Tweet
S P L is one of the better Hong Kong action/martial arts films to come down the pipe in some time. Sammo Hung (Jackie Chan's training buddy when they were a part of the Peking Opera Company - known on North American shores for the TV show Martial Law with Arsenio Hall), Donnie Yen (the guy in Hero that Jet Li fought first - the guy with the spear) and Simon Yam (mostly unknown here, he did play a villian in the Jean Claude Van Damme straight to video car wreck called Wake of Death, and the best thing in it) are all going head to head in a very operatically themed crime film with some of the best, long take martial art fight sequences done in a while without the reliance of wire fu acrobatics or choppy editing to make things seem faster than they are.
Simon Yam is a seasoned veteran cop in charge of a corrupt police unit that operates in a similar fashion to Michael Chiklis's team in The Sheild. Yam is forced into retirement because of a diagnosed brain tumour that could go either way with surgery. Donnie Yen is a up and comer cop that is set to take over Yam's unit, who has a very straight arrow reputation and a guy who can get the job done. It's Sammo Hung who's the real star of this film however, as he's the crime boss running every kind of vice imaginable and has the unwavering loyalty of the underworld. For those who don't know Sammo, what's incredible about this guy is that he's a BIG guy. Heavy (he's nearly 250 lbs), and you'd think pretty unfit. But for a guy his size, the man moves with incredible speed and agility that most gymnasts would have trouble competing with.
Sammo Hung's character isn't however the over the top/quasi insane villian that you see in most crime films. He's a father whose wife has miscarried twice and a man that cares for the people that work for him.
This is one hell of an action film that's just starting to get the DVD release rounds in the asian markets, but I've managed to find a few places that have copies with Region 1 encoding and decent subtitles. It's a great film, and a lot better than anything you could ask for.
Simon Yam is a seasoned veteran cop in charge of a corrupt police unit that operates in a similar fashion to Michael Chiklis's team in The Sheild. Yam is forced into retirement because of a diagnosed brain tumour that could go either way with surgery. Donnie Yen is a up and comer cop that is set to take over Yam's unit, who has a very straight arrow reputation and a guy who can get the job done. It's Sammo Hung who's the real star of this film however, as he's the crime boss running every kind of vice imaginable and has the unwavering loyalty of the underworld. For those who don't know Sammo, what's incredible about this guy is that he's a BIG guy. Heavy (he's nearly 250 lbs), and you'd think pretty unfit. But for a guy his size, the man moves with incredible speed and agility that most gymnasts would have trouble competing with.
Sammo Hung's character isn't however the over the top/quasi insane villian that you see in most crime films. He's a father whose wife has miscarried twice and a man that cares for the people that work for him.
This is one hell of an action film that's just starting to get the DVD release rounds in the asian markets, but I've managed to find a few places that have copies with Region 1 encoding and decent subtitles. It's a great film, and a lot better than anything you could ask for.
.... added a buttload of reviews to that blog now
Comment