CITY WARRIORS

Synopsis: An ex-soldier from Mainland China (Dick Wei) arrives at Hong Kong and uses the cover of a tour bus, lead by a cheerful tour guide (Carina Lau), to look for his estranged sister. Little does he know, his sister has been forced into prostitution by the very man she married (Ken Lo). CITY WARRIORS (1988) is directed by Johnny Wang Lung Wei (HONG KONG GODFATHER, ESCAPE FROM THE BROTHEL) who is a Shaw Brothers acting veteran, and one of the earliest filmmakers to lay the groundwork for Hong Kong's influential heroic bloodshed genre. While CITY WARRIORS may initially seem like standard Hong Kong 80s genre fare, it manages to set itself apart with Lung Wei's ferocious bloody action set pieces and some of its darker exploitation excesses. Error_4444 is proud to present out first Johnny Wang Lung Wei film on Blu-ray with a brand new 2K restoration and a slew of special features! (91 Mins)

Views: While it's never received much love among Hong Kong action film fans, it's only fair to recognise that City Warriors is a run-of-the-mill action-thriller that offers plenty to enjoy, that keeps even the most hardened fans entertained! Made during the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema, at a time when up to 300 releases per year seemed normal, City Warriors had to find it's place among 1988 hard-hitters like Jackie Chan's Police Story 2 and Dragons Forever, as well as films like Tiger Cage, On The Run, City War, The Big Heat, As Tears Go By, I love Maria, The Dragon Family, The Inspector Wears Skirts, Iron Angels 2, Tiger On The Beat and so much more. And although it only brought in slightly over two and a half million HKD during it's short cinema run in December of that year – the equivalent of around 220,000 British Pounds at that time – it was hardly deemed a failure, with many other big screen releases not even coming close to that. See, this was a period when generic action films like this were a dime-a-dozen – void of any major stars or directors, they were simply just seen as quick cash grabs; B-movie genre pictures that were often made in a hurry to make some fast money and, more often than not, backed by Triads (so who knows what else was going on behind the scenes). But then again, some film-makers just want to have a bit of fun, tell a story, or hone their craft. And, for City Warriors, I feel that's exactly what the fantastic Johnny Wang Lung Wei had set out to do!

In a nutshell, City Warriors tells the tale of a Chinese man from the mainland, who has come to Hong Kong as part of a tour group in search of his sister. Believing to be in the care of her loving husband, he soon finds out that she has been forced into prostitution by him, although is part of a bigger racket controlled by a corrupt politician. Although he is brought in by the local police, the vengeful brother feels that this is something only he can fix himself and soon goes up against the criminal gang to help free his sister from their clutches. While it rarely offers nothing new to the revenge-thriller sub-genre, City Warriors is saved by the exciting cast on offer, hardcore shoot-outs and fast-cut fight action, brutal violence, and some very neat stunt-work that's all pretty neatly caught by cinematographer Albert Yu Chik Lim – director of films such as Duel of the Dragons (1973), Return of the Kung Fu Dragon (1979), Combat at Heaven's Gate (1993) and Ghost's Love (1993). The film was co-produced by the newly formed Dragon Ray Motion Picture company and was distributed by the well-established Central Motion Picture Corporation; a Taiwanese film studio that had been making movies from the late 1940s and also delivered films such as Sylvia Chang's Immortal Story (1986), Ang Lee's Pushing Hands (1992) and Eat Man Drink Woman (1994), and the very little seen Setting Sun (1992) starring Yuen Biao, Donald Sutherland and Diane Lane. But the man put in charge was producer Clifford Choi, writer of Jackie Chan's Snake in the Eagles Shadow (1979) and Patrick Tam's The Sword (1980), and the director of films such as Leslie Cheung's Encore (1980) and Teenage Dreamers (1982), as well as Alex Man's Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1983) and Big Brother (1990) to name but a few, with City Warriors being his first as producer.

