Bodyguards of the Last Governor
Director: Alfred Cheung
Year: 1996
Rating: 5.5
This pre-Handover
satire/comedy from Alfred Cheung and Wong Jing just never quite takes off
– its like a balloon with just enough helium to keep it from crashing down
to the ground, but not enough to take it anywhere. Every now and then though
a sudden gust of humor will raise your hopes. Admittedly, much of the satire
was directed at real life HK politicians and the pre-Handover situation and
much of it no doubt flew right by me.
In this Wong Jing fantasy, Chris Patton is
forced out of office a few months before the big date in 1997 and the English
government as a joke appoints a Chinese cook living in the UK as the new
Governor of HK. Law Kar-Ying receives this news with great glee as it will
give him a chance to have Stephen Chow tell him jokes and to be able to have
both Amy Yip and Diana Pang Dan as his mistresses. Worthy goals for a man
to aim for!
The film pokes a lot of fun at the mass maneuvering going on in the HK government
in the days leading up to the Handover. Officials are trying to discern who
will have power in the post-Handover days – and kissing up to them while completely
dissing those who they think will soon be out of power.
The main story though focuses around a plot
to kill the Governor – by a family with a grudge – and the two bodyguards
(Eric Kot and Michael Chow) who are assigned to protect him. Jet Li (Bodyguard
from Beijing) these guys are not! I wouldn’t trust my lunch sandwich with
these guys. In one amusing scene (of which there were a few in this film),
the two of them go for training where they learn to both withstand and give
torture. But they are given a scenario where they are trapped on a desert
island with the Governor and with only a knife, a half bottle of water, a
tin of food and a pack of condoms – and what would they do to safeguard the
life of the Governor. Kot’s bizarre mind goes off on a very inventive and
silly riff.
Eric Kot is actually bearable in this film – often I find him insufferable
– and he has some humorous moments – such as being trapped in a bathroom stall
with the Governor in the next one – and only one roll of tissue paper between
them. Almost as ridiculous as a Chinese cook being appointed Governor is
the fact that Kot is married to the delicious Chingmy Yau. Chingmy doesn’t
have nearly enough screen time here for my dollar but she looks great as usual.
In one good scene she suspects Eric of two-timing her (like anyone with
half a mind would two-time Chingmy!) and goes to snoop on him at work. In
the meantime, a female assassin is making an attempt on the Governor’s life
and Kot is wrestling with her on a bed – and getting the worst of it. Hearing
all the yells and moans Chingmy breaks in and beats the hell out of this woman
who she thinks is having an affair with Eric.
And so on. Nothing really great as the film is unfocused – does it want
to be a satire or a typical Jing low brow comedy – but it can’t make up its
mind. As I said one of the film threads follows a woman (Law Koon-Lan) who
is a high official and she seems to be having a romance with an official from
the HK Democratic Party and also with a high official from the Mainland. She
is called Ansin – so I assume she is suppose to be Anson Chan (one of the
top administrators in HK) but I just don’t know enough about the political
situation in HK to follow what this all really meant.
As a postscript – the film follows the lives of the characters after the
Handover and both Chow and Kot are assigned to the Official Torture Section!
Liz Kong – one of my favorite new actresses
– has a very small role as the daughter of the Governor and gives Kot quite
the neck hickey!
