Dark War
Director: Jaime Luk
Year:
2001
Rating: 5.0
Am digging out another obscure Hong Kong film
from my unseen pile from years ago. There was a day when there were these
things called video stores where you could actually walk into them and browse
through hundreds of dvds. Sounds like magic I know, but they existed. I used
to go down to Chinatown nearly every weekend and see what new films had come
in and unless it looked really dreadful, I would pick it up. It did not take
much to rope me into buying it - in this case Pinky Cheung on the cover.
But as much as I like Pinky, it took me 23 years to get around to watching
it. And it actually isn't bad. It surpassed the dreadful barrier. By a smidgeon.
The cast is solid, the cinematography gives it a sharp bright look, the action
choreography is watchable but someone forgot to write a decent script. It
makes practically no sense at all. Well, you can't have everything.
It is shot in the Philippines giving you
a good hint as to the budget of the film. but at the same time they hire
Pinky, Kurata Yasuaki, Timmy Hung, Leung Kar-yan and Peter Ho. Peter was
coming off some solid films, The Truth About Jane and Sam, Deja Vu and Born
to Be King. He has one of those earnest handsome faces that look to be a
sure thing in films. These were not great times for Hong Kong films though
and so working in the Philippines probably sounded like a good idea. Especially
with a veteran like Jaime Luk directing. Luk played a thick headed thug in
over 150 films but also directed Robotrix which puts him right in my book.
Just a little fixing of the script would have been a good idea. Just an hour
or so of working it through. Like bringing in sub plots and finishing that
story.
It goes back and forth and around with a
series of flashbacks - to the point where the chronology gets murky. It begins
with Kurata walking down an alley at night and giving a beggar a ten dollar
bill. He is then accosted by two men and a fight breaks out. Cool, literally
three minutes into the film and the legendary Kurata is beating up two guys
with a nice series of kicks. But then they pull out guns and it looks bad
till that beggar jumps in and takes the two guys out. Kurata thanks him and
offers to pay him to which he responds, you already did. The beggar is actually
not a beggar at all but Ken (Peter Ho) who is a hitman for his brother's
company, Tin-Ho. Why he is sitting in that alley is never revealed. When
in the chronology of the film? Your guess is as good as mine. His brother
Henry has plans to make Tin-Ho the biggest company in the world! And he needs
Ken to kill people from time to time. But one hit is not all that well thought
out and he gets arrested and imprisoned.
He is able to escape when someone blows
up the transportation bus with a grenade launcher. Why? It is never revealed.
Next thing we know he is working in a short-time hotel along with Kurata,
Timmy Hung (son of Sammo) and Timmy's sister. He also dabbles in being a
hitman. For $10 a hit. A hooker brings in a customer, tries to steal from
him and is beaten up. Ken coincidentally gets hired to kill the hooker's
mom who lives in a destitute apartment and is stopped when the hooker walks
in and drops her top. Instead, he kills the middle man. That always spells
trouble. Why was the old lady targeted? It is never revealed. Pinky is sort
of his girlfriend - she plays piano in a bar and sleeps with a live rabbit
at night. Why a rabbit? It is never revealed. Pinky must have been thinking,
I came to the Philippines for this. Sure enough a psycho killer - as opposed
to a clean-cut killer like Ken - shows up and the film gets very brutal.
Not nice brutal. He (Vincent Sze) is a man who enjoys his job. Who hired
him? Why is he killing everyone? It is never revealed.
