Kowloon Walled City

"Walled In" is adapted from a comic book, and it shows at times with its larger-than-life characters, setting, and seemingly superhuman feats during battle scenes. The Walled City of Kowloon was a real place, running with little government intervention, which adds an aura of mystique and allows for creative liberties.

Stuck in development hell since the 2000s, the studios saw huge potential in this film and bet big on it. They assembled some of Hong Kong's finest crew and production team, even creating a replica of the Walled City for shooting.

The action sequences are fine but not groundbreaking. There are too many quick cuts intended to show the hectic and intense nature of the fights, but this detracts from clarity, unlike the more appreciable choreography seen in "Ip Man."

Louis Koo and Raymond Lam, both veterans of the trade, successfully helm the film. Koo brings an enigmatic and benevolent image, while Lam offers an effortless everyman appeal. The supporting cast does their part well, with Philip Ng being particularly lauded for his rare villainous turn as the nearly unbeatable big bad.

The film seems to suffer from catering to too many characters and their different motivations, resulting in a predictable storyline. However, for kung fu fanatics like myself who enjoy the action as much as the Hong Kong brand of drama that comes with it, this is a long overdue and very welcome dose of ass-kicking goodness. Hopefully, it starts a new wave in the years to come.

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 Old plot is never outdated, it is about how to present in a modern way.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.

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 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.

I went in to this with much hope after seeing the dark looking trailer with its ominous audio score.

It looked like it might be gritty and fast-paced much like The Raid, yet set in the legendary city of darkness that is Kowloon Walled City.

At first it seemed like I'd get what I was hoping for as the movie quickly introduces the main characters through a no-nonsense and brutal storyline that brings them together.

Then... It all just falls apart from there.

The Kowloon walled city set is amazing, yet overly bright and well lit for a place renowned for its darkness.

The fight scenes are well executed but poorly shot where you can rarely see moves clearly.

And, after this - it just gets absurd.

There are characters upon characters introduced, storyline after storyline, and every time I thought it was approaching a final fight, the film would introduce ANOTHER way to extend the story and ANOTHER reason there needed to be another fight.

But that's not the worst part, because only 30mins into the film it just starts to become absurd!

What could have been a straight-forward, no-holes barred, fast paced fight film with a simple story and an epic location, ends up being a long, overly complicated, fanciful, bore that has ridiculous moments and bizarre storyline additions that made me regret spending money to see it in the cinema.

This could have been an absolute classic had it been dark and simple, yet will quickly be forgotten as it's just not good, and utterly disappointing.