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Review
by Kozo: |
It's
Take Two for Stephen Fung, director. Last year's Enter
the Phoenix was Fung's first shot at directing,
and he did decently for a freshman filmmaker. This year's
House of Fury ups the ante. Not only does Fung
have a more box-office friendly cast (Anthony Wong plus
those pesky Twins), but he's got a collaborator supreme
in action director Yuen Woo-Ping, a story that references
the beloved world of Bruce Lee, and the added pressure
of a possible sophomore slump. Fung comes through okay,
showing the same sense of humor that made Enter the
Phoenix an entertaining, though minor amusement.
However, Fung hasn't progressed that much since his
first film, so the bumps evident in Fung's skills are
magnified this time around. The result is frightfully
uneven and egregiously cheesy, but there's still enough
here to make House of Fury another entertaining,
though minor amusement. Just don't expect Kung Fu
Hustle.
Anthony Wong stars as
Siu Bo, a blustery middle-aged widower raising two sparring
young kids. Son Nicky (Stephen Fung) works at Ocean
Park, and is constantly annoyed at his seemingly stereotypical
sister Natalie (Gillian Chung). She talks on the phone
all the time with her boyfriend Jason (Daniel Wu, NOT
reprising his role from Beyond Our Ken), and
is portrayed as someone of her age and sex frequently
is: as a moody and petulant little princess. She spars
all the time with Nicky, but there's an added twist
to their sibling rivalry: KUNG FU! Siu Bo is a practitioner
of traditional Chinese medicine, and knows how to kick
ass. He taught his kids too; Nicky and Natalie can bust
out serious movies when they want to fight over a remote
control, or kung-fu kick beneath the dinner table. The
official international title for House of Fury could be Kung Fu Family.
Too bad the plot of House
of Fury isn't as inspired as its setup. With a kung
fu dad and some kung fu kids, one could almost almost
have imagined a Shaolin Soccer-type storyline,
only with school and family dynamics subbing in for
the soccer action. Stephen Fung and Gillian Chung make
delightful sparring siblings, and Anthony Wong owns
all with another fine performance as pop Siu Bo. Wong
can go from dopey and blustery to grave and commanding
in a matter of seconds, and he never loses the audience
along the way. Even in the most fluffy of roles, Wong
can impress, and he does so here with charismatic grace,
and self-effacing charm. Charlene Choi shows up as Natalie's
pal Ella, and is given the worst lines and the least
to do (Choi is noticeably absent from the film's final
release poster), while Daniel Wu makes the most of his
limited, somewhat dopey part. Wu Ma makes a welcome
return to the screen as an old comrade of Siu Bo's,
and the minor roles (Josie Ho turns up in what must
be a favor to Stephen Fung) are decently played, it
not actually fleshed out.
But then there are two
words: Michael Wong. Why Stephen Fung chose to cast
Wong as the villain of House of Fury is a mystery
that will probably never be solved. Not only is Wong
totally wrong for the part, but anyone who is familiar
with his work should have known that months before casting
began. Wong is Rocco, a (WARNING: NOT REALLY A SPOILER)
wheelchair-bound cueball who once worked as a CIA agent.
He's looking for the Chinese agent who put him in a
wheelchair, and the key may be Siu Bo, who claims to
have once been a G4 agent assigned to protect former
spies. His kids think he's a blowhard and don't believe
him, he has troubles raising them, yadda yadda yadda.
Yeah, that's the main plot. But back to Michael Wong:
he stops the movie cold every time he opens his mouth.
Not only is he given terrible dialogue, but Wong is
required to deliver his lines stone-faced, and in his
usual flat English. Even worse, he chooses to enunciate
slowly, so much so that he starts to sound like a Books-on-Tape
version of last year's tax laws. Since he's stuck in
a wheelchair, all of Wong's scenes involve the camera
staring at his mug, while he drones (literally) on and
on about his thirst for revenge. If anyone falls asleep
during House of Fury, I would bet big money that
it happens during one of Wong's speeches. They're that
interminable.
The rest of the plot isn't that
exciting either. Rocco comes for Siu Bo, who refuses
to talk, so he gets kidnapped and the kids must rescue
him. Tada! Ninety-five minutes of braindead fun. House
of Fury is most definitely braindead, but thankfully
it's also fun. This is largely due to Yuen Woo-Ping,
who brings his stellar action choreography to the mix.
This film was produced by EEG and Jackie Chan, and never
pretends to have any importance or meaning beyond its
commercial trappings. As a result, it doesn't truly
insult, and when the fighting kicks in, it becomes entertaining
stuff that puts other Twins movies to shame. No offense
to other fight choreographers, but Yuen Woo-Ping is
a master of screen fighting, and brings good impact
and fun choreography to the frequent—and sometimes
quite long—fight sequences. Even better, he gets
Stephen Fung, Anthony Wong, and most especially Gillian
Chung to look like reasonable kung-fu fighters—when
they're not doubled. Chung takes to the miniature kung-fu
princess role exceptionally well. She's adorably tough,
and throws herself into the fight scenes admirably.
Fans of cute kung-fu heroines: you could have a new
idol.
The combination of fighting,
genial humor, and likable leads is what makes House
of Fury a success—with the caveat that this
is a fluffy cinematic exercise that's as intelligent
and exciting as a pet rock. Stephen Fung manages to
pace the film well, and seems to understand how to tell
a story—even when it's a frightfully thin one like
this. Unfortunately, Fung's technique is largely transparent,
and given to bothersome devices like a crying in the
rain sequence (*yawn*), and too many faux-emotional
moments between fathers and sons, fathers and daughters,
brothers and sisters, and probably cats and dogs, had
Fung bothered to put them in the film. If you're looking
for pets, there is a cloying pet pig which shows
up for some easy laughs, and if you want you can even
put Charlene Choi in the pet category. She plays Nicky's
love interest, and puts on a teen Lolita act during
her 3-4 short scenes. This is all par for a Twins/EEG
extravaganza, and Fung uses his commercial assets pretty
well. Enter the Phoenix is a better overall film
as its ridiculous plot had more zip, while House
of Fury's ridiculous plot is dull and predictable.
No surprises occur, but when the fighting happens—and
again, it happens a lot—most audiences probably
won't care.
House of Fury does
have its share of disappointment. Putting aside the
been-there, done-that feeling of a Twins or Daniel Wu-Stephen
Fung reteaming, there is one auspicious reteaming that's
notable only for its bizarre sadness. When Rocco first
wheels into Siu Bo's shop, they face off in an inscrutable
battle of wills that's punctuated by its lack of actual
tension and Michael Wong's uninteresting acting. However,
those who fondly remember the late nineties just might
say, "Holy crap! It's the guys from Beast Cops!"
This Wong-Wong teaming does nothing to recall those
days, except perhaps remind some people of how Beast
Cops is a much better movie than anything made today.
Right now, it's doubtful that Fung could ever reach
those filmmaking heights, but for fluffy commercial
cinema, he's not a bad option, and will hopefully improve.
(Though if House of Fury is an indication of
how much Stephen Fung will improve between films, he'll
have to be on film #1000 to make anything even close
to Beast Cops). House of Fury is really
nothing more than a dopey action comedy, but it's got
enough fighting panache, genial humor, and fun star
turns to make it minor and amusing stuff. There's a
place reserved in every country's cinema for throwaway
crap like this, and House of Fury fits that bill
just fine. (Kozo 2005) |
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