Long Arm Of The Law III - Unexpected Hat Trick

Mar

11

Long Arm Of The Law III - Unexpected Hat Trick

≡ Category: Action, Bullet Ballet, Drama, Essential, Hong Kong, Martial Arts, Movie Reviews By Country, Suspense |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Action/ Martial Arts/ Drama/ Suspense/ Bullet Ballet
Director: Michael Mak
Year: 1989

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA ESSENTIAL MOVIE

I have to admit, when I sat down to watch Long Arm Of The Law III, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. The third entry in the series is fairly obscure, unlike it’s more famous predecessors, which I thought was most likely a good indicator of quality. Also, star Andy Lau wasn’t the best actor at this point in his career. This is one of those times when I was really grateful to be wrong.

If you’ve watched a fair number of Hong Kong flicks, you’ll have noticed that for a refugee from Mainland China in Hong Kong, being threatened with repatriation is about as welcome as being boiled in oil. Long Arm Of The Law III goes a long way towards explaining that.

As the movie starts out, some friends of Li Cheung Kong (Andy Lau) seek shelter in his home. They’re on the run from the police, and Li Cheung Kong reluctantly helps. The cops find Li Cheung Kong’s friends and in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, Li Cheung Kong is sentenced to immediate execution for his trouble. Communist China doesn’t fool around.

I trust that it’s not much of a spoiler to say that Li Cheung Kong manages to escape and makes his way to Hong Kong. Along the way, he meets Seung Mun (Elizabeth Lee) and the two hit it off.

Once they get to Hong Kong, Seung Mun is sold into sexual slavery and Li Cheung Kong ends up in a gang headed by Master Leung (Kirk Wong). Li Cheung Kong agrees to do jobs for Master Leung if he will help Kong rescue Seung Mun. In reality, Master Leung is just stringing Li Cheung Kong along because Kong is an extraordinary fighter and extremely brave and capable.

All of this is not exactly original but it’s a sturdy enough premise. What makes or breaks a movie like this is execution.

Let’s start with the acting. Andy Lau is excellent as Mainland innocent Li Cheung Kong, who is nonetheless not stupid and highly capable. Elizabeth Lee is quite sympathetic as Seung Mun. But the real star here is Kirk Wong, oozing depravity as one of the nastiest villains I’ve ever seen in a Hong Kong flick, and that’s saying a lot. Max Mok and Elvis Tsui also make strong impressions as Li Cheung Kong’s best buddy and the Mainland cop relentlessly pursuing Li Cheung Kong, respectively. The casting is deep, too — Long Arm Of The Law III is littered with tremendous character actors. I’d especially like to single out Chow Shing-Boh as a brothel keeper. This guy is so slimy he makes your skin itch.

Then there’s the script (Johnny Mak and Stephen Shiu) and direction (Michael Mak). The pace never slackens. Our heroes constantly go from the frying pan into the fire. The filmmakers almost never let our heroes off the hook. Whenever there’s a coincidence, it works in favor of the villains. The only exception to this rule involves a cell phone with a poor connection. Given the constant unbearable jeopardy, that was something of a relief.

But how about the action? The Action Director is Tony Leung Siu-Hung, if that tells you anything. The fighting is of the hard-hitting realistic, brutal Golden Age of Hong Kong variety. Characters are flung into walls, through glass, onto furniture and so on. Whenever someone is kicked or struck, you wince from the impact.

The gunfights, especially the final one, are just blistering in their intensity.

The only minor bone I have to pick with Tony Leung Siu-Hung is that he stints on the incredible stunts that we’ve come to expect from Hong Kong movies. Whenever someone jumps or falls from a high place, he cheats the action, making a cut between the fall and impact. We never see a continuous stunt. On the one hand, Tony Leung Siu-Hung was being responsible. He didn’t want any of his stuntmen to make a trip to the hospital. On the other hand, that sort of recklessness is part of what is so indispensible about Hong Kong movies from that period.

In spite of this minor caveat, Long Arm Of The Law III earns its stripes as one of the most balls out intense action films from the Golden Age (1985-1995). By all means, check it out.