A young immigrant finds himself at the centre of a gang war in 1980s Hong
Kong's infamous Kowloon Walled City.
Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Soi Cheang
Starring: Raymond Lam, Terrance Lau, Tony Wu, German Cheung, Louis Koo, Philip Ng,
Aaron Kwok, Sammo Hung
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Andy Seto's Chinese comic book 'City of Darkness' was initially set
for a movie adaptation two decades ago with directors John Woo and Johnnie
To primed for a Hong Kong auteur super-duo collaboration. Despite having
talent like Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Nicolas Cage and James
McAvoy on board, that version never saw the light of day. Neither did a
later adaptation set to star Donnie Yen. Now, with director
Soi Cheang at the helm, Seto's comic has finally made it to screens
under the rather cumbersome title
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.
The movie is set in a place that genuinely existed in the past - Kowloon's
"Walled City" - but it's a setting right out of many a dystopian sci-fi
movie. The Walled City was an infamous shanty town in Hong Kong that saw
tens of thousands of residents, mostly immigrants and refugees, crammed into
what was then the most densely populated place on the planet. Crime was rife
with rival Triad gangs warring over control of the area until it was
demolished in 1994.
Cheang portrays the Walled City like it's a section of Mega City One from
the Judge Dredd comic, a collection of neon-lit, rickety businesses and
abodes rising so high that passing planes threaten to scrape its peak, all
exposed cables and girders. It's within these cramped walls that our hero,
Chan (Raymond Lam), seeks refuge. A recently arrived undocumented
migrant from the Chinese mainland, Chan fights in underground bare-knuckle
bouts in the hopes of raising enough cash to pay for a fake Hong Kong ID. In
the process he makes an enemy of not so imaginatively titled gang boss Mr.
Big (Sammo Hung), which sees him chased by Big's goons through the
streets until he hides in the Walled City, where even Mr. Big's mob dare not
follow.
Within the Walled City Chan initially makes new enemies of local mobsters
but is taken under the wing of Cyclone (Louis Koo), an aging mob boss
who takes a suspiciously paternal interest in the young immigrant. Set to
work performing various odd jobs, Chan makes new friends and finds what he's
been looking for all his life in this unlikely place - a home. But his
presence escalates already existing tensions between Cyclone, Mr. Big and
another mobster, Chau (Richie Jen), to whom the residents of the
Walled City pay rent. Needless to say, it all leads to a whole lot of
ass-whuppin'.
Though set specifically in the '80s,
Twilight of the Warriors plays like a tribute to the past 40
years of Hong Kong action cinema. The supernatural wuxia and martial arts
elements are straight out of the '80s while the internecine mob drama has
more in common with the shift away from comic book fantasy Hong Kong genre
cinema would take in subsequent decades. It's like Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan
and Johnnie To all got together to make the ultimate Hong Kong action movie,
and it makes for a surprisingly tasty mashup. The result isn't the ultimate
Hong Kong action movie, but it's an ideal introduction to the genre cinema
of this corner of the world as it encompasses all of its distinctive
facets.
It's essential to keep in mind that you're watching a comic book movie
rather than anything grounded in reality as you'll be blindsided by some of
the film's wilder swings otherwise. The shift in tones is sometimes jarring
here as Cheang struggles to balance the film's more quotidian elements with
its fantasy ingredients. When one villain (played with evil relish by
Philip Ng), suddenly reveals he possesses a supernatural ability to
shield himself from attack, you simply have to accept that this is where the
movie is headed now. So much time has been invested in establishing the
To-esque mob stuff that some viewers may be unwilling to follow Cheang as
his film descends into over-the-top madness. Personally, I found the mob
drama a little too soapy in its conceits, so I was more than happy when the
movie morphed into something resembling the climax of
Big Trouble in Little China.
The film benefits greatly from a charismatic cast, with Lam perfectly
embodying the wide-eyed newcomer and Hung and Ng chewing scenery as the
film's decidedly comic book villains. It's the aged-up Koo who quietly
dominates the movie as the sort of badass who lets you know he's not to be
messed with without having to utter a single word. His introduction,
involving a display of reflexes that allows him to kick someone's ass and
catch the cigarette that fell from his mouth before it hits the ground, is
one of those moments that will have action fans immediately onboard.
Twilight of the Warriors is a comic book movie in a way
Hollywood comic book movies haven't been for a long time. It's not afraid to
look silly and delivers a series of larger than life heroes and villains
ripped from colourful splash pages and embodied by a cast that understands
the job at hand. Watching Ng laugh maniacally as he breaks swords in half
with his teeth, you can't help but wonder why Hollywood consistently refuses
to give us movies that are this much fun. Amid all the bone-crunching and
back-breaking, there's an adorably goofy innocence embodied by the use of an
instrumental version of charity shop compilation LP staple 'Walking in the
Air' over a montage. No Hollywood movie would make this musical choice
because it wouldn't be considered "cool" enough. But it works a treat here.
I'm glad there are still parts of the world where filmmakers are more
interested in having fun than seeming cool.
