Producers: John Chong and Wilson Yip Director: Soi Cheang Screenplay: Au Kin-Yee Au, Chan Tai-Lee, Jack Lai Chun and Shum Kwan-Sin Cast: Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, Terrance (Chun-Him) Lau, Philip Ng, Richie Jen, German Cheung, Tony Tsz-Tung Wu, Tak-Bun Wong, Fish Liew, Wan Ching Won, Kenny Wong, Cecilia Choi and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung Distributor: Well Go USA
Grade: B
A martial arts epic set in a sprawling but claustrophobic environment, Soi Cheang’s “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” is long and convoluted but extraordinarily stylish and viscerally exciting. The locale is Kowloon, the erstwhile fortress in Hong Kong that became a lawless, densely populated enclave controlled by triad gangs for much of the latter part of the twentieth century. The plot, adapted by a quartet of scriptwriters from the novel “City of Darkness” by Yu-Yi (Yu Wing Leung) with a nod to the manhwa of the same name illustrated by Andy Seto, revolves around struggles for control among gang leaders in the years preceding the British turnover of Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland government that was completed in 1997.
The background is set out economically in an action-filled opening explaining how Jim (Aaron Kwok), the former criminal overlord of the Kowloon realm, was overthrown in a war led by other triad leaders, who assumed joint control after his fall. The senior partner is Cyclone (Louis Koo), whose headquarters is his barber shop; his army includes his lieutenant Shin (Terrance Lau), who’s good with a motorcycle; Twelfth Master (Tony Wu), who wields a mean sword; and AV (German Cheung), a kickboxer who hides his scarred face with heavy bandages and tends to the wounded. Cyclone maintains good relations with other leaders, most notably Dik Chau (Richie Jen), whose family was killed by Jim and is intent on taking revenge on the dead leader’s son, who survived the war but has never been identified.
One boss stands apart from the others: bellicose Mr. Big (Sammo Hung), a drug lord who schemes to acquire property in the cramped, multi-tiered enclave with the intention of selling it at a profit to the incoming Chinese government. His lieutenant is King (Philip Ng), a flamboyant fighter who’s endowed with “spirit powers” that render him virtually impervious to injury. A small army of soldiers with varied loyalties add to the mix, which is almost exclusively male, though there are a few women, mostly prostitutes who are often brutalized by their clients; the most noticeable is Fanny (Fish Liew), whose little daughter (Wan Ching Won) tears up over the violence she witnesses.
Into this tense, volatile mix of warriors and frenemies comes Chan Lok-kwan (Raymond Lam), a desperate young man in need of an ID card to remain in Hong Kong. When Mr. Big stiffs him in a deal to get him the document, he steals a bag of what he thinks is money from the boss; it actually contains drugs, and brings down King and his comrades on him. But Chan makes it into Kowloon, where he’s taken up by Cyclone and, after some initial resistance, his three top guys. Of course, Chan’s real identity eventually comes out—you can guess who he is—and Chau goes ballistic, bringing chaos that Mr. Big is happy to take advantage of.
In the ensuing mayhem Chan is injured and lies wounded for a long while, but all the others are very active, including Cyclone and Mr. Big, who face off against each other in a knockdown battle. But the big finale is the one in which Chan, Shin, Twelfth Master and AV join forces to take on the apparently invincible King, whose supernatural powers appear unassailable. That battle goes on in a light bulb-festooned square dominated by the so-called Dragon Throne, through the multi-storied ghettos, across rooftops and fire escapes until finally the way to short-circuit King’s advantage is revealed—purely by accident.
That’s just the most spectacular of the martial-arts sequences choreographed by Kenji Tanigaki and his team which are executed by the cast, many of them legendary stars of the genre, with amazing facility and edited by Cheung Ka-fai with vigor. (He and Cheang handle the intervening non-action scenes solemnly, however, which while perhaps necessary to keep the complicated plot coherent, does make for some heavy going.) Though Lam, to be honest, makes a rather bland hero, the older contingent is fantastic, and his three young comrades are all charismatic, each in his own way. Best of all is Ng, whose preening, over-the-top King sports a malicious cackle that would make Tommy Udo envious.
And the action is staged against a background that’s equally extravagant. Mak Kwok keung’s production design creates a world of dark corners, tight corridors and buildings constructed atop one another that’s rich in detail (there’s a dedication to the late Bruce Yu for “image design”), at once monumental and stifling. Cinematographer Cheng Siu- keung uses it lovingly in his widescreen visuals, while Kenji Kawai contributes an energetic score that wouldn’t be out of place in a typical Hollywood blockbuster.
A caption at the close informs us that the criminal enclave was demolished by the British colonial regime in 1993, before Hong Kong was transferred to the Chinese government. But while the historical Kowloon might be gone, we’ll always have Cheang’s outrageously exhilarating evocation of it.