Royal Warriors (Wong ga jin si, 1986)
David Chung
Hong Kong
93 mins, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)
This is just an avalanche of nonstop action and silliness, and this very entertaining. Also known as IN THE LINE OF DUTY, this film is one of the earliest, but still best, features with the amazing Michelle Yeoh and the very talented Hiroyuki "Henry" Sanada. The destructive duo practically carries the entire movie. Starving for sense in plot, the film is relentless, albeit cheesy at times, and topnotch in the action department. Most definitely one of the HK gems that fans should not overlook.
When HK police officer Michelle Yip (Yeoh), security guy Michael Wong (as himself), and Japanese ex-cop Yamamoto (Sanada) neutralize (read: kill) two criminals during an abortive plane heist, they incur the wrath of the two surviving buddies of the dead. Apparently, the four have been involved in some jungle war, where they made some jungle pact to do some jungle things. Translated from scriptease: there are now two tough guys out for blood. In a very depressing scene, they blow up Yamamoto's family, and the ex-cop goes berserk. The rest, as they say, is history. The five, later four, and finally three, protagonists battle it out in various settings, including a bar, a construction site, and a market, among others. The location scout must have been underpaid.
The action sequences are incredibly well done, although a bit too sped up for my taste. The bar fight is worthy of a John Woo film, and although the epic ending was frivolous (come on: an light tank? racing with a coffin through explosions?), it was rewarding for Michelle's vicious fight with the last surviving villain. Basically, even though Michelle is very young (she's one of those people that look much better now that they are a bit older), she displays the combination of acting and martial skill talent that we've come to admire. Hiroyuki Sanada's terse, but intense, resolution to avenge the senseless deaths of his family is poignant, all the more touching because he portrays it in a very believable way. He's also pretty good with the action bits. Michael Wong is universally reviled (by HK natives) for not being "Chinese" enough. It is easy to see why people would think that. He reminds me of Bruce Campbell, so I enjoyed his performance. Regardless of what some say, his character, although shallow, was well developed (not that it made much sense).
The Universe DVD, as usual, boasts a pretty good transfer quality, but more than "makes up" for this with awful sound. The remixed Cantonese track (why would anyone want to hear fake Michelle in Mandarin?) is not good. Although I appreciate the attempt to simulate surround sound, the results are mixed. The effects are muted, there's not enough coming from the central channel (so the voices are too weak), and the constant shifting of channels is disorienting. The Mandarin track, I am sorry to say, is a bit better in that respect. I found myself switching between the two: Cantonese for the dialogue, and Mandarin for the action scenes. The subtitles are the usual loose translation that makes little sense at times, but at least they don't get in the way too much. They also managed to mistranslate phrases spoken in English! Now, that's some feat. Also, the dialogue in Japanese is excellent. I understand not a word of that language, but it surely sounds great. The DVD is most definitely quite above average (and most probably better than the more expensive Tai Seng version).
April 24, 2001. BLS