Almost There…
This is a textbook example of mindless entertainment. I’m okay with that.
Ultimate Revenge
Director: Terry Ng • Writer: Ronald Chan
Starring: Alex Fong, Carlos Chan, Louis Cheung, Andy On, German Cheung
Hong Kong • 1hr 50mins
Opens Hong Kong March 5 • IIB
Grade: B
Ultimate Revenge | 衝鋒: 火拼 opens with a seriously bonkers action set piece. It’s unclear if it will stand the test of time the way The Killer’s does, but from among the current crop of urban actioners? It’s pretty good. It starts with an undercover cop – and yeah, it’s cops-and-robbers but it never quite touches copaganda (looking at you, Mercy) – trying to convince a trio of jewel thieves of the veracity of some information he’s selling them. Across the street somewhere in Yau Tsim Mong, detective Ben Cheng (Alex Fong Chung-sun, paternal) is listening in on the conversation, waiting for the moment to spring. Needless to say, it all goes to hell when the trio of – wait – yes brothers, Dragon (Louis Cheung Kai-chung, in killer-cool mode), Mo (Andy On Chi-kit, coiled) and Shia Yuen (Sammy Sum Chun-hin), get squirrelly and decide to take off just as Ben and his crew, which includes Kwai Chan (Chin Ka-lok, doubling as an action choreographer natch), decide they’re going in to get their guy. First a super-tense tong lau hallway shootout and chase down the concrete stairwell which sees the undercover cop dangled down the middle (!), and later strapped to the back of the getaway car (!!) lest the cops choose to ram them. It’s bananas (and it proves our boy Chin Kar-lok still has some tricks up his sleeve for car chases). But it’s also tremendously entertaining for fans of the genre. As stated, it all goes to hell when Ben shoots Shia in an attempt to save his guy, and then Dragon shoots said guy in retaliation. As you may have guessed from the title, these two have it in for each other for the rest of the film.
Looks about right
Ultimate Revenge is a Terry Ng Ka-wai joint (to borrow from Spike), so it follows a pattern Ng is rapidly making his hallmark within the mini-crime universes he’s racking up with an assist from regular writing partner Ronald Chan Kin-hung. There’s always a triad of bros, and very often one or two of them must be played by Louis Cheung or Carlos Chan – ideally both. Ng put in time as an AD on a string of throwback thrillers – The Brink, and S, L and P Storms – before finally breaking out on his own with The Brotherhood of Rebel with Cheung, Chan and Bosco Wong Chung-chak and its sequel, Triad 3. Rebel was also called Triad 2, but for the life of me I can’t find Triad 1. Aside from the Rebel films Ng’s cooked up Hybrid and Crypto Storms, both of them macho actioners about ICAC dudes busting corruption rings. But his Brotherhood thrillers are stronger; they don’t demand much and scratch that persistent itch for an old school crunchy, cacophonous Hong Kong thriller. Ng does them better because he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, and there’s a genuine affection for the form on display.
Which doesn’t mean Chan’s script makes an awful lot of sense. Three years after the disastrous sting, Ben is busted down to beat cop in the same YTM district. Also three years later, Dragon and Mo put their plan for revenge into play. Ben’s not alone though, and despite being a terrible cop he gets back-up from his van patrol crew, which includes Raven (German Cheung Man-kit, also an action choreographer) and rookie Wallace Cheung (oh, there’s Carlos), the brother of the guy strapped to the car. Also in the mix: Dragon and Mo’s obviously POS uncle Kai Kam (Ray Lui Leung-wai), a jade Kwan Yin statue and a magnificent evidence wall. Go.
This is one of those movies that relies on Ben and Wallace being exactly where Dragon and Mo need him to be every single time. Heaven forbid someone cash in their leave time, or the department decides to break up the team. But Ultimate Revenge wouldn’t be the first actioner from Hong Kong or anywhere else to make a narrative sacrifice to the gods of Kaboom and it certainly won’t be the last. And what’s here is worth the effort. That opener, a purely Hong Kong shopping arcade explosion (there are propane tanks involved, ’nuff said), a pair of throwdowns between Mo and Raven – On and Cheung, who’s also contributing fight choreography, look great – a daytime shootout in a Yau Tsim Mong side street and a slick finale in the Cultural Centre (I had no idea these spaces existed in this building if that’s all location shooting) makes it fairly easy to brush aside the wonky plot mechanics, hand-waving and the barest whiff of character development. Ben drinks to much! Wallace is pouty! There’s a captain around to “bust balls”! Right now he’s sitting on this side of workmanlike, but Ng’s proven he’s got an eye for this brand of filmmaking. One day he’s going to get a script worthy of his skill set. And at the rate he’s going (six films in four years) that will be sooner rather than later. And it will have Carlos Chan and Louis Cheung. Waiting.