Jordan Chan

Hey, yet another triad movie! Uh oh, Wong Jing is the producer. The imaginatively-titled Hong Kong Bronx stars Jordan Chan as Neil, an ex-triad released after eight years in prison. Previously, he was a big time triad enforcer, but his years in the slammer have given him perspective. He's become a subscriber to the straight and narrow path, and wants to start a business with his ex-triad buddy Faye (Timmy Hung). He also wants to take care of his two sisters Bonnie (Vonnie Lui) and Barbie (Ada Wong), and being an active triad would obviously make him a bad role model. Ergo, he's done with the gang for good.

Sadly, just when Neil thought he was out, they pull him back in. A triad election is coming up, and elderly triad Uncle Bo (Wong Tin-Lam) wants Neil to take over Kowloon East because he's a righteous fellow, not like power hungry bastard Johnny (Chan Bo-Yuen). Johnny is annoying and almost ridiculously evil, and fears Neil and the legend of his ass-kicking prowess. However, Johnny should be okay, because Neil really doesn't want to return to the gang life. Unfortunately, Johnny can't take the hint, and chooses to harass and annoy Neil, constantly baiting him such that he can't escape his previous life. To make matters worse, the cops are distrustful and generally crappy towards Neil, too. A big ol' ball of anger begins building up in Neil, mirrored by the similarly growing ball of anger in Bull (Kenny Wong Tak-Bun), a blue-collar trucker whose son is bullied and forced into triad recruitment. Also, Bull's girlfriend Mabel (Winnie Leung) owes money to Johnny's boys, which leads to all sorts of sordid events that one would likely not see in CJ7. Then…IT ALL GOES TO HELL.

Hong Kong Bronx starts with a harrowing triad attack on the hood of Neil's car and only gets more violent, using standard, but effective melodrama to build towards its bloody climax. Basically, people don't want to be involved with the triads but they simply can't avoid it, and that indignation builds from minor grousing to a festering rage. The stakes are raised, people get hurt, and plenty of blood eventually spills. That means bad things for the people in the movie, but for audience members, it qualifies as entertainment. Jordan Chan wielding a chopper in the name of righteousness is a welcome sight, and when his character finally goes into revenge mode it makes for cathartic, if not warm and fuzzy moviegoing. Amazingly, we could owe Wong Jing some thanks here.

That is, if one can get by the film's more cheesy flourishes. Hong Kong Bronx is a pure genre retread, delivering plenty of stuff that's been seen many times before, while only providing a few novelties, some of which are pretty tough to buy. The largest novelty: CGI blood. Hong Kong Bronx contains Category III-level triad violence, including limbs being chopped off, hands and feet getting punctured by nails, plus knife fights with generous splashes of "we painted it on in post" red liquid meant to be blood. During the climax, the CGI stuff is used to the extreme, resulting in an exciting, but incredibly fake-looking slash-o-rama. The violence is largely unconvincing, and the gang fights are also intercut with comic pop art emphasizing each character's rage, anger, or just plain hostility. The effect is energetic, but it's also a little cheesy, and could be alienating to audience members who would prefer their violence to be more realistic.

Thanks to the above touches, Hong Kong Bronx feels unconvincing, and ultimately isn't as powerful as its "life sucks in the gang" themes would have you believe. Still, director Billy Chung gives Hong Kong Bronx appropriate, if not hackneyed melodrama, and star Jordan Chan carries everything with a righteous intensity. His character isn't notable, and indeed, the whole experience of Hong Kong Bronx is so generic as to be completely forgettable. These films were a dime a dozen a decade ago, and Hong Kong Bronx provides precious little to raise it above its already dubious B-movie status. However, since very few movies are like this anymore, we can feel safe giving Hong Kong Bronx a bloodied thumbs up. It's been awhile since we've seen a Hong Kong movie where no one - even kids or innocent girls - is safe from a crappy fate, and that uncertainty is as compelling as it is exploitative. Frequently, that edginess made older Hong Kong movies seem a lot better than they perhaps were, raising would-be crap to watchable guilty pleasure status. Well, Hong Kong Bronx does that, too. (Kozo 2008)