Let me get this right out of the way from the off: Saat Po Long (SPL) is an OK film. It has fights, it has Sammo Hung as a bad guy (surprising), it has Simon Yam as a good guy who has become fairly bad in his quest for justice (usual), it has Donnie Yen as a hard as nails cop (enough said) and it has Jacky Wu as Hung's very effective right hand man. The secondary policemen characters also fair very well with their stereotypes: the hard boiled, highly strung one with unresolved parental issues... the divorced man trying to reconnect with his daughter... and the young, brash one... They never approach their roles with anything other than 100% commitment. Which is where the problems start.
This is a chop suey film, pure and simple. The chief bad guy, Sammo, is acquitted at the start of the film thanks to his subordinate, Wu, running down Yam's car and killing the witness inside along with various other people, though Simon and that witnesses' daughter are left alive. Soon Yam finds he also has a malignant brain tumour which he has a slim chance of surviving. Anyways, Simon naturally does the logical thing and focuses on bringing Hung down once and for all, even sneaking an informer into Sammo's gang. But, after three years, Yam has little to show for his obsession. Sure he's knocked over any number of Hung's drug hideouts but he's not after Sammo's cash supply and, with just 3 days left to retirement, he still hasn't got his man.
Enter Donnie Yen. Undoubtedly brilliant at martial arts, Yen is less good as an actor and this film really tries to wring some tear jerking performances out of its stars. Unfortunately it's really rather difficult to take it seriously when, after a good 30 minutes of extrapolation, the fighting starts. Prior to this the storytelling has come fairly quickly and should be recounted for the sake of explaining some of the directions this film goes. Put simply: Yen is coming in, Yam is on his way out... some of Sammo's money has been stolen by the members of Simon's team... Yam's informer has been found and iced by an incredibly badly dressed subordinate of Hung... the slaying was filmed by a slightly retarded guy (I think that's what he's meant to be)... there's another bloke who's retarded thanks to being punched by Donnie years before... and Sammo's seemingly barren wife has finally borne him a son... So far so... huh?
Yes, with all these strands of plot coming and going, including all the personal histories of the five policemen, some of which is almost painfully badly shown with one phone call after another coming to each man in turn, SPL has a lot to cram in to 90 minutes and cram it does, with the inevitable disappearance of answers to certain important questions. Similarly the places the characters go in this film are really very dark indeed, particularly as the policemen, with a reluctant Yen brought on board, start to alter the evidence of the informer's death to show that it was Sammo, rather than badly dressed subordinate number 2 (more on number 1 shortly), who pulled the trigger. Sammo is a psychotic gang boss, given to showing real rage, not to mention an impressive range of acting. Simon's 3 subordinates happily help their boss force a suspect to kill himself and, when Donnie does join them, the 5 men are soon buying guns and swapping evidence with amoral abandon. Yen's eventual departure from the force to bring justice on Hung's organisation is also fairly over the top. And, most jarringly, much of these rapid changes of attitude and utter ruthlessness are hamfistedly juxtaposed with moments of light heartedness and reminders that, at heart, all these men just want to be happy...
So, as a drama, SPL fails, despite its noble effort at being an emotive movie. However, once the fists start flying, it really comes into its own. In fact, it truly reminds me of another overly serious chop suey film: Jackie Chan's Crime Story, which is a very similar movie with overwrought drama brought together with over the top action. But, like Crime Story, if you're prepared to forgive SPL a little it is highly enjoyable as a guilty pleasure. This is partly thanks to Jacky Wu, badly dressed subordinate number 1, who is soon slicing and dicing his way into the movie, having only appeared for a moment in the first half as a knife wielding assassin. By the time Yam and Yen are left alone we've been treated to some well shot and well choreographed action which was enhanced by direction that created a real sense of ominousness in each situation. When Simon and Donnie decide that the time has come to take Hung down, we're ready for some hardcore martial arts and none of the leads disappoint, Yam doing his stock one man war with his usual skill while Yen's duels with Wu and subsequently Hung have a refreshing spontaneity to them. The conclusion of the fighting is also incredibly surprising.