If there's one thing that should attract fans of Hong Kong cinema to this fun production, it has to be the amount of names attached who were once a large part of the famed Shaw Brothers studios. Of course, there's the undefeatable Johnny Wang Lung Wei taking the reigns of what would be his fifth directional effort after This Man is Dangerous (1985), Hong Kong Godfather (1985), The Innocent Interloper (1986), and Fury (1988). Better known as one of the original bad-boys of kung fu cinema, starring in almost 100 films and kicking ass without effort in many classics from Five Shaolin Masters (1974) to Chinatown Kid (1977), Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) to 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1983) and modern hits like Millionaires Express (1986), Project A 2 (1987) and Twin Dragons (1992) among many more, he would go onto direct entertaining titles such as Bloody Brotherhood (1989), Widow Warriors (1990), Angry Ranger (1991) and Escape from the Brothel (1992) soon after this and is no stranger to true fans of Hong Kong cinema who have enjoyed his efforts for decades. The commonly named Tony Leung, a bit played of many well known movie productions, is behind the script for City Warriors – aided by Charles Tang. But Leung Hung Wah's place in Hong Kong cinema is a little more than first expected! Writer of Lam Nai Choi's fantastic Shaw Brother's thriller, Men from the Gutter (1983), Leung also penned films like The Ghost Snatchers (1986), Heart into Hearts (1990), Bomb Disposal Officer Baby Bomb (1994), Cynthia Khan's In The Line of Duty chapters Middle Man (1990), Forbidden Arsenal (1991) and Sea Wolves (1991), as well as Herman Yau's Taxi Hunter (1993) and Best of the Best (1992) of which he also produced. In 1996, he would make his own directional debut with Mystery Files, and has since directed over 20 films including Vampire Controller (2001), Rascal Agent (2003) and PTU File – Death Trap (2005). While his efforts here for City Warriors are hardly groundbreaking, Leung's script still serves the purpose and manages to hold things together...

While he brought in a few past Shaw Brothers actors from his past to star for him in City Warriors, Wang Lung Wei also called upon the services of old friends Tony Tam and Hung San Nam – two martial-arts talents that both play small roles in the film, but also serve alongside him as the film's action choreographers. Having first starred alongside Wang in Chang Cheh's 1976 epic, Shaolin Temple, Tony Tam Chun To was a regular player of many Chang directed films, going onto work under Lau Kar Leung on films like Martial Club (1981), Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu (1982) and Tiger on the Beat (1988), Yuen Woo Ping and the Yuen Clan in Miracle Fighters (1982), Shaolin Drunkard (1983) and The Champions (1983), and many other Hong Kong classics like The Prodigal Son (1981), The Dragon Family (1988), Pedicab Driver (1989), Cheetah on Fire (1992), Legend of the Wolf (1997) and so much more, including most of Johnny Wang's directed efforts of which he has also doubled up as action-director. Equally, Hung San Nam has followed a similar, busy and successful journey, working with both Wang and Tam many times over the years as well as appearing in hits like A Better Tomorrow (1986), Magic Crystal (1986), Flaming Brothers (1987), Burning Ambition (1989) and so much more. Together, the talented trio deliver a host of powerful action scenes that blend violent shoot-outs with hard-hitting martial-arts, often with moments of shock, brutality and impressive stunt-work. The film opens up with a police stakeout that suddenly explodes into a ruthless and violent gunfight, quickly setting the tone for what's to come in this dark and violent piece. And when the characters put down the guns and get to trade blows, the hits come hard and fast, with every punch, kick and take-down delivered genuinely felt and never disappointing – proving to be one of the highlights of City Warriors!

