Full Contact

Hong Kong action movies do not get any more stylish than this hard-hitting action flick from veteran film director Ringo Lam (MAXIMUM RISK, CITY ON FIRE). In this amazingly proficient import from the East, Chow Yun-Fat gives one of his best performances ever since his portrayal as Jeffrey, in John Woo's THE KILLER (1989).

In FULL CONTACT, Chow is Jeff, a merciless assassin who is involved in a double crossing deal, where he falls under the prey and manipulation of a deranged drug lord, Judge (Simon Yam, in an over the edge performance). Judge has a lust for both drugs and money. Jeff must protect his girlfriend, Mona (Ann Bridgewater), and his other friend, Sam, (Anthony Wong, who appeared in HARD BOILED, THE UNTOLD STORY, THE HEROIC TRIO) from the evil clutches of the ruthless Judge.

It was suppose to be perfect. The weapons heist was set up with precision and deadly accuracy. However, a fatal move has suddenly occurred, thus ruining the entire operation. Jeff is immediately betrayed by his once ally Judge, and in the process, Jeff's friend is systematically eliminated. As the action continues in full throttle, Jeff is shot and left for dead inside a burning house. However, Jeff is resilient...he does not die that easily...

FULL CONTACT (a.k.a. XIA DAO GAO FEI) is one of the finest action films ever to embrace audiences of any and all interests. It tells a compelling story of friendship turning into betrayal, and reprisal growing into a motivation for justice. Director Ringo Lam has done a fine job with one of his best masterpieces, and it is enhanced by better than average performances, particularly from Chow and Wong. Chow has fun as a vigorous hero who turns the tables just when everyone he knew has practically became his nemesis. Anthony Wong has a sympathetic supporting role as an old friend who may very well switch allegiances with a foul enemy. The villains are conniving and appropriately nasty. Simon Yam is excellent as an essentially slimy villain. His cunning attitude, his sick-minded, perverse personality, and tasteless vulgarity make him a repugnant yet compelling bad guy. Bonnie Fu has a debonair appeal. Her beauty is potent enough to ignite an endless array of fireworks. The strong performances establish substantiation in designing the main characters.

The action in FULL CONTACT is of course, at its breathtaking pace with absolute quality, and the film offers a surreal environment that is often rare in "pro forma" American made action movies. There are plenty of chances to cheer on for the good guy but the film has carefully mounted tension which will grip your interests. The "bullet cam" itself has to be seen to be believed.

FULL CONTACT is a rare movie, and I was lucky to stumble across a copy of this film at a local store in New York City's Chinatown. Audiences may have a hard time trying to decipher the incomprehensible English subtitles, but do not bother straining your eyes. The action itself makes this movie worth seeing. FULL CONTACT is one fashionably violent movie in the tradition of film noir.

Ringo Lam is a virtuoso at filmmaking who exhibits exceptional direction, slam bang camerawork, and majestic editing. He also has a proud technique of drawing audiences into the story. This movie continues to keep people amazed due to its technical competence and its poignant elegance. FULL CONTACT serves as a treat for action fans of all varieties, with a tale of romance, seduction, and retribution all weaving into one cinematic accomplishment.

RATING: *** out of ****.

Action films are a dime a dozen. Many really suck. A few stand out. Of all the action fims I've ever seen in my life, this one held me as much as any not directed by John Woo. The gun battle toward the end of the film is exhilarating. Any action fan that thinks "Matrix-style" slow motion bullets are the end-all, be-all of effects should check "bulletride" effect at the end of this film. And to its amazing credit, this film was made without the help of Hollywood digital effects. I haven't even mentioned CHOW YUN-FAT. He is AWESOME in this film. The man is as bad-ass as Mel Gibson any day. "Full Contact" is based on the same book as "PayBack." Let me tell you this film runs ring around payback in areas of acting, directing, violence and coolness. There is no substitute for Chow Yun-Fat. If you're dying for a style filled actioner and have exhausted your John Woo collection, then check out "Full Contact."

Ringo Lam's characters in Full Contact come in three flavors: bad guys with values, bad guys without values and victims. The first category is led by antihero Godfrey (Jeff or Gou Fei in other translations), one of Chow Yun-fat's most adversarial characters (not counting his Emperor role in Curse of the Golden Flower), who is a thief with a conscience who can deftly ride a motorcycle and wield his balisong knife. He is set to marry Mona whose creative dancing career apparently does not make enough money. Look for a later dance scene resembling something out of Encino Man. Their friend Sam (Anthony Wong: Exiled) had to borrow money from a loan shark in Thailand named Hung to help pay for her Mother's burial (the translation states this but I think it meant internment costs). Since he cannot pay back he is in deep trouble until Godfrey helps him out. This causes Hung to put out a hit on him.

