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The year is 1868. In the aftermath of the Second Opium War, China continues to sink into chaos as the Qing Dynasty has proven themselves unable to fight Western influence and the influx of drugs and slave labor clinging to the underbelly of capitalism. In the city of Guangzhou, two factions control the Huangpu Port: the Black Tiger gang and the North Sea gang. The two gangs are in a stalemate until a brash young fighter named Wong Fei Hung appears on the scene. In an era where wicked men profit on the misery of the less fortunate, one man will rise up to change history forever. This is the rise of a new era. This is the Rise of the Legend.
A reckless youth.
Directed by Roy Chow and written by Christine To, Rise of the Legend was released by Edko Films (Hong Kong) in 2014, and picked up by American distributors Well Go USA in 2016. A wuxia in the same vein as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Rise of the Legend follows the early life of Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung. Martial arts fans know that Wong Fei Hung's life has spawned numerous media including television shows, comics, and more than 100 films, most notably Jet Li's "Once Upon a Time In China" series and Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master I & II." When I first heard of Rise of the Legend my immediate reaction was "Omg not another Wong Fei Hung movie." Retreading old ground doesn't do anything for this reviewer so I was put-off from the film at the outset. However, Well Go USA only picks up the finest movies for American distribution. Given that this is the same company who brought us badass films like Wolf Warriors and Police Story: Lockdown, I had a feeling this movie would be something special.
Eddie Peng delivers his finest performance yet!
Rise of the Legend presents Wong Fei Hung as a cocky, vengeful, and borderline ruthless Wong Fei Hung. Overtime, we see Wong Fei Hung mature and become the hero China needs him to be. Eddie Peng does a superb as leading man and he absolutely owned the scenes. I've seen countless Wong Fei Hung films and Eddie Peng's performance is right up there with Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's. Eddie Peng's performance was gripping, but he wasn't alone in that regard.
BIG SAM!
The film has a great cast including Angelababy, Wang Luodan, and the legendary Sammo Hung who plays the villainous Master Lui, leader of the Black Tiger gang. I was pleasantry surprised by Hung's performance who typically plays the good guy, was intimidating and almost scary as Master Lui. Sammo Hung has a commanding presence and brings a completely different atmosphere to each scene.
FALCON PUNCH!!!
Industry veteran Corey Yuen is on board as the film's action director and his expertise really shows. Rise of the Legend has some spectacular fight sequences that do a great job of balancing brutality and style. The choreography is very well done and the hits feel like they have impact. While I felt there was a bit too much wire-work at times, I understand that's something of a mainstay of wuxia.
Must see!
The film has its flaws. It shows us an aggressive, hot-blooded Wong Fei-Hung which I thought was an interesting change of pace from the patient and wise folk hero. However, we're never given a reason for why he is the way he is. Even as a child the Wong Fei-Hung we see is violent and short-tempered, but we're neither shown nor told as to why that it is. It would make sense if it occurred later on after tragedy struck, but it seems he was always a wild child in this film. The film's score - while good wasn't memorable and I felt that a good 20 to 30 minutes of the film should've been cut because it took too long getting to the climax which was a bit rushed. Overall Rise of the Legend is a great martial arts movie and a must own for anyone into historical fiction or action movies.
Released in China as Police Story 2013 and distributed in America last year by Well Go USA, Police Story: Lockdown is a reboot of Jackie Chan's Police Story film series. In Police Story: Lockdown, Jackie Chan plays Detective Zhong Wen - an aging law enforcement official who has seen more tragedies than he's able to forget. One evening he receives a call from his estranged daughter Miao Miao (Jing Tian) who wants Zhong to meet her at Wu's Bar. Zhong walks off the streets of Hong Kong and into a San Francisco hellscape as Wu's Bar is a hipster's paradise. While there, Zhong meets the bar's owner - a sly fox named Wu Jiang (Liu Ye) who is also his daughter's new boyfriend and Zhong isn't pleased to say the least. A fierce father-daughter quarrel erupts and Miao's words cut her father to the bone. Before cooler heads can prevail, an argument breaks out between the bar's patrons and a gang of thugs uses this as an opportunity to put their plan into motion. The leader of these criminals is actually Wu Jiang himself who lured Zhong to settle some unfinished business. Unarmed and outnumbered, Zhong must use all of his wits and training to save his daughter and the other patrons, but this hostage crisis may be his last.