Casting his line into the wide ocean of past Shaw Brothers stars, Johnny Wang managed to hook the wonderful and much loved Dick Wei as his leading man. Of course, both had starred in titles such as The Brave Archer (1977), The Five Venoms (1978), Ten Tigers of Kwantung (1979), To Kill a Mastermind (1979) and so much more, but this Taiwanese super-kicker had definitely came to the attention of most Western Hong Kong film fans thanks to his scene-stealing bad-boy roles in many Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan productions from My Lucky Stars (1985) to Heart of the Dragon (1985), Eastern Condors (1987) to Pedicab Driver (1989), and in the epic Project A (1983) as pirate king Lo San Po. Here, as stoic Chinese soldier Lok Han, Dick does a grand job; his stern demeanour lending itself to the concerned big brother that only shows emotion when absolutely needed. Of course, to help bring that out on screen, Dick is given a trio of larger-than-life antagonists to deal with starting with the handsome Ken Lo; an equally talented and loved regular bad guy from this period who made a name for himself as a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, while also serving as the superstars bodyguard in between projects. Playing the sleazy and notorious Tang, abusive husband to Wei's younger sister, Lo was the perfect pick to face off against Wei's vengeful fighter. Pulling the strings on Lo and his gang of crazed cronies, is Shaw Brothers legend and famed director Chor Yuen, here starring as corrupt councilman Chor Ping. It's a role that's not a shade off the one he played in Jackie Chan's Police Story (1985), with Yuen returning to play that same character once again just prior to this in part two of the much loved series. But perhaps it's the late Shum Wai that proves to be the most memorable, not to mention outrageous, character of them all. Having starred in over 30 films by the time City Warriors came about – including Long Arm of the Law (1984), The Protector (1985), Yes, Madam! (1985), Magic Crystal (1986), Dragons Forever (1988) and all of Wang Lung Wei's previous directional efforts – Shum Wai goes all out as a vicious homosexual pimp called Big Sister. Whether it's beating the life out of his hookers, flirting with his male gang members, or just torturing those who cross him, Wai delivers a wild performance that will make you laugh as much as it'll make you hate him. Interestingly, it's also worth noting that, as a long time associate of Johnny Wang's, he also serves as one of the assistant directors for City Warriors, alongside Michelle Wong who worked the same job on films such as The Good, The Bad & The Beauty (1987), Outlaw Brothers (1990), An Eternal Combat (1991), Full Contact (1992), Burning Paradise (1994) and Jackie Chan's Thunderbolt (1995) among many others.

Supporting this array of Hong Kong heavies is a fun cast including popular Taiwanese actor Ko Chun Hsiung, probably best know in the West for his roles in A Queen's Ransom (1976), Rich & Famous (1987), Tragic Hero (1987), Miracles (1989) and Island of Fire (1990). Here, the prolific star plays a feisty police detective who has a hatred towards those from the Mainland. And while I felt he was somewhat miscast in this role, Ko delivers a decent performance for the most part. His niece, who serves as the connection between him and Dick Wei first meeting, is played by the lovely Carina Lau who more-or-less guest stars as the Hong Kong tour guide that befriends Dick and aids him in his quest. Having only been on the film scene for about two years at this stage, Ms. Lau had already appeared in Jackie Chan's Naughty Boys (1986), Armour of God (1986) and Project A 2 (1987), as well as having starred in the aforementioned 1987 gangster epics Rich & Famous and Tragic Hero with Ko Chun Hsiung. While she didn't have much to do overall, I felt like this was a role suited more-so for the hilarious Sandra Ng. While little known film actress Debbie Chui stars as Dick's unfortunate and very unlucky sister, actors such as the great Philip Chan, Cheung Kwok Wah, Mak Wai Cheung, Wan Seung Lam and Wang film regular Yau Gwok Keung, all lend their support...

While it may not be perfect, carries an irrelevant title and sells it's top two actors short of a grand finale that puts both their kicking skills to the test, City Warriors still proves to be a very fun watch and offers enough brutality, hard action, and enjoyment that will keep fans happy for its 90 minute running time. Offering us the chance to enjoy Dick Wei in a rare good-guy role, movies like this have long been a guilty pleasure of many Hong Kong film fans the world over – joining the likes of Angel Enforcers (1989), Angel's Mission (1989), Lethal Panther (1991), Crystal Hunt (1991) and many others as a title to grab when you just need to sit back, switch off, and enjoy another fun slice of outrageous Hong Kong action cinema!

Overall: Rammed with brutal action, violence, wild characters and laughs, City Warriors will never go down as a Hong Kong classic, but it still entertains and is worth checking out!

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Error_4444 Blu-ray Extras: 2K Restoration, Audio Commentary by Podcast on Fire Network, Video Essay by George Clarke (Me), Interview with Action Director Hung San Nam

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