Sam has a job coming up that could make him and his friends a lot of money. It is with his cousin the overly-flamboyant homicidal homosexual Judge (Simon Yam: PTU) and his two lackeys the muscular Psycho (Frankie Chan) who has a penchant for big guns and loose women and his girlfriend the nymph Virgin (Bonnie Fu). This job involves busting an ammo truck worth millions of dollars. However, unbeknown-st to Sam at the time they will get paid by Hung to take care of Godfrey and they will ultimately kill other pal Chung. In the meantime Mona has to take her Mom's ashes to Hong Kong. While Godfrey promises to marry her when she gets back, we all know that any promise before a big job will not be a promise kept. Those who see this will wonder why Godfrey takes this job when their initial meeting does not go well.

The operation goes almost exactly as planned for Judge. However, it is not as easy as he would have liked. While he finds Godfrey attractive he still has to kill him. This leads to an explosive showdown that leaves Godfrey with a missing thumb and trigger finger on his right hand, an innocent family dead and its daughter severely burnt. Sam capitulates in allowing this because he is a sniveling coward (his 180 degree personality change in the film is too unrealistic even though Anthony Wong still did a good performance with this character) and even shoots his friend and leaves him for dead. Why Judge doesn't check on the "death" of Godfrey, I do not know, but it allows him to live, take a cute dog, time to heal and time to learn to shoot with his other hand so he can exact revenge. His monomania allows time for Sam to sneak in on his girlfriend while everyone else thinks he is pushing up daises.

Lam's directorial style is grittier than John Woo's operatic mode of direction, but the spirit of Woo is in this film. He refers to Woo in a few scenes from the briefcase ending analogous to The Killer to Chow Yun-fat spitting out his cigar before killing like Tequila spitting out his toothpick in Hard-Boiled. While the action is not as hyperbolic as Woo's his characters are more exaggerated. Godfrey becomes a vessel for brotherhood (yi) in his quest for vengeance with his own code of conduct. He is not only taking revenge for a lost friend, he is taking revenge for a family wrongly slaughtered and a disfigured daughter. This film feels like a mixture of John Woo and Chang Cheh – it fits well in the sub-genre of heroic bloodshed. With a plot that could have been taken out of an old-school martial arts film what better place for Godfrey to get over his injuries then in a monastery with the help of a monk.

The one-dimensional characters are one of the biggest weaknesses with this film. When Judge states one sentence late in the film on why he acts the way he does it comes a little late – though Simon Yam's performance is a high point in this film. Virgin and Psycho are completely over-the-top as well but they do not have the finesse that Judge has. But in their excess with Psycho's muscle-bound dumbbell and Virgin's oversexed vixen there is a camp factor that I found enhanced the emotions and nihilistic content of this film. The triangle relationship between Sam, Mona and Godfrey annoyed me a bit but it did keep in line with the protagonist's revenge motif.

Where this movie excels is the gun-play scenes, fight action scenes choreographed by longtime Shaw Brother's actor/action director Lau Kar-wing and the excellent direction of Ringo Lam. He has a solid aesthetics in putting together scenes and creates a brute force style of action. The scene most mentioned from this film is club shootout between Godfrey and Judge. It sublimely employs the use of the bullet POV. There are also a couple of pyrotechnic scenes that are also quite extraordinary in explosive carnage and were a good reason for the overinflated budget.

This movie was not viewed as a success in Hong Kong. It was not a flop though since it made almost 17m HK dollars; however, since it cost over 23 million HK dollars it was a loss for Golden Princess. It has a better reputation here in the United States and along with City on Fire is it his most popular. I highly recommend it to viewers who are interested in action cinema. If you take a character first approach to film then you can probably avoid it. But for those who have gone this far in the review I figure you either have seen this movie or are interested in seeing this anyways. With great lines like "wash your butt and wait for me" I know you will like it.

To help a friend who's heavily in debt to a loan shark, Jeff (Chow Yun Fat) joins up with the gay villain, Judge (Simon Yam), for a weapons heist where he'll be double-crossed by who he thought was a friend who joined the gang with him. This wouldn't be an action film if he were to simply let bygones be bygones of course, so he plans a mighty vengeance against all who betrayed him. This is pretty standard revenge movie stuff, it's saved, however, by the great action scenes as well as well as Yun Fat's performance (excellent as always, well at least before he made the jump to Hollywood who always seem to make amazingly great foreign movie star into lesser than what the can be)

My Grade: B Mei Ah

DVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Swordsman 2" & "Treasure Hunt"

A truly incredible film. Chow Yun-Fat has to be one of the greatest action stars ever. And Ringo Lam's camera work was top notch. The action sequences were second to none. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of action.