Jackie, try to remember some of the basics of CQC.
If you're familiar with the Police Story series you know these films are some of Jackie Chan's best. The traditional series had an excellent blend of action and comedy which is what Chan is known for. Of course age and the numerous injuries from a life-time of doing his own stunts has crept up on Chan over the years and he's had to change the way he makes films. While this is probably raising some eyebrows for action movie buffs, make no mistake. Jackie Chan is still on top of his game and this film is an excellent example of that. He still does his own stunts, but they're considerably less crazy and while his fight scenes have gotten shorter they're still expertly choreographed and Jackie Chan retains his signature style.
A dark past?
Much like Jackie Chan himself, Detective Zhong Wen is no spring chicken and there's a limit to what he's able to do. There is a lot of tension in the action scenes because Zhong is up against thugs who are younger and often bigger than he is, as well as armed. So he uses his speed, agility, and his environments, often surprising his opponents who take him for some feeble old man. The fight scenes are very well-done as one would expect from Jackie Chan, but there is also a heavier emphasis on drama too. There is a physically brutal and emotionally powerful cage fight where Zhong struggles against one of the villains who happens to know Muay Thai. Zhong changes up his style between Kenpo, Karate, and even MMA as he struggles to take down this younger, more powerful foe - all the while being torn down by Wu Jiang who reminds him that he's too old to win this fight.
Can't fake good kids.
There's a subplot revolving around Zhong and his daughter Miao. At first Miao comes off as your typical adult-age brat with daddy issues, but when you learn more about her relationship with her father this family turmoil comes into focus with painful crystal clarity. While Jing Tian didn't do an awesome job playing Miao Miao per se, I felt she was believable as Zhong's daughter. This movie places a heavy emphasis on drama and Jackie Chan's performance is powerful.
He's still got it!
Zhong's personal struggles are worn on Chan's face and reflected in his eyes. He's getting too old for this sh!t and there's nothing he'd love more than to take his daughter home and let someone else handle the hostage situation. But he never stopped being a cop and he's not going home until he ensures everyone else does as well. His conviction drives him to protect everyone no matter how reckless that might be. A lot of the characters are carrying some kind of emotional trauma and while some are able to grow from it, others become completely undone. The third act of this movie nails the characters (and the viewer) with revelation after revelation that left some characters utterly destroyed. While Police Story: Lockdown isn't as action-packed as Jackie Chan's earlier films, it's a great movie that puts its two hour run-time to good use. There's combat, drama, betrayals, and a tension that grips you from the inciting incident until the final scene. Jackie Chan may have gotten older, but he's not going quietly into the night.
Ji Hyeong-Do (So Ji-Sub) is a seemingly ordinary salary man; he starts his day with a balanced breakfast, he carries a briefcase and wears a suit to work. Everything about him from his hairstyle to his manner of walking makes him indistinguishable from the average Korean working man. However, Hyeong-Do's job is anything but ordinary. Working as a hit-man for a company specializing in assassinations Hyeong-Do has been with the company for a long-time. Having never failed a mission and always completing his assignments without question, his boss Representative Jeon (Jeon Guk-hwan) plans to leave the company in Hyeong-Do's hands. That is until Hyeong-Do falls in love with a woman named Su-Yeon (Lee Mi-Yeon), a single mom who is also the mother of Hyeong-Do's most recent target. Hyeong-Do is forced to choose between his duty and his heart. When he chooses wrong he finds himself hunted by the very same organization that trained him.
He was a model employee.
If you follow me on Twitter you're probably aware that I'm a huge fan of Asian cinema - Korean cinema and shows in particular. Undoubtedly my favorite Korean film (and one of my favorite movies of all-time) is 2010's The Man From Nowhere which has since become the standard by which I judge these films. While 'A Company Man' won't be taking the crown I'd put it right next to 'The Man From Nowhere' as one of the all-time greats given that this movie was filled with drama, suspense, action and very deep characters that made me care about them. The story hooked me in from the word go and I was captivated by this world and the very real sense of pain and loneliness that was felt throughout.
