Born Wild
Reviewed by YTSL
The first -- and way darker -- of two 2001 efforts
from Patrick Leung boasts not one but three action directors, and impressive
ones they look to be too. Despite their comprising Yuen Tak (whose
previous credits include collaborations on “The Iceman Cometh”, “She Shoots
Straight”, “Once Upon a Time in China III” and “My Father is a Hero”) and
Mars (a long-time member of Jackie Chan’s stunt team) as well as Yong Wai
Fai (someone without as sterling connections as his colleagues) plus the
visually stylish movie they worked on being categorized as an “action” film
on the HKMDB though, the fourth full directorial effort of the helmer of
the very first Milkyway Image production -- “Beyond Hypothermia”...but, interestingly,
no other since -- actually is his least blood-splattered (crime) dramatic
offering of the three that I’ve viewed thus far (if nothing else than because
boxing gloved hands, rather than firearms, are the weapons of choice of this
work’s primary fighters).
Once more then, like he did with the under-rated “Task Force” (that may be
best known as the luminescent Charlie Yeung’s last film), director Leung
has confounded my expectations with regards to the action quotient of a production
headed by someone who had been John Woo’s frequent assistant along with the
scriptwriter of “Bullet in the Head”. While I don’t necessarily consider
it to be a bad thing for a movie to not be very bloody, I do reckon though
that this fiery titled film -- which essentially starts off with two policemen
informing an individual of the untimely death of a loved one -- would have
benefited from its (supposed) main character having demonstrated that he
had indeed been BORN WILD. That such did not occur is something I attribute
less to the moody work’s having an admittedly lackluster story than to pretty
boy Louis Koo having the lead role in this offering (as Tan Ho, a previously
undefeated underground boxer who gets killed the day before he would have
reached his 26th year).
Another factor that surely contributed to BORN WILD’s failing to be as exciting
as it could have (otherwise) been was that of too much screen-time getting
devoted to: Tan’s tamer fraternal twin brother (Daniel Wu was too restrained,
and therefore didn’t exude much charisma, as the younger -- by three minutes
-- Tide); and that quiet individual’s low-key efforts to belatedly plus slowly
-- albeit surely -- learn more about the young adult life as well as violent
death of the sibling who had walked out of his and their father’s life eight
years ago. While Wu’s fight moves and ability to take a battering look
more convincing than Koo’s, by the rather overdue point in the film that
his windsurfing instructor character finally gets aroused to decisively embark
on a serious, life-threatening even, course of action, my sympathies had
already gone to two supporting as well as flawed -- but also way more interesting
-- players in this Chang Hing Kar and Amy Chin co-scripted offering:
Namely, Tan’s romantic rival-turned-soul mate and fight manager-turned toll
booth operator, Mann (Patrick Tam gave what ended up being a Golden Horse
Best Supporting Actor performance here); and often sad-eyed Sandy (The under-rated
Jo Kuk portrays the woman who steals more than one man’s heart).
IMHO, that this is so is more a tribute to what Patrick Tam and Jo Kuk were
able to make of their underwritten roles than anything else; and they it
was who added some spark to BORN WILD plus almost succeeded in making the
movie feel like it had “heart” as well as -- to quote Peter Martin of the
“A Better Tomorrow” web site -- “style to burn”. Unfortunately, all
their efforts -- plus the no less admirable one of cinematographer Joe Chan
-- were severely undermined by this 109 minute length film seeming to being
bereft of much real intelligence as well as substance. A case in point
of this lack of what’s needed to allow this mediocre movie to rise above
some of its limitations comes in the form of the problematic -- not least
because it didn’t seem all that necessary and therefore seemed quite distracting
-- padding attempt to (biologically) explain how and why it was that Tan
and Tide could have such divergent personalities even though they were born
of the same mother (a woman who only appeared in somewhat disjointed flashback
scenes).
To my mind, the nominal brains of BORN WILD also showed their stupidity by
their choice of target for Tide to attempt to exact revenge on for the murder
of his twin brother. Since I risk spoiling the movie for those who
have yet to view it (and still want to even after reading this review of
that which I would feel frustrated with, if I could get motivated to care
that much about it), it is suggested that they stop reading at this juncture.
To those who have viewed this work (and actually do think that it’s worth
discussing), here’s soliciting your opinion re why it was that Tide opted
to only go after the individual who delivered the fatal blows that killed
Tan -- but really was just as much of a small potato in the greater scheme
of things -- instead of the truly underhanded characters who run the sleazy
plus illegal world of underground boxing plus do gain the most from having
certain men beating others into a pulp?
My rating for this film: 5.