The Wild Couple
Director: Ridley Tsui
Year: 1996
Rating: 5.5
The question this film asks is can a psychotic couple on the run stay in
love. They are a Hong Kong Bonnie and Clyde but with better kung-fu. This
is a serviceable crime film from a year before the Handover and one senses
that the producers were quite aware of that fact. Some Hong Kong films around
then were clearly concerned about the impending date while others played
it safe and played up to the Mainland. This one gives it a big old hug. A
lot of decent action but often it finds itself coming to a dead stop to switch
to other characters who are much less interesting.
It stars two of my favorite Hong Kong actors - Roy Cheung when he almost
always played nasty villains or triad bad guys - and Lily Chung. Poor sexy
Lily Chung got stuck in some roles where she is just horribly victimized
as in Red to Kill and Daughter of Darkness - two films that are cult films
for how insane and mean-spirited they are. In Sexy and Dangerous her name
is Aids so you can imagine how she is in that. Here Lily gets to be on the
other side of that and victimizes others. Good for her. If anyone has seen
the Moon Lee film Fatal Termination where the child hangs out of the moving
car, take that and multiply it by 2. Not only does a small girl get hung
out of a moving van but gets smacked around a few times and food mushed into
her face. I hope her parents were well-paid for terrorizing their child so
that they could pay the therapist that their child likely needed for years.
The two of them along with a friend steal money from another thief and escape
into the Mainland. Big mistake because from the minute they land by boat
the stalwart Mainland cops are after them. So are the guys they stole the
money from. Some nice shoot-outs and chases follow - but then they kidnap
a little girl and the film hits a roadblock. Way too much time is spent on
the parents and the cops. Who really cares? Ah, the Mainland authorities.
The star attractions are Roy and Lily who can't keep their hands off each
other - even when fighting for their lives. In her black leather and flaming
red lipsticked lips I can't really blame him. It is kind of cute. The cops
are portrayed as honorable, brave and caring. The Hong Kongers not so much.
But they have a lot more fun.
