Full Contact (1992)

One of the premier action directors of the 1990s, Ringo Lam was a man well-known for his intense, blistering thrillers – and FULL CONTACT is a film that helped establish his reputation. It's a taut thriller that delivers an engaging plot packed with twists and turns, and of course the high velocity shoot-outs that Hong Kong gangster movies are famed for. Rather than delivering John Woo-style imitation stand-offs and mass gun battles, Lam is a director who always focuses on the intimacy of action – the small scale violence delivered to its participants. As such, FULL CONTACT is a very violent film and indeed it is a film all about violence.Things kick off in high gear as we join a jewellery store robbery. Chief robber Simon Yam soon turns out to be a thoroughly nasty piece of work, stabbing an innocent victim through the heart. He's flamboyantly gay, too. Then we join a second story strand involving Chow Yun Fat as a low-rent criminal who we meet standing up for his buddy Anthony Wong, in a role that encompasses both good and bad this time around. Chow Yun Fat kicks backside with a butterfly knife in scenes that were initially censored in the British release before becoming embroiled with Simon Yam and his cronies in an attempt to hold up a truck carrying a ton of gold.Double crosses, back stabbing, and mucho bad taste ensue. This is a film where the majority of the cast are sleazy, stupid or just plain evil. There's moronic muscle man called Psycho, a hooker who spends half the film engaged in sexual situations, and even the hero's girlfriend is a stripper in a sleazy club. Chow Yun Fat himself is clearly a bad guy, and yet he's the one we're rooting for, the one man with morals in a world seemingly devoid of humanity.There's not quite as much action as I'd anticipated, but when it comes the violence is very, very well handled and completely stylish. The nightclub shoot-out uses 'bullet time' slow motion to great effect years before THE MATRIX came out – who said Hollywood was original? Lam is at home detailing hold-ups, shoot-outs, executions, and pyrotechnic effects, and of course it all climaxes with a final bout between hero and villain. I won't spoil it, other than to say it doesn't disappoint. While I wouldn't call this a genre classic in the same league as something like HARD-BOILED, but it is a highly entertaining film. I look forward to watching it again some day to see how it holds up.

Back in the early 90s, John Woo was the Asian director du jour. Having already wowed audiences with HK action masterpieces such as Hard Boiled and The Killer, he was starting to make waves in Hollywood, getting his first shot at helming a US production with the Jean Claude Van Damme actioner Hard Target. Following closely in his footsteps, however, was Ringo Lam, who, with Full Contact, proved that he was just as capable of delivering the goods.This hyper-kinetic, bullet riddled action-fest is a superb example of 90s Hong Kong action, perfectly mixing breathtaking visuals with OTT action set-pieces that will leave you gasping. With its great cast, bloody ultra-violence and dark sense of humour, Full Contact is absolutely unmissable.Chow Yun-fat plays Gou Fei, a criminal who is betrayed by fellow gangster Judge (Simon Yam) and his cronies during a weapons heist. Believed to be dead by Judge, the actually-very-alive-and-rather-annoyed Gou Fei carefully plots his revenge...Full Contact takes the well-worn avenging angel theme, and loads it with some fantastic comic-book style characters: Gou Fei is the violent criminal that its OK to root for; Yam's nasty villain is a reprehensible foppish queen with psychopathic tendencies; Anthony Wong is Sam Sei, the cowardly slime-ball who makes off with Gou Fei's girl; Ann Bridgewater is the sexy girl torn between two men, neither of whom are really suitable; and Frankie Chin plays musclebound maniac Psycho, machine gun toting boyfriend of the ultra-slutty Lau Ngang (Bonnie Fu).The story may not be that original, but Lam sure makes it his own with his impressively stylish direction and ability to take everything one step further than others might consider necessary. And if you don't believe me, witness the 'bullet-cam' sequence in the nightclub—delightfully absurd in its conception but totally unforgettable.

Another entry into the "cheer for the most likeable bad guy" series of Hong Kong action flicks. "Full Contact" tells the oft-told tale of betrayal and revenge, served up as a potent cocktail of Western convention mixed with the trademarked Hong Kong style. When Jeff's (Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun Fat in true hard-case form) friend Sam (Anthony Wong) steps on the feet of a local loan shark, Jeff comes to his rescue, creating a powerful enemy in the vengeful gangster. Seeking to skip town and make good, the two hatch a plan to hijack an arms shipment with the help of Sam's flamboyant and malicious cousin Judge (a delightfully sleazy Simon Yam) and his gang of dysfunctional thugs. What Jeff doesn't know is that he's being double-crossed by the wild group of brutal killers, who plan to bury him as they make their getaway. Judge forces Sam to off his loyal friend Jeff, but Sam botches the job, leaving Jeff to return for bitter revenge after dealing with an emotionally painful betrayal and a physically challenging rehabilitation. Lam foregoes the melodrama of Hong Kong counterpart John Woo and goes straight for the jugular with unremittingly stark and graphic violence. At the same time, the characters retain a certain amount of sympathy. Frequently outrageous and over the top, "Full Contact" is nonetheless a well made film suffering from a fairly weak script. Though comparisons to Woo are inevitable, especially because of Chow Yun-Fat in the lead role, Lam is a different kind of director and, accordingly, "Full Contact" is a different sort of beast. Although it opens with a robbery that rapidly turns into a shoot-'em-up, there's none of the balletic, elegant violence that characterizes Woo and his imitators. When the camera lingers over the carnage, it's not a lovingly choreographed sweep. Unlike in Chow's films for Woo, for which he is best known in the West, there's little that's noble about Chow's character in this one. He's heroic only by comparison to the psychotic gangsters he takes down one by one. Fortunately, Chow is up to the challenge of portraying a character of questionable morals in an honorable light, and Anthony Wong and Ann Bridgewater, respectively playing his best friend and wife, are equally top-notch. Lam's direction is excellent as well. His fine control of the action and pacing keeps the film from peaking too soon, and even a bullet's-eye view during a climactic shoot-out in a nightclub works in the movie's favor. The level of violence makes most of what Hollywood produces tame by comparison.

Let's be honest here: if this exact same flick had been made in America, it wouldn't have been given a second look, but it's a Hong Kong production and, inevitably, a hyped-up "cult classic". Go figure. Anyway, the revenge plot is familiar, and the film, lacking the emotional power of "The Killer" (the only other Chow Yun-Fat flick I've seen; both it and he were much better), becomes an empty display of pyrotechnics. And a very long one, too. (*1/2)