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Review
by Kozo: |
Hey kids! Special effects and fighting! The litigated
Tekken movie resurfaces as The Avenging Fist,
an action sci-fi spectacle that is as visually packed
as The Storm Riders and just as silly as Hot
War. Alexander Wang stars as Nova,
a butt-kicking teen who spends his days watching street
fighting matches and lusting after virtual idol Erika
(Gigi Leung). He and twin sister Belle (Kristy Yeung)
are children to Auntie Wing (Cecilia Yip), who is trying
to protect her children from the legacy of The Avenging
Fist.
The story goes like this: years ago, her husband Thunder
(Yuen Biao) devised a martial art called The Avenging
Fist, which is meant to unlock the other 90% of the
human potential that most people never use. Technology
has tried to do the same with a device called The Power
Glove, but its effects have proven ill to a select number
of people, among them Police Inspector Dark (Sammo Hung),
evil bastard Combat 21 (Roy Cheung), and the now-deceased
Thunder. Now that Combat 21 is making a return, it seems
that only Nova and The Avenging Fist can save them.
Wong Jing was responsible for
bringing us this "story" and it shows. Long
a fan of video games (Anyone see the egregious Future
Cops?), Wong manages to put together a team that
brings the right video game look to this glossy spectacle.
Utilizing extensive CGI and a production design motif
that can only be called "neon warehouse,"
the filmmakers have managed to create a strange Blade
Runner-like future with multi-colored eye candy
to spare. The over-the-top design is quite welcome,
as it puts us in the right mood for the action fluff
to follow.
The action is Corey Yuen's
department, but his trademark fluid choreography is
muted beneath camera tricks and CGI. What's left is
serviceable enough fighting, but it's certainly not
the main attraction here. With that gone, the only remaining
draw is spectacle, which we get though you have to wonder
if it's enough. Sure the CGI landscape is interesting
and the costumes attractive, but without a proper story
to tie everything together, the final result is just
a well-produced mishmash of comic book platitudes and
overused plot devices. At least The Storm Riders had an extensive comic book mythology to play with. The Avenging Fist is based on a video game, and
it really shows.
The presence of old-time kung-fu
stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao is probably the biggest
hook for the HK Cinemaphile. The two are certainly a
welcome sight onscreen, and each makes the most of their
screen time. Yuen, in particular, shows that he's still
got some stuff left even when he takes a backseat to
popstars Alexander Wang and Stephen Fung (as Nova's
friend/rival Iron Surfer). The cast uniformly does what
they can with the material, slight though it is. One
can only hope that Hong Kong will spend as much time
polishing their scripts as their special effects. While
I expect to see more films out of HK like The Avenging
Fist, I sincerely hope that they all don't turn
out this way. (Kozo 2002) |
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