On lok jin cheung

I may not have seen that many movies from Hong-Kong, but in the ones I have there's always the same thing annoying me tremendously. I'm referring to the sudden, abrupt, and extreme leaps in tone and atmosphere. One moment, you're looking at something that almost feels like slapstick, then the next you're in the middle of a sadist and disturbing thriller. It's also like this in "Fatal Vacation".

I almost turned off the film after half an hour because it felt like a lame comedy about uptight and eccentric tourists from Hong-Kong traveling around in The Philippines. The first half hour only features idiotic situations (like males dancing in bikinis) and stereotype comedy-characters, like an over-enthusiast tour guide, a dancing midget, an overbearing grandmother, and an adulterous husband. Then, practically out of nowhere, the group is taken hostage by a violent band of guerillas, and there isn't anything to laugh about anymore. The tourists are brutally executed, regardless of age or gender, raped and beaten up. It may just be me, but my autistic brain short-circuited due to this sudden shift in tone. The half hour of comedy is quite annoying, but the barbaric half isn't much better. It's unoriginal, raw, and deeply unpleasant.

Bizarre detail, this extremely obscure (at least, I assume it is) stars the recognizable American - although with obvious Chinese roots - actor Victor Wong, known from cult hits "Big Trouble in Little China", "Prince of Darkness" and my personal favorite monster-movie "Tremors". This guy was the inventor of the name "Graboids", I'll have you know!

When this narrowly distributed flick was made, Eric Tsang was playing soprano-voiced goofballs in piles of average Hong Kong forgettables. Now, he's matured beautifully and he's playing crime bosses in accomplished dramas like "Infernal Affairs". In other words, he's come a long way, baby! "Fatal Vacation" is one of the few features Tsang has directed, and it's a keeper.

Simple set-up for maximum bloodshed: A bus load of holiday makers are taken hostage by brutal, unreasonable revolutionaries. They do what they can to survive and end up dead for their efforts. Most do, anyway.

Being a child of late Eighties Hong Kong cinema, this is a graphic, unapologetic, mean-spirited exploitationer with close to a dozen jaw-dropping displays of vicious mayhem. It moves like a bullet train and is efficiently directed by Tsang. The rural setting is pictorially interesting and acts as a stark counterpoint to the deliciously gory violence, some of which is admirably shocking.

Eric Tsang directed and starred in this vacationer's worst nightmare of a movie, Fatal Vacation. This Hong Kong film tells the story of group of Chinese people that are on vacation in the Philippines and their tour guide is funny and optimistic Bob, played by director Tsang. Soon the group is kidnapped and taken hostage by some local revolutionaries who have their member in prison. They will free the tourists if their member is freed by the Philippines government. After many killings and rapes by the kidnappers, our group gets a chance to fight back and so they do.

This is a routine Hong Kong heroic bloodshed action with plenty of humor elements, but not too much, fortunately. As an action film, this is only mediocre and offers nothing special when compared to the real masterpieces made in Hong Kong. Photography is nothing special this time, but at least the action scenes are fairly interesting and explosive. There is one harrowing scene that reminds me of similar scene in John Woo's Bullet in the Head and its savage war camp segment, that is still far more disturbing than the scene in Fatal Vacation. The scene in Fatal Vacation ends in one of the more memorable "heroic death" scenes in Hong Kong cinema, and that is a must see for fans of the genre. Otherwise, as mentioned, this is pretty mediocre Eastern actioner, pretty violent but never as powerful and masterful as the real classics made in Hong Kong. Still, this is worth checking out for fans of Hong Kong cinema.

There are many scenes that depict the fears of future and what will happen to Hong Kong in 1997. That was a topic in many Hong Kong films made before 1997 so Fatal Vacation is among many others to criticize and depict these fears. The humor is sometimes too stupid as Eric Tsang tries to be funny (he succeeds also) but still this is not any slapstick Stephen Chow film, fortunately.

I give Fatal Vacation 6/10 and recommend it for fans of the genre only. If one has seen masterpieces of Ringo Lam, John Woo and Mak brothers among others, then this feels pretty tame, but still watchable film.

A fast-paced actionfest about a group of tourist who are kidnapped by some local terrorists while on vacation on the Philippines. Who will survive and what will be left of them? FATAL VACATION is a great and very violent (and I do mean VERY violent) action movie with some sequences that are pretty hard to watch. The bodycount is incredible (mostly of the bodies-riddled-with-bullets variety) and though it's not so gory one doesn't shy away from the violence either. Recommended. The HKMDB states a CAT IIb rating, but my VCD is rated Category III.

This one did not look promising, mainly because no 'name' Hong Kong actors were in it. but it turned out to be a pretty decent thriller. some scenes were pretty intense and violent, but realistic. acting was overall OK, i just wish Hong Kong actors wouldn't shout so much.