Sha Po Lang
Craig
A renegade cop on the edge… They pushed him too far… Now he’s out for his own brand of … *snore*
If I’d read a plot synopsis of Sha Po Lang before I saw the cast, I never would have picked it up. Fortunately, my local movie dealer knew of my Donnie Yen addiction, and practically shoved the box in my pocket.
Release
MegaStar. This is a damn fine release.
Starring
Oh, my. Check out the top billing: Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Jason Wu, Simon Yam
In Brief
Wong Po (Hung) is a ruthless badass ruler of the Hong Kong underworld. For a little color, he and his wife are trying to have a child, but they’ve had two miscarriages. Inspector Chan (Yam) is the renegadest cop on the edge who has ever been pushed too far. As a second dimension, he’s adopted the daughter of a witness who was murdered on Wong Po’s order, and then he finds out he’s dying from a brain tumor. Inspector Chan and Wong Po don’t get on so well.
They’re getting teed off.
As Chan nears retirement, and death, Inspector Ma (Yen) is brought on board to take over Chan’s team of misfit mavericks. Is it against the rules for a whole team to be composed of mavericks? They don’t care! They’re mavericks! Ma used to be quite the renegade cop on the edge himself, but then he took a step or two back, straightened out, and flew more or less right. He remains really cool, and tougher than the average guy on the sidewalk, or the average truck on the street.
Chan’s team knows of his predicament. On one of their vendetta raids against Wong Po’s drug running operation, the boys steal a fortune in cash to take care of Chan’s adopted daughter after he dies. Wong Po is not okay with this.
Chan’s undercover man in Wong Po’s operation is killed. Chan is not okay with this. His men find evidence that Wong did not pull the trigger himself, but rather had a flunky do the deed. They edit the video tape to leave Wong looking as guilty as can be arranged. Inspector Ma is kept in the dark.
Meanwhile, Wong’s wife has had a baby. He’s so happy! Until he gets arrested on Father’s Day.
Inspector Ma clashes with Chen and the boys over their questionable interpretation of justice, but in the end, he agrees to turn a blind eye just this once.
(This scene rocks, by the way.)
As long as justice is turning into a gray area, Wu Jing marches in as the black hat in a white suit, slicing and dicing through the crooked, rennegade, maverick good guys like a nihilistic food processor.
Only one option remains: a climactic showdown.
Nice Shots
SPL is filled with iconic imagery in a way that contemporary films rarely attempt. Here, a confrontation starts with violence, and as the violence ratchets down, the emotional tension increases.
Ninety-nine bottles of beer in the air…
Best Stunts
Plenty of good work thorughout, but the real jewels are in the final reel, when Inspector Chen and Inspector Ma come crashing through Wong’s neighborhood. Sammo Hung can still rumble with the best of ‘em. Donnie Yen has developed an interest in grappling, and has found an interpretation that keeps the moves looking fast and dynamic on screen. Watch Wong Po and Inspector Ma hurling each other through the furniture.
Triple Kicks
Yen triple-kicks Hung, with powder flying at each impact.
Disappointments
Man does that ever not sound like Wu Jing’s voice. This may have been a language problem (I don’t know if Wu speaks Cantonese), or it may have been a simple fear that he would not sound menacing enough. Every time he opens his mouth in SPL, though, I start wiggling cables, wondering what the fuck happened to my sound system.
Final Analysis
The plot concept of a tough-guy cop fighting criminals who are above the law might not be the freshest fruit in the cinematic bowl, but the acting, directing, editing, soundtrack, and ass-kicking make SPL one of my favorite films. Donnie Yen and Simon Yam tend to look cool in most films, but DAMN! And when did Sammo Hung turn into a glowering badass? 4.77 stars, plus one bonus star for having three generations of action film legends all doing their thing.
As a genre fan, this scene makes me happy.
If You Like This
For more tough-guy cops, Dirty Harry, etc. Also, you might like Infernal Affairs.
If you like Donnie Yen’s infusion of jiu-jutsu, check out the last half hour of Game of Death, and all of Flash Point.
For more of Wu Jing being nasty, try Invisible Target.
December 11th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Beautiful as always. Two questions:
- How old was Sammo Hung when this film was made? What year is this?
- What would you consider the major classics of Donnie Yen’s ouevre? I only know him from Hero, I think.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
let me get the first 2 questions for the Rev. Sammo Hung was was 53 years old when this film came out in 2005. I remember that a lot of people went crazy over this film when it came out as being one of the best martial arts movies in years. I would assume a lot of that comes down to the final reel action. I know that the English title is Killzone but I can’t think of who is distributing it.
Rev, you also know Donnie Yen from Blade 2 even though he has fuck all to do in that movie but he did choreograph the fights so it all evens out.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Rev, you also Donnie Yen from the verson of Dragon Inn with Maggie Cheung in it.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Ah, thank you. Christ, Dragon Inn, of course. I’ve been meaning to watch that again.
Craig - your Donnie Yen picks?
December 12th, 2007 at 2:40 am
Mike: Thanks! I was unaware that there was a U.S. release.
Matt: I tend to dig just about everything Donnie Yen is in, with “meh” being about the lowest rating I give any of his starring roles, e.g. Iron Monkey 2. As for the absolute “gotta see it” titles…
Just for the action:
Tiger Cage II - a comeback film for Donnie Yen and Yuen Wo Ping, including a fight with Michael Woods
In the Line of Duty IV - non-stop ass-kicking, including another fight with Woods
Shanghai Knights - Donnie Yen fights Jackie Chan. I’m told some other stuff happens as well.
And in these, I really liked Yen’s acting as well as the fights:
Once Upon a Time in China II - Donnie Yen plays a conflicted version of the General character, and fights Jet Li.
Iron Monkey - the sure-fire Donnie Yen/Yuen family choreographers combination, with Yu Rong Guang thrown in to seal a gold medal, or whatever they get when their films are awesome
Hero - my all time favorite film
Sha Po Lang - dawn of a Donnie Yen-fueled rebirth of the Hong Kong action film industry
Flash Point - more of the above
Most of the titles that don’t make this list fall under the categories a) could have used a budget, and/or b) needed more Donnie Yen.