King of Robbery
Director: Billy Chung
Year: 1996
Rating: 5.5
One of a slew of Hong Kong crime films in the 1990s
that were based on a real life criminals. This criminal was Yip Kai Foon
and if he was anything like Simon Yam portrays him on screen, he was one
crazy bastard that you would not want to come within a mile of. The film
was actually made while his trial was going on and had to be delayed. Why
filmmakers would produce a film about a psycho in less than flattering terms
when he might be freed strikes me as nutty. As it turned out, Yip was found
guilty and sent to prison for the rest of his life. No report on whether
the film was shown in jail.
There isn't really a lot of subtlety or character development in the film
unless you count killing any one who gets in their way or annoys them as
character development. The plot isn't much more sophisticated. Steal - shoot-
kill - escape. Boss Sing (Simon Yam) is in a mental institution - not hard
to guess why - when he escapes with the help of his gang (Roy Cheung among
them). He does what most escapees would do - drink, party at karaoke's, find
a place to live, hang out with his friends, find a girlfriend (Anita Lee)
- oh and buy weapons including AK-47s and rob gold stores. Lots of them.
And when the cops show up (Bowie Lam) all hell breaks out with more gun fire
than a small war. The shootouts were so brazen and insane that people thought
they were shooting a film. Boy, that is really realistic. Wait, I just got
shot. And this is basically what the film consists of - robberies,
killing, down time, the cops chasing them and having sex. Sooner or later
you know this paradise has to end. In blood. The film ends with a frozen
postscript in Chinese that I expect explains what happened later.
So a lot of violence, dead bodies, spent cartridge's and not great shooting
by the cops. It does drag when they are not killing someone - just sitting
around the room moping. These shoot outs and chases are clearly shot on the
streets of Hong Kong and it is the Hong Kong feel of this film whether on
the streets or bars that I most appreciated. Simon Yam isn't given a lot
of room for much emotional exploration nor any of the other characters but
they look great with guns in their hands. Yip Kai Foon was convicted in 1997
after he had been paralyzed in a gun battle with the cops - and spent his
life behind bars till he died of cancer in 2017.
Here are the films from Wikipedia that were based on his life.
The Most Dangerous Man (2010, 最．危險人物; Zuì wéixiǎn rénwù).
Yim Foon portrayed by Karel Wong
The King of Robbery (1996, 悍匪; Hàn Fěi; 'Ruthless'). Chan Sing portrayed
by Simon Yam
Hong Kong's King of Thieves (香港盜賊之王). Yip Kai-foon portrayed by Chan Wah
Trivisa (2016). Yip Kwok-foon portrayed by Richie Jen
