more restrained than some other Shaw Bros productions, the inventiveness of the fight scenes as Gordon tries to disguise his powerful techniques are wonderous, and the performances from all concerned are first rate.
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Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog (1978) |
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Lau Kar Wing and Sammo Hung are the titular rogues up against Lee Hai Sheng’s Invincible Vest-touting bad guy. Lots of laughs and some good choreography, but it pales in comparison to their other collaborations of the time – “The Odd Couple” and “Knockabout”. |
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Leslie Cheung stars in this moody, exciting thriller about a top-level shooting instructor suffering a breakdown after shooting and killing a man. Alex Fong plays a his competitive rival, a cop who must determine whether Les has been driven to further crimes… It’s no masterpiece, but the creepy and unusually staged action scenes support the psychological horror well – and the acting is excellent from the leads and from Monica Chan and Ruby Wong as their partners. |
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Dr Wai and the Scripture With No Words (1996) |
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Full of good ideas but sorely lacking in execution, “Dr Wai” is one of those movies that you really want to like… but you just can’t. Jet Li plays a writer of pulp adventure stories who imagines himself as the hero of his books, a kung-fu Indiana Jones. So far, so Dennis Potter, the twist being that he can’t finish his current story and so writes his friends, colleagues and estranged wife (Rosamund Kwan) into the story, rewriting their roles as his perception of them changes. There are a few good action scenes – the best being Jet and an umbrella versus Ngai Sing and a rifle. All in all, an interesting failure. |
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The film that ended the working relationship between Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao is a strange affair - the trio play shady characters (a smarmy defence lawyer, an arms dealer and a mad thief respectively) who rehabilitate after getting involved in a pollution war between a fish pond owner and unscrupulous Yuen Wah. Needless to say, there's a lot of scrapping, including a brutal fight with Benny Urquidez, and a stupendous series of stunts from Yuen Biao in the finale. It's not hard to spot which scenes were helmed by credited director Sammo and which by Jackie, but the performances and action are good enough to let the film hang together as it should. While it's not as great as "Project A" (another triple header which is said to have been jointly directed but credited to Jackie), it is extremely good and an essential watch for even casual fans of Hong Kong cinema.
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A superb slasher film masquerading as a kung-fu comedy, Yuen Woo Ping’s “Dreadnaught” is an often overlooked work of genius. Yuen Biao plays a timid laundry boy trying to learn martial arts from Kwan Tak Hing’s aging (but still fearsome) Wong Fei Hong. Throw in top support from Leung Kar Yan, some Peking Opera hi-jinx, a fat comedy policeman and a terrifying, snarling kung-fu murderer in the shape of White Tiger (played by Yuen Shun Yi) and the result is a five star classic. |
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If "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" made Jackie Chan a star, "Drunken Master" cemented him at the top of the Asian box office for the next 25 years. Director Yuen Woo Ping crafted an alternative look at Cantonese hero Wong Fei Hong's youth, showing his rebellious side and how it led him to learn the powerful Eight Drunken Fairies style. Sounds frightening, eh? Yuen Siu Tien plays Sam the Seed, King of Beggars, the drunken old git renowned for crippling his students - but a confrontation with merciless Thunderfoot (Hwang Jang Lee) motivates Fei Hong to learn this crazy technique… Though Woo Ping would develop greatly as a director over next few years, the verve, skill and wit with which "Drunken Master" is infused places it near the top of Hong Kong's cinematic output. |
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Revisiting his first masterpiece was never going to be easy for Jackie, but this fund-raising movie for the HK Directors Guild snowballed into a huge and troubled but ultimately satisfying production. Jackie fired the first director, veteran Liu Chia Liang (who also stars), after a disagreement and finished helming it himself. It's also an all star affair featuring Andy Lau, Chin Kar Lok, Ti Lung as Wong Fei Hong's stalwart father, Anita Mui and in a fight which defines the term astonishing, Ken Lo. The result is a combination of old and new school kung fu, comedy, intrigue and JC's trademark stunts which never fails to enthrall - few would have predicted that it would not only be a huge hit but also a worthy sequel and one of the best films to come out of Hong Kong in the 90s. |
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This superb martial arts comedy from Yuen Woo Ping fits roughly in with his “Miracle Fighters” series: Yuen Cheung Yan reprises his rabbit-toothed Taoist from those films, teaching student Donnie Yen (making a huge impact in his debut) a gentler, but no less deadly way to fight. Bizarrely for a period kung-fu flick, it features BMX stunts and some breakdancing, and a weaving
lesson (!) set to the intro from Roxy Music’s “Love is the Drug”(!!). Madness on a stick, but quality action from the Yuen Clan and support from Yuen Yat Chor and Yuen Shun Yi (revisiting his snarling maniac from “Dreadnaught”, except wearing a pork pie hat) make it essential. |
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The two finalists in a kind of swordsman’s World Cup, stoic Japanese Tsui Siu Keung and flamboyant Chinese Adam Cheng find themselves fighting side by side when someone starts trying to fix the contest. Director Ching Siu Tung, master of potty wirework, orchestrates limb-lopping and surreal battles with effortless aplomb – whether it’s ninjas hiding under the sand or heroes flying through treetops, this film looks amazing and has a crafty, surprising plot to boot. It also has one of the greatest endings in action cinema, but to say any more would be criminal… so go see it and find out for yourself. |
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