Kowloon Walled City (2024)

Gangsta's Paradise

I bounced off walls with joy and excitement when I came across this movie. It has been too long since we have seen a hard core Hong Kong style triad martial arts movie like this. Not to mention the cast - Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, Raymond Lam; literally a Who's Who of veteran Hong Kong action super stars. Adapted from Andy Seto's manhua "City of Darkness," this movie is set in the 1980s in the Kowloon Walled City, or Hak Nam/黑暗 as it was known to locals. Dismantled in 1993, this was once the most crowded place on earth, packing 35,000 people within 6.4 acres. This infamous den of iniquity was a gangsta's paradise; a dystopian, lawless enclave of mostly refugees where crime proliferated and triads kept the peace with their own brand of street justice. The replica of the Walled City is viscerally authentic down to the chaotic claustrophobia of structure piled precariously upon structure and the stench of overflowing humanity permeating the dank, narrow corridors.

This fast-paced action-packed movie that pays tribute to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema exploits tried and true themes of loyalty, brotherhood and vigilante justice. Chan Lok-Kwun (Raymond Lam) is a mainland refugee that sneaks into HK in the 1980s. He runs afoul of triad boss Mr Big (Sammo Hung) and in a thrilling chase, jumps from the frying pan into the fire of the Walled City. Through blood, sweat and bone-crunching fights, he earns the grudging respect of Typhoon and his underlings, who keep the peace within the Walled City. The narrative rushes through not that well fleshed out subplots involving past grudges and shady business deals but who cares? They are simply excuses to stage one innovative, physics defying action scene after another featuring fighters dressed to kill at 1980s comic-con. While Typhoon and his rival Mr Big anchor the narrative, the younger crew really hold their own up against the intimidating cast. I laughed out loud at their moments of dark humor and brash camaraderie.

One of this movie's top highlights is the the gritty, awe-inspiring recreation of the dystopian underworld within the Walled City; a place that spawned countless video games and works of fiction. The action scenes pay tribute to the manhua with outlandish cartoon-like combatants and the death proof brawls featuring wildly exaggerated superpowers. The fight scenes got more fantastical as the movie progresses and climaxes in a crazy, all-out extended take down of an almost invincible villain. I was on the edge of my seat with excitement and anxiety the entire time; thinking more than once that the bad guy was gonna win. Nonetheless I felt the best fights were early on, where despite the astounding athleticism, they were still grounded in some semblance of reality. I had my heart in my mouth watching Chan Lok-Kwun's opening shattered glass skirmish, the way he fights his way out of tight spaces on the bus and his parkour like first foray into the Walled City. This is how real martial arts action scenes should be choreographed and filmed. Later on, while still inventive and gripping, the action strays a bit too far into the realm of the fantastical.

This movie is a must watch and not just for old times' sake; preferably in Cantonese and on the big screen. It shows that Hong Kong cinema is still alive and well and stands the test of time. I am only rating this an 8.0/10.0 because the plot could have been better but the overall entertainment value vastly exceeds this rating.

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HK cinema is back baby!

I'm so happy to see a modern Hong Kong film that remembers it's a Hong Kong film and not a pretender to the throne, an action-packed homage to the nitty-gritty choreography-crazed neon-daze of '80s Hong Kong cinema, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a long overdue and very welcome dose of ass-kicking goodness, hopefully signalling the start of a new wave. Packed with wall-to-wall bone-crunching, wall-shattering mayhem, dizzying feats of acrobatics and martial arts madness, the film might be a bit long but it's extraordinarily stylish, seamlessly edited and viscerally exciting. It's all directed to masterful effect by Soi Cheang, his nimble camera swimming through the walled city with a hyperkinetic frenzy that balances the excellent action that brings you closer to the edge of your seat with every punch and every kick and the misery enacted by neo-liberalism and cold vicissitudes of fate. A bittersweet dystopian canvas, but also the purest action machine built on the choreographed denial of physics. The cast is all excellent with veteran stars Louis Koo and Sammo Hung giving as good as they get, however, it's Philip Ng who makes the biggest mark as a cackling villain with supernatural abilities, even if his ascension to villain doesn't feel entirely warranted. The musical score by Kenji Kawai is utterly joyous and so typical of his masterful touch, I especially loved the use of Walking in the Air as part of the underscoring. If anything, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In proves that Hong Kong cinema is far from dead, and not every film the country produces has to be subjected to a Mainland committee's scrutiny. It's easily one of the best action films of the year and I'm annoyed it took me this long to watch it.

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