With the end of the chop suey the film is pretty much over, though with only the most cryptic of epilogues that fails to offer an explanation for what happened in the aftermath of the, quite frankly, bloodbath the film ended up as. In essence this sums SPL up: it is an atypical Hong Kong action/fighting film that over stretches itself in its desire to be a proper movie, thereby resulting in some clumsy delivery of what, in better hands, may well have been a strong story, though credit must go to writers and directors for trying something so ambitious. Still, in the end, they may want to try taking the three genres, drama, action and fighting, one at a time in future before attempting any further blends.
This is a chop suey film, pure and simple. The chief bad guy, Sammo, is acquitted at the start of the film thanks to his subordinate, Wu, running down Yam's car and killing the witness inside along with various other people, though Simon and that witnesses' daughter are left alive. Soon Yam finds he also has a malignant brain tumour which he has a slim chance of surviving. Anyways, Simon naturally does the logical thing and focuses on bringing Hung down once and for all, even sneaking an informer into Sammo's gang. But, after three years, Yam has little to show for his obsession. Sure he's knocked over any number of Hung's drug hideouts but he's not after Sammo's cash supply and, with just 3 days left to retirement, he still hasn't got his man.
Enter Donnie Yen. Undoubtedly brilliant at martial arts, Yen is less good as an actor and this film really tries to wring some tear jerking performances out of its stars. Unfortunately it's really rather difficult to take it seriously when, after a good 30 minutes of extrapolation, the fighting starts. Prior to this the storytelling has come fairly quickly and should be recounted for the sake of explaining some of the directions this film goes. Put simply: Yen is coming in, Yam is on his way out... some of Sammo's money has been stolen by the members of Simon's team... Yam's informer has been found and iced by an incredibly badly dressed subordinate of Hung... the slaying was filmed by a slightly retarded guy (I think that's what he's meant to be)... there's another bloke who's retarded thanks to being punched by Donnie years before... and Sammo's seemingly barren wife has finally borne him a son... So far so... huh?
Yes, with all these strands of plot coming and going, including all the personal histories of the five policemen, some of which is almost painfully badly shown with one phone call after another coming to each man in turn, SPL has a lot to cram in to 90 minutes and cram it does, with the inevitable disappearance of answers to certain important questions. Similarly the places the characters go in this film are really very dark indeed, particularly as the policemen, with a reluctant Yen brought on board, start to alter the evidence of the informer's death to show that it was Sammo, rather than badly dressed subordinate number 2 (more on number 1 shortly), who pulled the trigger. Sammo is a psychotic gang boss, given to showing real rage, not to mention an impressive range of acting. Simon's 3 subordinates happily help their boss force a suspect to kill himself and, when Donnie does join them, the 5 men are soon buying guns and swapping evidence with amoral abandon. Yen's eventual departure from the force to bring justice on Hung's organisation is also fairly over the top. And, most jarringly, much of these rapid changes of attitude and utter ruthlessness are hamfistedly juxtaposed with moments of light heartedness and reminders that, at heart, all these men just want to be happy...
So, as a drama, SPL fails, despite its noble effort at being an emotive movie. However, once the fists start flying, it really comes into its own. In fact, it truly reminds me of another overly serious chop suey film: Jackie Chan's Crime Story, which is a very similar movie with overwrought drama brought together with over the top action. But, like Crime Story, if you're prepared to forgive SPL a little it is highly enjoyable as a guilty pleasure. This is partly thanks to Jacky Wu, badly dressed subordinate number 1, who is soon slicing and dicing his way into the movie, having only appeared for a moment in the first half as a knife wielding assassin. By the time Yam and Yen are left alone we've been treated to some well shot and well choreographed action which was enhanced by direction that created a real sense of ominousness in each situation. When Simon and Donnie decide that the time has come to take Hung down, we're ready for some hardcore martial arts and none of the leads disappoint, Yam doing his stock one man war with his usual skill while Yen's duels with Wu and subsequently Hung have a refreshing spontaneity to them. The conclusion of the fighting is also incredibly surprising.
With the end of the chop suey the film is pretty much over, though with only the most cryptic of epilogues that fails to offer an explanation for what happened in the aftermath of the, quite frankly, bloodbath the film ended up as. In essence this sums SPL up: it is an atypical Hong Kong action/fighting film that over stretches itself in its desire to be a proper movie, thereby resulting in some clumsy delivery of what, in better hands, may well have been a strong story, though credit must go to writers and directors for trying something so ambitious. Still, in the end, they may want to try taking the three genres, drama, action and fighting, one at a time in future before attempting any further blends.