Colour of the Loyalty

Year:2005
Director:Wong Jing, Billy Chung Siu-Hung
Cast:Eric Tsang Chi-Wai, Shawn Yue, Suki Kwan Sau-Mei, Emme Wong Yi-Man, Liu Kai-Chi, Lam Suet, Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung, Samuel Chan Kin-Fun, Peng Wai-On, Wu Qing-Zhe, Chapman To Man-Chat
Description:
Wong Jing attempts seriousness with Colour of the
Loyalty, and he succeeds at just that: being serious.
He also succeeds at producing a halfway decent motion
picture, but the qualifier here is "halfway decent".
Eric Tsang dons screwy eyebrows to play Brother Dragon,
a charismatic gang leader who's retiring. However,
he's sitting on a whole bunch of triad money, and
many of his colleagues aren't too pleased about it.
When word arrives that a hit is out on Brother Dragon,
the immediate suspects are his triad brothers, who
ostensibly would gain tons of dough were he rubbed
out. His solution: to pretend to do nothing. Increased
security would tip off his foes, he reasons, so he
pretends to not care. How crafty.
In secret, however,
Brother Dragon has a plan: a group of hidden hitmen
will protect him from the shadows, thus making them
unable to take a bullet for him because they're too
far away. This fault in the plan is revealed to the
audience when Dragon gets into an underground garage
shoot-out, which leaves everyone but Dragon dead,
whereupon his band of protectors shows up too late
to do anything important. This lapse of logic can
be attributed to poor screenwriting, AKA Wong Jing.
Regardless, nobody in the film seems to realize that
this "protect from the shadows" plan is
pretty stupid, so they keep it up. The group is led
by Brother Dragon's old comrade , plus
a bunch of young Turks looking to take their first
steps into the triad underworld.
In particular, there's Fat
, a tough SOB who's obviously the main brawn
of the gang. He's also ultra-intense to a fault, and
seems to be in inner turmoil 24-7. It's clear to Brother
Dragon that Fat has skills, so he pumps up the young
kid with praise and the promise of something greater.
However, there are rules to be followed, namely "Hung
Kwai", the wacky rules of the underworld that
prevent a simple job promotion or congratulatory slap
on the back. Basically, to climb the triad ladder
you have to sacrifice and demonstrate your extreme
loyalty. In Fat's case, he has to endure seeing his
buddy get beaten up out of loyalty to Brother Dragon,
and he has to endure the "stealth action hero"
role that Brother Dragon has assigned him. There are
other problems: it's not entirely clear who's out
for Brother Dragon's head, and the number of possible
players seems to extend beyond Dragon's triad colleagues
. Plus, there's a dopey
lower-level triad who has it in for
Fat, and there are the obligatory females sporting worried expressions in the
background. Plus, people must die. That's what these
films are about, right?
Saints be praised: Wong
Jing manages a semi-decent genre picture with Colour
of the Loyalty, though the actual success of the
film has more to do with a dearth of similar product
than an actual standout film. The title recalls the
excellent 2003 picture Colour of the Truth,
though that's where the similarities end. Instead
of a compelling, fleshed-out crime thriller, Colour
of the Loyalty tries to subvert the conventions
of the "hero" film. In "hero"
films, the honorable triad dudes believe in loyalty
and honor above all else, and when they get backstabbed,
they still band together for some rousing heroic bloodshed.
Colour of the Loyalty takes a different tack,
and puts the hero in an even crappier position. Basically,
the triad underworld has big rules , and you have to follow them. And
if you don't like the Hung Kwai? Well...then life
sucks, especially since there's something called Murphy's
Law which makes the Hung Kwai bite even harder. Wong
Jing attempts some thematic depth by mashing these
concepts into ninety minutes of triad genre goodness,
and basically promising that by the end, something's
gotta give.
Well, something does
give, which is probably the film's signature moment
and biggest surprise. However, it's not completely
earned. Previous to the film's final compelling moment,
we're treated to a predictable plotline, and workable,
though uninspired performances. Eric Tsang is charismatic
as Brother Dragon, though he creates little sympathy
for the man. The same can be said for Shawn Yue, who
apes Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in intensity but not in actual
acting skill. Fat is the central figure of Colour
of the Loyalty, but the character isn't as fleshed-out
or as complex as he should be. The girls are similarly
uninteresting, and seem to be around to show up at
the wrong times and cry. The best performance is turned
in by Liu Kai-Chi, and the rest of the cast is hit
or miss. Thankfully, Billy Chung and Wong Jing pace
the film fairly well, and add some harrowing violence
to get your attention. Even if you're largely bored,
the sight of someone getting their fingers sledgehammered
should make an impression.
Ultimately, Colour of the
Loyalty is interesting mainly because it's a decent
attempt at a triad thriller in a time when there are
none. Back in the late eighties - and then the late
nineties - gangland thrillers were a dime a dozen,
and Colour of the Loyalty is more-or-less average
when compared to the entire field. It's got dark atmosphere,
bad guys who glower in an ineffectually menacing manner,
and sudden bursts of violence that should make you
wince. It's also got a decent premise that isn't ably
supported, and the usual marks of sloppy Wong Jing
filmmaking, including bizarre dialogue ,
and a cameo that's jarring in its complete lack of
necessity . Colour of the Loyalty
isn't really a standout Hong Kong film; it's just
passable stuff in a time where there's frightfully
little stuff out there. So, Wong Jing did all right.
This time.