It's hard out here for a killer.
Actor/rapper So Ji-sub plays our lead Ji Hyeong-Do. With 20 years of acting experience under his belt he's no slouch and he does a fantastic job portraying Hyeong-Do. When we first meet Hyeong-Do he appears to be a ruthless assassin, even going so far as to kill an underling with no remorse despite the fact said underling has a family. Orders are orders after all. He is both feared and respected in his organization and his boss likens him to a perfect killer. He's almost mechanical in nature. However this is only on the surface. Beneath that Hyeong-Do is a very lonely man who feels isolated even when he's surrounded by other human beings and it seems his only human contact involves the people he's sent to kill. As time goes on and his missions become more and more complex, we see and understand why he's had enough of this life and wants to move on. He's a quiet character, but the nuances in his body language speak volumes about what he's thinking. Verbally or non-verbally, So Ji-sub commands these scenes.
Learning to be human.
Actress Lee Mi-Yeon plays Su-Yeon a single mother struggling to raise two children on a tailor's salary. Caught between a rebellious, teenage daughter who'd rather make a career out of running the streets and a son whose super secret job happens to be contract killing similar to our main character and Su-Yeon has a lot on her plate. When she meets Hyeong-Do, his support and quiet understanding eases her financial hardships, but more importantly the emotional weight she's carrying. He helps her rediscover what it means to dream again and even brings her closer to fulfilling said dreams. Su-Yeon in-turn helps Hyeong-Do rediscover his humanity and live for something other than killing.
Don't cross the boss.
Any corporate structure is bound to have a completed hierarchy and this one is no different. A Company Man has a large assortment of characters connected with the organization - some good, some bad. Jeon Guk-hwan (above right) plays Representative Jeon, the leader of the organization. He's easy-going and friendly, but don't let that fool you. It takes a special kind of crazy to operate a business where the main product is murder. He's the mastermind behind everything and there's no line he won't cross to keep the organization's existence a secret. Serving directly under him is his stooge Kwon Jong-tae played by Kwak Do-won. Do-won does a great job portraying Jong-tae as this character you love to hate. He's scheming, double-crossing, woefully inept, and is basically an amalgam of every bad boss you've ever had. Yoo Ha-bok plays Jin Chae-gook, who was Hyeong-Do's handler before tragic events force him to turn rogue and place him into direct conflict with our lead. There are other characters including Ban Ji-hoon (played by Lee Geung-young) who is a washed-up, old assassin who has nothing in his life but money with no one to spend it on and a fancy car with no one to drive around in. Ban Ji-hoon is particularly interesting because he is in many ways an uncomfortable picture of Hyeong-Do's future. The lives of these characters all intertwine to create a compelling crime drama told through tears, bullets, and bloodshed.
Giving one HELL of a two weeks notice!
Any Korean crime drama worth its salt better have some good action and 'A Company Man' is no slouch. The film does an excellent job of having fights play out in very close quarters which makes the action more visceral. Hyeong-Do knows how to throwdown and whether he's up against multiple opponents or people older and more experienced than himself he knows how to bring them down all the same. The fight scenes also have an emotional weight because many of Hyeong-Do's enemies are people he's known for years and in some cases decades. There are times when he asks them to stop fighting for their own sake and when they don't he has to put them down. In addition, there's an office shootout that will make fans of Max Payne 3 proud.
The film's impressive score is composed by Mowg whose resume consists of films from east and west including The Last Stand, I Saw the Devil, Memories of the Sword, The Fatal Encounter, and more than a dozen others. His music perfectly captures the tone of each scene and the ending track carries with it this real sense of finality.
What lay at the end of his road?
A Company Man weaves a powerful tale, but it's certainly not a light-hearted one. This isn't your typical bang, shoot em up action movie. It's a gritty romp through the dark world of contract killing where innocent lives are lost in a war between men who can only find peace at the end of a gun. From the opening hit to the final moment when the last shell casing drops, A Company Man gripped me from beginning to end and I highly recommend it.
