Wild City is Ringo Lam's first full length feature film since 2007. Ringo Lam is well known because of his high impact films full of raw action. There's also normally a touch of emotional depth. A cast consisting of Louis Koo, Shawn Yue, and Joseph Chang had me so about seeing this film. I haven't seen a Hong Kong film in awhile and what better way to get back into the swing of things then to watch a film with three of my favorite actors from my younger years.
A retired Police office, runs a bar in the center of downtown Hong Kong. One night he meets a young women thanks to awkward circumstances. He brings her to his home where he gets his brother and Mother involved with the women. Soon they find out that this women had a bounty on her head and some of the most dangerous gangs are after her life. A struggle that will leads all the characters through the dark side of Hong Kong is about to began.
Ringo Lam's films never take too long to get to the conflict of the matter but this film does linger a little bit. I was more focused on how each character would be introduced and what they would be like. How would they help make this film a good experience? When the brothers are introduced your already have a general idea of the kind of world the film puts you into. Louis Koo narrates the beginning and end of the film and it sets the viewer up like a trigger for things to come. Once the conflict starts, the film moves at a decent speed only stopping for a few important interaction scenes. These scenes add emotional connectivity from the characters to the viewer as you learn about the background of not only the film's heroes but also it's villains. The fact that this film didn't rely on the same old same martial arts stunts to keep the audience engaged was impressive to me. Fights for the film are more real to life with the actors fighting like any normal human being would react in the situations they were in. Hong Kong has always had great car action sequences so watching the action in Wild City was like a trip down memory lane to the times I use to watch films like Internal Affairs.
None of the characters served as a challenge for either of the actors this time around. I've seen Shawn Yue play a role like the one in this film many times before but he did well. Louis Koo wears the role he had like a second skin. He probably had a hard time pull that character off him after the director yelled cut. He an extremely talented actor and the most highest paid one in Hong Kong. Joseph Chang would still be the rookie of the three actors but he continues to grow with each film. He is most known for the film Eternal Summer where he won two awards and high praise. I made it a point to support him by buying his other films. In fact, I made a post about one of his other film, Keeping Watch. Chang naturally looks big and intimidating because of his body type so he looks the part of a Gangster. The North American cover also has his face of the cover.(See picture above.) Sensitivity of human emotion for the people you love was brought to each character by the actors. Sometimes I didn't feel like anyone was actually the villain because both parties had something they had to protect. The gang were still criminals but they had a goal where they felt like the only way to reach that goal was to take on jobs having to do with killing others. When you lived a certain way all your life, you might feel like that's the only way to live. Its sad because living a life of crime never ends well. Louis Koo's character did things in his past too but I'm not going to ruin my spoiler free blog by telling you. His narration also added a strong knowledgeable tone to the film through his point of view.
Directors always make Hong Kong look like its hot and muggy there. The place looks like its has a lot going on there as well as a lack of space. Did you see how narrow certain streets are?? I think Ringo Lam wanted that edge look for the film though. They take the film out to the water for a few scenes too. It still looked smoky and muggy even though I was looking at islands full of trees. Some shots are dimly lit while the only light used it some coming through a window's curtain. Many scenes are shot at night except for a select few in the middle of the film and at the end. A day scene was needed at the end of the film. It was a LONG night folks.
Wild City was worth the money I paid for the dvd. I thought the film was going to be predictable at first but it held its own for a spot in the thriller genre. Ringo Lim needs to do more films because the Hong Kong film industry continues to be kind of dry for me. He could be that flow of water they need.
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