City of Darkness

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a colorful blazing fury of fisticuffs that spins the infamous Hong Kong landmark into an entertaining pop art mythology.

Director Soi Cheang, cinematographer Cheng Siu Keung, and production designer Kenneth Mak strike the perfect tone, crossing Hong Kong nostalgia with a wuxia comic book aesthetic.

The story chronicles the rise of Chan Lok-Kwan, an illegal immigrant and bare-knuckle boxer surviving on the streets of 1980's Hong Kong. Getting in trouble with local gangster Mr. Big, Chan finds refuge in the Kowloon Walled City, a lawless territory outside of British Hong Kong, and is taken in by gang boss Tornado and his underlings.

The British Government announcing the demolishing of the Walled City ignites a gangland war, settling personal vendettas and seizing the Walled City.

Kenji Tanigaki's inventive fight choreography is fluid and powerful, slightly exaggerating the character's comic book fighting abilities just right.

The Kowloon Walled City set is exquisitely detailed, keeping with Soi Cheang's trademark of arranging garbage into intricately beautiful backdrops.

The set design and fight choreography are well integrated and tell the story visually, with the characters scurrying through the cement crevices, alleyways, and scaffolding.

Raymond Lam, largely known as a TV actor, shines in an iconic movie role and establishes himself as a solid action lead. As Tornado, Louis Koo gives solid support, building a memorable character separate from the star persona created from ubiquitous film appearances. Richie Jen's mob boss is the weakest link, lacking grit and veering into dress-up pantomime territory. Phillip Ng steals the show as the crazy laughing villain King.

The one flaw is a gaping plot hole, an unexplained story contrivance of "how did that character know that?" The error wasn't obvious to me until after the film ended, but it hangs there like a jigsaw puzzle missing its last piece.

Walled In is no masterpiece, but a well-executed crowd-pleaser that has entered the zeitgeist at the exact moment for the audience.

In its quieter moments, Soi Cheang directs the audience's eyes toward the lives of the Walled City residents. Even though this is an exaggerated comic book film, it nostalgically refers to real history where people lived and struggled in these harsh conditions. This is the film's heart; it works in a "look how far we've come" way.

Locally, the film's been the talk of the town, and everybody I know has seen it, some even more than once. It achieves a classic status that Hong Kong people will remember fondly, like a Bruce Lee film.

I didn't read the book or comic so I watched it without prior knowledge. This movie got really great set pieces remind me of old shops I have visited in Hong Kong when I was little. The set pieces and art directions is top notch and respect to they chosen to film close ups of it all during the end credits.

But story wise it is a run off the mill revenge and triad story, so if you were gonna to expect some interesting story it quite lacks it. Next to that the more interesting stories were happening around the main story, with people working in the walled city and especially the little girl doing all kinds of odd jobs was more interesting then the all the main character combined and also the only character you really feel most for. But also it feels like we are missing a whole prequel movie that was shown in the flashbacks moments, to understand the main story a lot better.

The movie has a lot of over the top action, but also comic characters who are over the top with special moves. But for me the final fight felt it dragged on for too long.

For me for I wished they made another movie with these set pieces, but too bad all of it is long gone as they were filmed several years ago. I would rather watched a less triad involved simple romantic or coming of age stories set in the walled city.

This film featured a star-studded cast, such as Hong Kong film veteran Sammo Hung and Louis Koo, while TVB drama fans would be familiar with Raymond Lam and Wong Tak Bun. Heavenly King Aaron Kwok made a minor appearance as a guest star.

Those who love kungfu fighting and gangster movies, this may be suitable for you. Fight scenes are aplenty, especially after the 2nd half and towards the ending. Since this movie's original sources was from a novel and comic ("manwa"), there are fight scenes which are over the top and illogical. But I wonder, wouldn't it be better for the overall movie if they just made the entire show more realistic by omitting those fanciful effects?

Main strengths of the movie:

1) The main setting of the movie featured the Kowloon "walled city"/slums which was depicted in a realistic manner, and camera angles were panned well. This area has historical significance in Hong Kong. I thought it was a unique idea to bring these to the big screen.

2) The beginning part of the movie was done well too, with the main characters in the "walled city" being quickly introduced and building up the suspense between the various factions of power.

3) The main theme of loyalty and brotherhood was consistently emphasised and showcased. The movie direction was clear.

Flaws of the movie: The lack of a solid ending was the Achilles' heel. It was just too convenient to resort to the conventional style of good vs evil. Too many fighting scenes led to deprivation of screentime for character development, especially the villain played by Philip Ng, who could had offered more.

Conclusion: It is an interesting film if you're longing for some Hong Kong martial arts movie. But this isn't near Hong Kong's best.

I didn't make it to Hong Kong til 1994 so this famous Kowloon walled city had already gone but it's legend hadn't. It was the equivalent of a large block of properties, within properties - a mass of alleys, corridors and tunnels in which the law was enforced in a very different way from the outside. This story starts with a battle that sees control pass from "Jim" to "Cyclone" (Louis Koo). There's now a truce of sorts that exists between the bosses and the outside world, but that's about to be thrown into turmoil by the arrival of "Lok" (Raymond Lam). He works hard to get an official ID card but is fleeced by "Mr. Big" (Sammo Hung) and escapes with a bag of his cocaine into the walled city. That's where he encounters it's ruler and his sidekick "Shin" (Terrence Lau) and where his willingness to work and his fortitude ingratiates him with the boss. On the outside, "Cyclone" has a business relationship with "Chau" (Richie Jen) who has really only one purpose left in life. That's to avenge the murder of his family by the now dead "Jim". The focus of his revenge is that man's own son - but nobody nows what happened to him. Well, swiftly you can add two and two and get "Lok". Loyalties are now tested, friendships challenged and forged whilst the fragile peace is soon in tatters. With battle lines drawn and ambitions clear, it's all out war and the action mounts up. This is a sold end-to-end martial arts film with plenty of nimble and lithe combat; acrobatics and bodies that must be made of skin-clad tungsten steel. It's got a little bit of mysticism and embodies human nature, whether benign or not, quite entertainingly and by not just throwing itself about, but by at least trying to create and develop the characters. The denouement takes it's time and does become a bit repetitive, but as a quickly paced drama it really does fly by for two hours. Honour amongst thieves - but always sleep with your back to the wall.

Finally I can see silver lining in HK movie after all these ten years. This is what a signature movie of HK style should be like. I'm delighted to see a movie that is so "Hong Kong". Old plot is never outdated, it is about how to present in a modern way. The brotherhood of the gangsters were so touching. No MSGs, no grandstanding, no too much focus on the old movie stars - this is just what we, the audience, want.

The Kowloon Walled City is always a mysterious legend to me, I must give credits to the production team for building such a beautiful replica of the city. No matter you like the plot or not, I suggest everyone who like HK culture or miss the old HK to watch this in the theatre.