The Delinquent

Street Gangs of Hong Kong might be your typical Kung Fu Flick if it wasn't concerned with making a point. It has a point, and as such, deviates from the path a normal Kung Fu flick might of gone. It is indeed the Chinese Reefer Madness, except, it works. Unlike RM, where your laughs come a mile a minute, you would have to be very cold to find much of anything funny past the intro (Which by the end will make sense) Street Gangs gives us some great innovative camera work (Unusual for standard K.F.)a ordinary hero(?), some really moving orcheastral pieces, and a sense of the underside of Hong Kong. All together, it makes for one interesting trip to the Hong Kong of yesterday.

This story of a misguided adolescent features one of the bleakest views of Hong Kong which can be found on celluloid: An urban moloch populated by slimy characters, a city without hope.

Even if you don't like martial arts, watch this movie! It has some stunning widescreen cinematography and one hell of a finale!

From the first frame of "The Delinquent" it is obvious that this angry film is very unlike the pretty, stylish films known to come from the Shaw Bros, and director Chang Cheh. Artificial sets are done away with, in favor of real location shooting. The film captures the attention from the beginning, with close up shots of mouths, shoving greasy food in and chewing like wild dogs. The neighborhood is made up of cut throat thugs, and the landscape resembles a maximum security prison with it's dismal concrete buildings. Wang Chung, in a rare turn as the main character, is great as the young martial arts protégé, living with his hard-working father, after his mother has left them both. John Shen (Chung), frustrated with a life of poverty, is seduced by fast cars, expensive clothes and beautiful women, when a gang boss offers to hire him for his martial arts skills. A plan to rob the business where is father is security guard, goes wrong, and all hell breaks loose. 'Street Gangs..' is a very grim and serious film about betrayal and redemption and a lot of it is downright depressing. Ti Lu is excellent in the role of Shen's hardened, but decent father, and the cast is all around fine. Loaded with amazing camera work and artistic touches, this one is very unique within the genre. This isn't really a 'kung fu flick,' but rather a serious crime-drama with martial arts included. Even the English dubbing is done well, very seriously this time, although I would like to see it with the original Mandarin language track someday. Great, nihilistic film, and the last fifteen minutes has to be seen to be believed; if you are looking for a light kung fu flick with bad dubbing and silly scenarios, look elsewhere; "Street Gangs of Hong Kong" is not exactly light viewing...

THE DELINQUENT is another in Shaw's angry young man sub-genre of filmmaking, following on from similar entries with Ti Lung and David Chiang. This one's a lesser piece despite the involvement of Liu Chia Liang in the action stakes and the assured direction from Chang Cheh, who brings a real on-the-street vibe to the proceedings. The story sees the underrated Wang Chung playing the usual aimless young man who finds himself drawn into the wiles of a robber gang planning the ultimate heist. For the most part this is a slow and ponderous production in which Chung isn't quite enough to hold your attention. However, the last twenty minutes are electrifying, a wonderfully intense mini-revenge saga, and the ending is classic stuff. If only the whole film could have been like this!