Modern Detective
Director: Lo Lieh
Year: 1985
Rating: 4.0
If you are a Hong
Kong film fan, chances are that you can count yourself among the fortunate
who have never come across this film. I remember doing so way back when Chinatown
had video stores. Nothing I loved more than my weekly trips to check out
the latest arrivals and wander through their bargain bin. I was not too discerning
a buyer. If it had subs, I was in. This was definitely a bargain bin buy.
It was a pleasant surprise though to see that it was directed by Lo Lieh,
the Shaw action star. But not so thrilling when I realized that it was a
comedy with practically no action. Or laughs. He is also the scriptwriter
of this, so no one else to blame. Why after years of kicking and punching
as a villain, he thought he was funny is a mystery worthy of an investigation
by Mulder and Scully. This is a lot of things, but funny is not one of them.
There are though two cross-eyed actors if that makes you laugh. According
to HKMDB it made over a million HKD at the box office - not bad - so it's
working-class themes may have eluded me. There were a number of films during
this period that were about the put-upon always broke working-class coming
up aces.
This one stars a more slender than usual
Kent Cheng and Liu Wai-hung as two cops barely making ends meet and nowhere
near the top of their class in brains. The plot is a bit episodic until it
finally settles down with an editor who kept cutting scenes before they should
have. They initially get assigned to guard the dead in a mortuary waystation
out in the boonies. They get the job after the dead come to life and scare
two cops to death. And have these two running around like chickens minus
their heads - until one of the dead has his beeper go off. They figure out
what is really going on and get assigned back to Hong Kong. As it turns out,
a supernatural tale would have been the way to go.
Much of the story revolves around their
cramped apartment where they both live which gets even more crowded when
Cheng's fiancé's family comes to stay with him. From China. Illegally.
Liu falls in love with Jane (Yuen Pui-chun) and a sweet romance breaks out.
But they are caught and sent back to the Mainland and our two guys are suspended
for harboring illegals. Meanwhile, a young boy is kidnapped and the kidnappers
headed by Lo Lieh need two suckers to pick up the ransom money. Where could
they find two idiots. This is harmless enough but kind of pointless.
Decent chemistry between all the players made it palatable to finish.
