Triads The Inside Story - No Heir To The Throne

Nov

10

Triads The Inside Story - No Heir To The Throne

≡ Category: Action, Category III, Drama, Hong Kong, Movie Reviews, Recommended |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Action/ Drama /Category III
Director: Taylor Wong
Year: 1989

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE

I had high hopes for Triads The Inside Story. I mean, look at the cast, for one thing: Chow Yun-Fat, Roy Cheung, Michael Chan, Kenneth Tsang, Shing Fui-On, Kelvin Wong — it’s an embarrassment of riches. The director, Taylor Wong, gave us the deliriously entertaining Godfather ripoffs, Rich And Famous and Tragic Hero. What could go wrong?

Well, for one thing, it’s not always clear what’s going on from minute to minute in the story.

In the opening scenes, the leader of the Hung Hing society, Kwan (Tien Feng), is assassinated by Little Ha (the always wonderfuly smarmy Kelvin Wong) and his crew. Kwan had been holding together the fractious Hung Hing society by the force of his leadership, and in his absence, the society threatens to tear itself apart. Outside forces, such as Coffin Sheng (Lung Ming-Yan), try to exploit this weakness.

In desperation, the top lieutenants of the Hung Hing society beg Kwan’s son, Lee Man-Ho (Chow Yun-Fat) to assume the mantle of leader. The only trouble is, Lee Man-Ho has emmigrated to the United States and doesn’t want to be involved in the triads.

Seems clear enough, but the strategies of the various players aren’t always that easy to follow. I’m not sure if that’s the fault of the subtitles (there are long stretches where are no translations) or the screenplay itself, but it’s a problem. Less forgiveable is the sloppy filmmaking. At times, a scene will be taking place in what should be a noisy background, and all you can hear is dialog surrounded by dead air. In one crucial shot, a semi rams a car into a cargo container, causing it to accordian and burst into flames, but we never hear the explosion. When we cut to the driver of the semi, all we hear are the windshield wipers. This sort of thing is really inexusable, even in the cheapest production.

Another problem is a lack of catharsis. The villains are effectively slimy, which is par for the course in a Hong Kong production, but they aren’t dispatched with any brio. I don’t know why. It’s not that director Taylor Wong lacks the skills. Whenever characters we like get hacked to bits, their deaths scenes are painful and protracted. I’m all for that, but there should be some balance.

But I’m making Triads The Inside Story sound worse than it is. Watching great character actors like Michael Chan, Shing Fui-On, and Roy Cheung tear up the silver screen is worth the price of admission all by itself.

The action is a little more of a mixed bag. I’ve never been a huge fan of most chopper scenes in Hong Kong movies. The choppers don’t cut into flesh enough for my taste most of the time. There’s just alot of frenetic action and silly sound effects. On the other hand, there are some fine car stunts from Chan Yat-Yin and Joe Chu Kai-Sang in which cars hit human beings, which then go flying through the air. Very cool. And the actual hand to hand fighting, choreographed by Lam Moon-Wa, is of the usual hard hitting Golden Age of Hong Kong (1985-1995) variety. I particularly enjoyed the opening fight, with Shing (Michael Chan) and Crazy Keung (Shing Fui-On) fighting off hoards of chopper wielding thugs to protect their boss.

Despite the very real strengths of Triads The Inside Story, this flick should be pretty far down your list of Hong Kong action movies to see. If you love Golden Age of Hong Kong flicks like I do, and you’ve already exhausted the classics, you’ll enjoy this. If you’re new to the genre, check out my other reviews of Hong Kong flicks.

Note: for those of you who are interested in Triads The Inside Story because of the Category III rating, it isn’t earned. The violence isn’t gruesome enough, and there’s no nudity, let alone sexuality to justify the rating. It’s more like a soft Category IIb.