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Originally released in 1986, this kung fu thriller was named Righting Wrongs (Zhi fa xian feng). That’s before Corey Yuen broke through the Coveted Glass Ceiling of Crossover Success in the United States with his box-office smash, The Transporter.
But back then, Yuen was a young and hungry director looking to make a name for himself. Righting Wrongs succeeded brilliantly. Re-released by Dragon Dynasty in a classy DVD package, it’s been re-named Above The Law, and you can see for yourself what the fuss was all about.
Starring the legendary action star Yuen Biao as a renegade prosecutor and the great Cynthia Rothrock as a tough police detective, Above The Law is a hard-boiled crime drama of a man’s lonely struggle against a corrupt system. Biao plays Jason Chan, a lawyer who is angry at the way the law protects the bad guys. When a key witness and his entire family are murdered by a mob kingpin, Biao breaks the law in his search for justice. Cindy Si (Cynthia Rothrock) is soon on Chan’s trail, and it quickly spirals into a brutal situation only a few will survive. It’s a familiar, violent, and exhilarating tale of vigilante payback expressed with style, poignancy, non-stop energy, and raw honesty.
Above The Law doesn’t pretend to re-invent Hong Kong action cinema. In fact, Mr. Yuen loves his movie’s lurid pulp origins, so he cheerfully and whole-heartedly embraces every “bang bang, kiss kiss” cliche he can find. Yuen takes his genre hard-boiled, no chaser. Unlike too many contemporary adventure flicks made in the United States, Above The Law is blessedly free of irony, cynicism or smugness.
At it’s best, Yuen’s film is an old-fashioned valentine to classic movie directors like Walter Hill, Sam Peckipah, and Don Siegel. There’s no moral confusion here, or surly anti-heroes. Jason Chan is a man of honor who wants to do the right thing, and the conflict isn’t with the demons inside himself but in the mean streets he travels. Instead of bitterly wallowing in self-pity and surrendering to the inevitable, Chan just fights harder. Think of Gary Cooper in High Noon, Joe Don Baker in Walking Tall, or Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock. Yeah, it’s corny, and Yuen doesn’t apologize for it.
I think Above The Law works as well as it does because Yuen defiantly refuses to patronize either the characters or the audience, so his artistic integrity keeps it firmly anchored in authenticity in spite of all the impossible things going on. A hack such as Michael Bey will freely spend millions of dollars and months of rigorous planning designing his car chases, his phony PG-rated sex scenes, and his exploding fireballs. But Bey's loud movies don't make any sense. However, when Rothrock handcuffs four bad guys at once in a thrilling, “How did she do that?” action sequence, you believe it because you believe in her and the story Rothrock is living in.
It’s the story, stupid. Hollywood might have forgot, but Yuen hasn’t. Above The Law is a triumph.
Extras: Alternative Endings. Action Overload : An interview with co-star Cynthia Rothrock From The Ring To The Silver Screen : A featurette with co-star and kickboxing champion, Peter Cunningham. Feature-length audio commentary with Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan Trailers
If you missed Shanghai Express (a.k.a. Foo gwai lit che) when it first premiered in 1986, don’t worry about it. Thanks to Dragon Dynasty, this goofball adventure where The Far East smacks into The Old West is being re-released on a new, well-produced DVD, so fans of the martial arts genre get to enjoy this newly-discovered treasure.
Breezily directed by Sammo Hung (Once Upon a Time in China) this slapstick Hong Kong action film follows the passengers (a motley crew of con men, bumbling cops, hoodlums, and wealthy socialites) of the Shanghai Express, a train running to the small village of Hanshui. Shanghai Express is an oddball mix of Murder on the Orient Express, Goodfellas, and Blazing Saddles, with a generous touch of Monty Pythonesque lunacy tossed in for flavor.
From seeing Shanghai Express, I could tell in the first ten minutes that Hung never met a genre he didn’t like as he skillfully juggles brightly-colored balls labeled “western”, “comedy”, “martial arts”, “adventure”, and “gangster” without any of them crashing to the ground. The beloved Asian film icon is as gifted sitting in the director’s chair as he is kicking ass.
Oh, the plot? (Ha, hah, hahahah! ROTFLMAO)
Sorry. Sure, there’s a plot. Shanghai Express has too much plot, to be honest. It’s a big, heavy, overstuffed trunk busting at the seams. It's held together with duct tape, and you’d need a crowbar to fit it in the overhead rack. See, a crooked businessman returns to Hanshui, buys the entire town, and plans to sabotage the Shanghai Express so the passengers all have to stop in his town and [insert evil snicker] spend money. Ah, but meanwhile there’s a treacherous security chief back at Hanshui who robs the bank and plans to hijack the Shanghai Express for his escape. Hey, and what about those mysterious swordsmen on board who have a plan but (being mysterious, after all) won’t let you what it is. [cue scary music] Not yet. And–uh, never mind, O.K.?
Besides starring Hung, Shanghai Express has an all-star cast of Hong Kong favorites, including Yuen Biao, Rosamund Kwan, Richard Ng, and Cynthia Rothrock. A bittersweet subtext in the film is a sobering realization that for some actors, talent is not enough. Sometimes, talent falls between the cracks.
For example, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Jackie Chan are childhood friends and received training at the Peking Opera Academy. But, inexplicably, only Chan achieved crossover success in the United States. Maybe that's progree. I can recall when Bruce Lee was rejected for the TV series Kung-Fu because he looked "too Asian". Then there’s the great Cynthia Rothrock (China O’Brien), an action heroine who had the misfortune to have her career in the era before B-movies got A-movie money. In her prime, Rothrock would have broken little Sydney Bristow like a celery stick. It's an odd turn of fortune where, like jazz musicians of African-American writers in the 50s, Rothrock had to find work away from her native country.
Although many films in Hong Kong cinema are unfairly accused of having “low production values” (Translation: No Money), this genre is professionally executed with a surprising level of consistency, passion, and creativity. You can understand why Marty, who finally won his Oscar for The Departed, does his homework here. Since Dragon Dynasty has also released DVDs of Kill Zone, Police Story, Seven Swords, The Protector, and the Infernal Affairs trilogy, you better see ‘em before Hollywood screws it up. Shanghai Express is a wonderful start. It's dumb fun that's smart.
Extras: Deleted Scenes Express Delivery : An interview with Director and Star Sammo Hung. Way Out West : An interview with action legend Yuen Biao Trailblazer : A featurette with co-star and martial arts champion Cynthia Rothrock Feature commentary with Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan Trailers
