Joi jin gong woo

(1990) Return Engagement (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION THRILLER

Co-written and directed by Tung Cho 'Joe' Cheung that opens with a gang war conflict between Mr. Lung Ho-Tin and his Chinese gang against and Mr. Santino and his Italian gang operating in Canada. And Mr. Lung's wife gets killed in the process during the gun battle, to which he promises revenge. But before he does that, he then asks his right hand man, to look after his baby daughter, Ka Ka and bring her back to Hong Kong if he is ever caught. And that is exactly what happened, to which guns a blazing happened at an airport, ending with Tung on a car chase occurring on the streets of Canada, managing to shoot dead his rival. But in the process of that he ends up being being caught himself by authorities and convicted. And while in jail he was sending letters back and forth to check for the status of his daughter until the address is no longer available to which his letters he had been sending were sent back to him. And by the time he serves his time, Tung then become much older, and as soon as he gets out, the first thing he wants to do was to track his daughter, Ka Ka. And because he still has a reputation, he is still idolized by others such as by Wah (Andy Lau). Mr Lung ended up meeting other respected gangs such as Uncle Hung who wanted him to come back working in the gangland business again except that his right hand man, Lee Pang (Simon Yam) does not like the idea. And it suddenly becomes another double crossing with Lee Pang making deals with other rival members. Lung eventually finds his daughter who ended up being in an orphanage.

By looking at the year when this movie was made, it was during the time when action was plentiful and not censured either by Hollywood or by the Chinese gov't. As ridiculous as some of the guns scenes looked at the end, it was still lots and that the action happened quickly with plenty of goons killed. The other two gun battles were quite well done that may not be like John Woo during his Hong Kong years, but it is still a million times better than what Woo is doing in Hollywood as of right now.

Return Engagement (RA) is one of those bloodshed titles where the action is more important than the the story and drama. The action,especially the ending is one to watch over and over again. Being a fan of heroic bloodshed with gun play (in slow motion),I can't get enough of these titles. Compared to action movies made in US, this one is a gem. If they made more titles like this one than I would be in heaven. Alan Tang really does a good job as the father who tries to make a mends with his daughter. Simon Yam is the typical bad guy in these kind of movies,but still he delivers style to his acting. Andy Lau plays Alan's sidekick with flair. RA made in the eighties certainly is still enjoyable now in 2012. Watch it!

The movie was building up to be really good until this really stupid bit in the movie involving the main character and Simon Yan where he is holding the girl captive. After being shot like a gazillion times, in fact he cops more bullets than 50 Cent and yet he is still alive.

The Storyline is something like this guy goes to jail and when he gets out and wants to start a normal life again then of course his past gets to him. He goes back to his job eventually and you know whatever... I'm not gonna say anymore. Don't worry you'll get what I mean when you watch the film. A good and tragic story but just that 1 bit in the movie that really made it silly

This storyline somewhat mimics A Better Tomorrow 2, with an awesome ending, and a north American angle (except this one take place in Vancouver). Except this one doesn't have the better actor nor is the storyline any good. Plot: A head of the Chinese mafia in Canada kills some Itialian Mafia Boss in front of the police, therefore he went to jail for more than a decade (doesn't say). He left his daughter in Hong Kong, so after he was released from jail he wants to reunited with his daughter. He soon finds out that her daughter escaped the orphan home and his only clue is the other girl who escaped with her. But that girl has her own problem.

Andy Lau is in like 10 mins of the film... this wasn't that bad of a movie, with a excellent gun-fu ending, just up right there with ABT 2 (but less realistic). The storyline is not that good, it was mediocre, and wasn't as touching has ABT 2. Though the baddie is more unrealistic in this movie but he is very evil (played by Simon Yam). He is a character that not man of his word. The acting is not that good compared to ABT either, with everyone acting unrealistic (well maybe except the main character). There wasn't anything brilliant in this movie, but i do like the location in Canada. In the beginning, in the Canada warfare between Itailian and Chinese, that was just hilarious. It soooooooo stupid, and the interview from the mafia boss from reporter is stupid too.

All the talent surrounding this film yet it still manages to fall short of being a memorable Heroic Bloodshed flick. Return Engagement could have been up there among the ranks of great 1990's HK actioners on-par with that of John Woo or Johnnie To, however there are many scenes which are laughably bad at either an acting or technical level. First off the inclusion of white people in any Hong Kong film pre-21st century is generally a negative element, as their characters are disrespectful plus voice-overs are mismatched and over-acted. In this film the Italian mob embodies "silly" and "rude" to the extreme and the Vancouver segment should have been cut out altogether to avoid this obvious detractor. The movie wishes to be a serious action-drama about the prolonged efforts of one fallen gangster reuniting with his daughter, although there are silly moments which dissolve tension and weaken the impact of actual hard-hitting scenes later on in the movie. Next the transitions between some scenes are choppily edited, with rough cuts that leave you in haze of what's unfolding in the current scene. Wong Kar-Wai's script has some genuinely emotional moments however still is flawed with mysteries like Andy Lau's pointless character and two underdeveloped love interests. Mainly the pacing is off as there are intense shootouts followed by slow moving dialogue and filler scenes which don't progress the plot. The pros of this movie are Simon Yam's performance which is delightfully evil and the completely over-the-top shootout which happens in the final act of the film. This massive climatic gunfight alone earns this movie a 7 as it is one of the most impressive shootouts in the entirety of HK action cinema. If your interested in seeing a final shootout that rivals the work of John Woo, definitely see the movie just for the climax as it's similar to A Better Tomorrow Pt. II in terms of choreography and intense nonstop action. -6/10