Best Of The Best - The Sins Of The Fathers

Dec

12

Best Of The Best - The Sins Of The Fathers

≡ Category: Action, Drama, Hong Kong, Movie Reviews, Romance, Worth A Look |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: United States
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Romance
Director: Herman Yau
Year: 1992

Rating:

WORTH A LOOK

This is the second Hong Kong film in a row that I’ve seen in which the cultural context is more interesting that the foreground material or the action, per se.

Little Ball (Ng Man-Tat) is a cop, who likes to set up a gambling stall in the locker room of the police station and bully ticket hawkers to impress his kids. Eventually, Little Ball’s karma catches up with him and he is forced to change careers, buying and running a hostess bar. When Little Ball’s son, Li Man Kit (Jacky Cheung) grows up, he’s determined to be as good a cop as his father was a rotten one, even going so far as to join an elite SWAT unit.

Meanwhile, Little Ball’s old police superior, Hung Kwan (the dependably amusing Paul Chun), has left the force and become a triad boss.

When Li Man Kit and Hung Kwan’s daughter Heidi (Sammi Cheng) fall in love, Hung Kwan orders Heidi to stay away from Li Man Kit, obviously because he and Li Man Kit are natural enemies. Being a spoiled brat, Heidi does pretty much what she wants to. As for Li Man Kit, he’s as stubborn and dumb as a box of rocks. Poor Little Ball, who has learned his lesson and become humble, is caught in the middle.

The depiction of the police and the way they interact with citizens is quite interesting, and says volumes about the culture. In a culture which is emphatically NOT public service oriented, public service is often viewed as a license to steal and abuse power. It says alot that the early scenes in which Little Ball mistreats citizens are played for laughs.

I also enjoyed the scenes in the hostess bar, which serves as a venue for angry men to vent their frustrations by abusing the hostesses and poor Little Ball, who attempts to protect them. Ng Man-Tat is actually quite moving in the role of Little Ball. Also notable is Carrie Ng as Hung, convincing as a sleazy bargirl who can see the good heart beneath Little Ball’s bluster.

The action in Best Of The Best, choreographed by Benz Kong and Poon Kin-Gwan, is just so-so, with the exception of a couple of wonderful fire stunts.

But what really drags down the picture is the romance between Li Man Kit and Heidi. The romance is horribly written. Very little of interest is said or done. To make matters worse, Sammi Cheng and Jacky Cheung have zero romantic chemistry as the young lovers. During the interminable scenes of their mating dance, which constitutes most of the picture, my eyes were glazing over.

After a mostly slow moving hour and a half, Best Of The Best slumps to a desultory close.

Who should see Best Of The Best? Basically, Hong Kong film fanatics like me, and maybe even not them. Yes, there are few decent fights, and some interesting cultural background, but it’s hardly worth sitting through the turgid romance at the center of the picture.

Considering that Best Of The Best comes from director Herman Yau, who has been responsible for such genre classics as Taxi Hunter, The Ebola Syndrome and The Untold Story, Best Of The Best has to count as a disappointment.