Yue doh laai yue ying hung

As much as I enjoy Hong Kong cinema, then even they are allowed a swing and a miss every now and then, and this 1998 movie "Cheap Killers" is a swing and a miss indeed.

The storyline starts out well enough, simple and straight forward, but the storyline quickly takes a turn for the worse and becomes questionable and then just becomes irritating and frustrating. The movie tries to go from action into drama, but it does so without grace and style, with the end result becoming a poor mix of confusion and stupidity.

"Cheap Killers" is about two assassins, Yat-Tiu (played by Sunny Chan) and Sam Cool (played by Alex Fong) who are double-crossed and end up fighting for their lives, having to resort to living almost on the street, forfeiting their former triad fame and fortune. Hellbent on vengeance, they seek out those who pulled out the chair underneath them and caused their downfall.

The action sequences in the movie were good enough, though for a Hong Kong movie it wasn't really overly spectacular. However, when the movie took a turn into drama, then the movie crashed hard and fast. Especially because Sunny Chan and Alex Fong put on such horrible performances. Whether this is because they are incapable of acting in drama or it is because of bad direction, I know not, but the movie failed so badly with its sojourn down the path of drama acting.

It was a mystery to me why they cast Stephen Fung to play the police officer Sunny. Especially because he didn't have any authority or necessary aura to even remotely seem like he was a police officer. He is better off in comedy roles and in sugar-coated romantic roles. And why was he dressed in white 24-7? In fact, why were all lead roles dressed in white throughout the entire movie. It was just stupid. An attempt at a symbolic hero and good dressed in white? Perhaps, but it just didn't work well. I am pretty sure that police officers and triad members don't look like Broadway show thespians.

If you enjoy Hong Kong action cinema, then I would recommend that you find your amusement elsewhere, because "Cheap Killers" doesn't really deliver anything good, and it is a pale imitation of the otherwise over-the-top action and adrenaline-packed movies that come out of Hong Kong.

Best pals Yat-tiu (Sunny Chan) and Sam Cool (Alex Fong) are top triad hit men, until Yat-tiu starts an affair with Ling (Kathy Chow), sexy wife of crime boss Ma: caught in the act, Yat-tiu is forced to kill Ma, and finds himself on the run, accompanied by loyal pal Sam. After double-crossing, power hungry bitch Ling reveals the fugitive's whereabouts to the triads, they are attacked and left for dead (Sam is shot; Yat-tiu is not so lucky, being ass-raped by 14 triad members—Yowch!). Amazingly both men survive their ordeal, but their subsequent existence is a far cry from their triad days, Sam resorting to scratching a living as a low-rent killer while caring for Yat-tiu in the derelict building they now call home. Eventually, however, the opportunity arrives for the men to settle their score with treacherous Ling and her triad associates...

Hong Kong gangster films of the 80s/90s are renowned for their themes of honour, friendship, betrayal, and loyalty, as exemplified by the movies of John Woo, in which male characters would share such a strong sense of camaraderie that they would willingly risk their lives for each other. Cheap Killers, from director Clarence Ford, takes this male bonding to a whole new level, his two anti-heroes displaying such strong emotions towards each other that the film frequently verges on the homo-erotic, becoming rather comical as a result. Fortunately, Cheap Killers is not all thinly veiled gayness; when the guys aren't sharing a shower in the rain or having an affectionate man-hug, they're blasting and hacking people to death, making the film a satisfyingly brutal flick for any fan of the heroic bloodshed genre.

A violent gangster thriller made during the late 1990s by the team behind the sleazy NAKED KILLER, CHEAP KILLERS is strictly by-the-numbers for the Chinese triad genre. It follows a tried-and-tested format, heavily indebted to the whole John Woo/heroic bloodshed style, following the lives of a couple of small-time hoods who fall foul of their own bosses. What follows is an odyssey of violence, rape and revenge, with a particularly tragic slant that sees one character suffering a nervous breakdown after a particularly gruelling episode at the hands of his oppressors.

While CHEAP KILLERS provides fitfully entertaining viewing, and the psychological slant to the story adds much-needed character depth, it falls foul of the hands of a director who seems ill at odds with the material given to him. Wong Jing's script is well paced and engaging, but Clarence Fok's direction is terrible: all flashy, MTV-style angles, gloomy shadows and scenes so poorly lit that it's difficult to see who's talking to who. Even worse, Fok fumbles the action sequences, rendering what should be exciting and grisly run-ins to nothing more than muddled flashes of ultra-violence. It's saying something that there's not a single decent bit of action all the way through.

The majority of the cast were unfamiliar to me, aside from newcomer Stephen Fung, reliably solid and who would later go on to fame and fortune with the likes of GEN X COPS. However, Alex Fong and Sunny Chan make the best of the material they're given, and their characters' homoerotic relationship provides much of the movie's interest. In some ways the film resembles the (much better) HEART OF A DRAGON, which saw Jackie Chan caring for his retarded brother, played by Sammo Hung, but Fok's befuddled directing style saps much of the similar interest that that film gathered. It's a pity, because in the hands of a decent director this could have been superlative stuff.

Obviously they are a couple in love, but they can't be together due to secular reasons. One pretends to be a playboy, and the other pretends to be married and have children to cover up. Fang Zhongxin's Lengsen It makes me sad that such a perfect man ended up not being perfect in the end. He was affectionate, courageous and resourceful, and had principles and bottom lines. He didn't talk dirty or talk about sex like others. In short, he has countless advantages. There are currently only two high-quality men that I will never forget in this life: Lin Feng's guanjuazai,Fang Zhongxin's Lengsen. These two men have become my mate selection criteria, even I am trying to be them,Fang Zhongxin's Leng Sen and yi tiao are soul mates.

Cheap Killers was not quite what i was expecting when it comes to Hong Kong action movies.

The veiled hint of homo-eroticism that runs throughout makes a nice and surprising contrast to the machismo action, and is tackled tactfully and with feeling by the cast. Alex Fong gives a very strong and subtle performance as Sam Cool and Sunny Chan is good as the playboy Yat-tiu but even better as his later traumatised persona. The two actors work well together in showing their brotherly relationship, even though you are often left wondering at Sam Cool's emotions behind this partnership.

Cathy Chow manages to switch between innocent and femme fatale with ease even though a touch cliched, and Henry Fong manages to be sinister enough as Discipline King without hamming it up.

Stephen Fung and Lillian Ho are the weakest performances, but mainly because of their poor scripting and lack of appearances to be able to build a persona. Fung resorts to playing a version of 'Match' from Gen-X cops to compensate for this.

The film itself did seem a little fractured and would probably have fared better by starting at the middle and using dialogue and (dare i say it) flashback to fill in the backstory. Even so, i found it a good watch.