Gwan gai

Pou-soi cheang caught my attention after watching Dog Bite Dog. Shamo is his newest entry and has Cheang revisiting the darkest corners of the human soul, hidden below a layer of macho action. If anything, his latest is another confirmation of Cheang's enormous talent and will hopefully help him build up a solid reputation.

Shamo is an adaptation of a popular manga, following the life of Ryo, a ruthless and rash boy who has murdered both his parents and is sent to juvenile. There he becomes even more of an outcast and only manages to hold on through the karate lessons he gets inside from a fellow inmate. By the time he is released from juvenile Ryo is a wild animal ready to ravage everyone crossing his path.

Cheang's setting up a pretty bleak vision and only at the very end is Ryo's character given some humanity. This makes for a rather strange viewing, where the main protagonist is really a plain asshole not worthy of much sympathy. Luckily Shawn Yue put in a stellar performance as Ryo, drawing his character on screen with so much charisma that it's hardly a bother.

Cheang already proved himself as an audiovisual wonder, and he kindly continues his reputation in Shamo. The camera work is tense when it needs to be (mostly during the fights), lightning is exquisite and there's even time for some visual trickery (mostly when Ryo gets pounded into the ground).

Even more interesting is the way Cheang makes use of sounds and distortion to increase the tension in his films. This really improved the atmosphere in Dog Bite Dog and Shamo benefits from his experiences there. Crunchy distortions and split-second editing make for some really intense moments. The choice of music is sometimes a little questionable, but never feels out of place.

Shamo is a pretty rough film made from a pretty typical story outline, following films like Rocky and the likes. At least, at its very core, because the way Shamo plays is totally different, with a main character that's hardly one to cheer for and a lack of real stage battles and victories. The film only features two stage fights and both include some serious trashing for Ryo. This is not your typical came and conquer film.

Visually beautiful, strong use of sound and an unconventionally ruthless story. Cheang is a real talent and proves himself again after fabulous films like New Blood and Dog Bite Dog. Add to this the superb performance of Yue and some good supporting actors like Francis Ng and Ryo Ishibashi and you have a film that will please the fans of merciless action and general ass-kicking, but with a darker twist.

4.5*/5.0*

I'm sorry but the movie is not that good just download it or stream it! Don't waste your precious wages on this poor film...

The film is based off of a Japanese Manga of the same name. There's too much material to be putting it in movie form. But, I'm sad to say there's not much to the material to speak of! I feel like the only redeeming value is if you enjoy over the top violence and don't care about character or story development. Just a bunch of flashy brawling and poor stiff acting.

You can keep hearing the words " For No REASON!!! " ringing in your head in a faux thuggish gangster voice as you see the main character constantly getting into all sorts of trouble just because he wants to be the strongest a Gangstah and well....just because he feels like it...

I only watched this junk all the way through because I'm lying down sick around the house and this garbage was shown for "free" on an Asian channel. You have been warned.

Well, the son wrote a first draft; writing is rewriting, after all.

It's a pity because had someone competent worked on this project, it could have been a pretty fine film. Instead, we're treated to terrible writing the actors can't disguise and fights which will eventually prompt the viewer to switch to x2 or x4 forward speed as opposed to turning this otherwise steaming pile of turd off.

Plot holes and cartoon-like characters aside (someone else mentioned it was based on a comic, which I suppose explains that aspect at least), there exists the potential for a good, brutal action-drama, but unfortunately, the utterly juvenile and painfully unwatchable delivery of the final output makes it easy to over-look this.

Actually, I'd be surprised if most viewers managed to get through this even at x16 speed. A very bad film indeed.

It seem a lot of people hated this movie, but I for one really liked it.

Shawn Yue and Francis Ng are my favorite HK actors, and the Infernal Affairs pair did a really fine job IMO. I really connected with the characters, and I thought they were perfect casting for those characters (though I have not read the manga, as usual) It is true there were some cheesy manga scenes here and there, but I loved how the movie was directed, and there were many cool fight and slow-mo scenes. The artistic element in this movie worked very well for me.

There were a lot of random violence, but the movie was about the pain the protagonist had to suffer through, and I thought it was a fine movie.

I saw it a over 2 year ago. I liked the film. I think the story was good and interesting. Good realistic and brutal fights in my opinion. I think they made it like Shawn Yue actually knew martial arts. What was rare in this was that they didn't use much wires in the fights.

I noticed 1 or 2 wires in the film. I think Shawn did a good job in the fight scenes, and acting. It had enough action scenes for me. I for hope a sequel to this film. It think it deserves a sequel. If you like a action film with a good enough story, and a film with well made fight choreography and realistic, brutal fights, then i can for sure recommend this film to you.