Taxi Hunter

Anthony Wong portrays a mild-mannered business man who's life is turned upside down when his pregnant wife is ran over by a greedy taxi driver. Wong goes mad with grief and begans a new calling in life, riding the world of bad cab drivers. Yu Rong Guang plays his cop friend that he's unknowingly tracking down

TAXI HUNTER is the Hong Kong version of Joel Schumacher's FALLING DOWN, with Herman Yau favourite Antony Wong adopting the Michael Douglas role of a mild-mannered insurance broker whose life goes off the rails when his pregnant wife is involved an accident. This one has a low key and gritty approach that nonetheless shoehorns some vehicular mayhem into the plot template. It's passionate and psychological, looking at a specific problem in society and handling it in a typically Chinese style.

I don't love this film but I like it. I'm not really sure why but I know what I don't like about it, and many Hong Kong films, it is the comedy. There is something about this humour that I don't like and I think it rather silly and juvenile although of course there is something that is okay and I find myself smiling. The action in this is very good with the car chases especially at night and it seems that they are really in the action around them. I always like Anthony Wong and even when his action is really nasty although in this one there is much killing he is supposed to be a good guy and it is the taxi drivers who are the baddies. It is well done with his wife and the terrible action and there is some silly stuff after about half an hour we start to get into Wong and him getting more and more upset. And then we are off. I have to say that it is really strange that Falling Down (1993) should be about the same time and that is a much better film but I still like this one as well.

After he loses his wife and unborn child in an accident caused by the selfish and thoughtless actions of a Hong Kong taxi driver, mild-mannered insurance salesman Kin (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong) wages a one-man war against the city's most corrupt and sleazy cab operators.

Directed by Herman Yau and starring Anthony Wong, Taxi Hunter wasn't what I was expecting: it's an exploitative vigilante thriller with plenty of violence, but it is nowhere near as mean-spirited or as graphic as the duo's more infamous Cat IIIs, The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. Those checking the film out hoping for extreme content will no doubt be disappointed somewhat by the lack of intense gore and nihilism.

The film kicks off with a scene that is more akin to a heroic bloodshed movie or a Jackie Chan action flick, as gung ho cop Yu Kai-Chung and his partner tackle a gang of armed criminals. There's a shoot out and a car chase, with some crazy vehicular stunt work and plenty of squibs.

Chung is best friends with Kin, and their relationship forms the crux of the movie, as the cop goes undercover to try and catch the taxi driver killer, unaware that it is his pal who has been committing the crimes.

Kin's vigilante activities are definitely the film's most satisfying moments, his victims being despicable lowlifes fully deserving of some payback, especially the driver who attempts to rape his pretty passenger. One cannot completely condone Kin's actions, but it's easy to sympathise with him just a bit when his targets are such scumbags.

The inevitable ending sees Chung discovering Kin's secret and trying to catch him before he can commit any more murders. The final action scene is a lot of fun, with a high-speed car chase thought the streets of HK.

The Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong, partly known for his Category III films, together with director Herman Yau, contributed three famous thrillers in the 1990s, in chronological order, Taxi Hunter, The Untold Story, and Ebola Syndrome. I would not list these three together, as Taxi Hunter is only Category II and the other two are Category III. Indeed, Taxi Hunter is way less brutal than the other two. I like this movie mostly for its social impact, revealing the chaos of Hong Kong taxi industry then. I would love to see if Herman Yau would direct longer movies outside commercial ones. I believe such movies would be interesting to watch.