Best of the Best (1992)



	Best of the Best		Return to Review Archive - B
	\| review \| awards \| availability \|		Jacky Cheung and Sammi Cheng
	Year:	1992
	Director:	Herman Yau Lai-To
	Producer:	Stephen Shin Gei-Yin, Tony Leung Hung-Wah
	Cast:	Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau, Ng Man-Tat, Sammi Cheng Sau-Man, Carrie Ng Ka-Lai, Paul Chun Pui, John Ching Tung
	The Skinny:	Average cop/triad actioner featuring Jacky Cheung as an overly intense SDU member out for revenge. Featuring a 20 year-old pre-superstar Sammi Cheng.
	Review by Kozo:	This gritty piece from Herman Yau is heroic bloodshed/nihilism personified. Jacky Cheung is a member of the SDU (also known as Flying Tigers), Hong Kong's version of SWAT, who engages in a personal vendetta when his new girl Heidi (Sammi Cheng in her debut) turns out to be the daughter of evil triad Paul Chun. It seems Paul doesn’t like Heidi hanging around with a cop, and uses scummy methods to get his point across. Examples include: beating up Jacky and then beating up Jacky’s dad (Ng Man-Tat in an effective performance). The issues of love vs. duty, honor vs. revenge are all on display here and quite frankly, IT ALL GOES TO HELL. When blood spills, no one is spared and the film enters a dark, nihilistic zone also known as “The HK Action Genre.” We've seen most of this stuff before, so the movie is really no great shakes. It's your standard cop/triad actioner with good stars and recognizable pathos. Still, the acting is better-than-average for this type of flick, and we are treated to the first screen appearance of the winning Sammi Cheng. For that, we give the movie a belated, but well-deserved thumbs up. (Kozo 1997)
	Awards:	The 12th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards • Nomination - Best New Artist (Sammi Cheng Sau-Man)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Mega Star/Media Asia Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.
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