Fatal Contact

Year:2006
Director:Dennis Law Sau-Yiu
Cast:Wu Jing, Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, Miki Yeung Oi-Gan, Theresa Fu Wing, Eddie Cheung Siu-Fai, Lam Suet, Kris Gu Yu, Ken Lo Wai-Kwong, Timmy Hung Tin-Ming, Andy On Chi-Kit, Johnny Chen , Xing Yu, Marco Lok Lik-Wai, Tats Lau Yi-Tat, Hui Siu-Hung
Description:
After
last year's SPL, Wu Jing became the odds-on
pick for Hong Kong martial arts movie superstardom.
Jackie Chan is aging, Jet Li is retiring ,
Zhao Wen-Zhou never quite made it, and Donnie Yen
is, well, Donnie Yen. Fans of nuts-and-bolts martial
arts action need a new hero, and Wu Jing's combination
of likability and actual martial arts skills makes
him seem like the obvious choice. Apparently, director
Dennis Law and Gold Label megaproducer Paco Wong thought
so too, lining up Wu Jing to star in Fatal Contact
- arguably Wu's first starring role in a Hong Kong
movie since Tai Chi 2 back in 1996 .
Law and Wong have also given Wu a partner: Ronald
Cheng, best known for his over-the-top antics in such
films as Dragon Loaded 2003 and Himalaya
Singh. Could Cheng potentially ruin Wu Jing's
bid for martial arts cinema greatness?
Shocker alert: Ronald
Cheng doesn't ruin Fatal Contact. In fact,
the sometimes maligned funnyman pretty much steals
the show, and may even be the best thing about the
film. Cheng plays the "Captain", a dopey
low-level triad assigned to take care of Kong , the new star fighter on the underground boxing
circuit. Kong is a martial arts champion on China's
national team, who's touring Hong Kong when he's spotted
by triad bastard Ma . Ma wants Kong
to fight for him in underground boxing matches, but
Kong says no because, well, it's illegal and it could
get him kicked off the Chinese team. However, Kong
does a 180 when he's urged to try illegal boxing by
Siu Tin , a sweet girl who
admires Kong's way with his fists. Kong admires Miki's
toothy smile and leggy way of wearing her shorts,
so he joins up and automatically becomes the toast
of the underground circuit. He begins earning serious
bank, which gets routinely inflated by Siu Tin's negotiation
tactics.
But problems arise in
Kong's journey through the dark side of boxing. Kong
may be a skilled fighter, but he's also more of a
showman than a down-and-dirty brawler. Noticing his
lack of killer instinct, Captain begins tutoring him
in the finer points of being a meaner fighter. Meanwhile,
hanging out with triads means contact with lots of
bad stuff. Siu Tin and Kong's pal Tsuichi shows up at some of Kong's matches,
but her life has descended into prostitution, a fact
that irks Siu Tin to no end. Also, Kong's challengers
begin to improve in both skill and willingness to
use chicanery. After a while, exposure to such seedy
people and circumstances starts to take its toll on
Kong. Luckily, he has Siu Tin's love, and Captain's
friendship to help him along. With his support group
behind him, Kong should be able to make a killing
then return to his life as a national champion, right?
Wrong. Getting involved
in illegal activities means that Kong can pretty much
kiss his government sponsorship goodbye, and that's
not the end to the bad stuff going on in this film.
The presence of Ronald Cheng and a couple of Cookies
would seem to signal a lightweight time at the movies,
but Fatal Contact instead turns out to be dark
and even punishing. Kong and Siu Tin begin to sink
further into an illegal, amoral world, and the effects
take their toll. Siu Tin, whose love for Kong initially
seems tempered by material desire, soon graduates
from practical money-minder to full-on golddigger.
Her cynical values can best be seen in her relationship
with Tsuichi, which is revealed in long dialogue exchanges
between the two Cookies where one admonishes the other
for letting her life go to crap. The lesson dispensed
is basically to be harder and smarter, and make all
the money you need while you can. That opportunism,
however, is not necessarily a positive thing. Pragmatism
is all well and good, but getting involved with bad
people and illegal things can send you straight to
hell - and eventually, that's the lesson that
Fatal Contact seems to be forcing upon us. Wasn't
this supposed to be a fun movie?
Well, it is, though
only in doses. The fighting certainly is fun, and
serves up enough creative choreography and painful
impact to warrant the film a partial recommendation.
Li Chung-Chi's action is grounded and mostly free
of wires, and is certainly a step up from the overly-choreographed
ballet-type stuff typifying most Asian Cinema of late.
Wu Jing brings power and poise to the action sequences,
and easily convinces the audience of his ability to
kick ass. The big surprise is Ronald Cheng, who handles
his few fight scenes with a surprising agility. Cheng
is also the comedy relief, but his character isn't
just a wacky sidekick. Captain is a hidden martial
arts master, meaning that he dispenses both the wisecracks
and the sage wisdom, frequently in the same scenes.
It's an odd mix, as Fatal Contact is more of
an action drama than an action comedy, and when Cheng
is onscreen, it's practically like he's in a different
film. But his character is fun and charismatic, and
easily the audience favorite. Who doesn't like a cheerfully
sardonic martial arts master who remains upbeat even
in the face of murder and other evil acts? Basically,
the film builds to a point where you just want Cheng
to cut loose and take down people in a blaze of righteous
comic fury.
However, that expected
outcome never comes to pass. Cheng is only a high-billed
supporting player; the entire film really belongs
to Wu Jing and Miki Yeung, and when Cheng isn't on
screen, the film sags beneath predictable melodrama.
The general theme behind the film is that greed and
chicanery are red flag signs on the road to ruin,
and the director Dennis Law does a decent job of nudging
us in that direction, even with the comedy presence
of Ronald Cheng fooling us into thinking we might
have a fun time at this movie. However, Law neglects
subtlety in his script, and fails to get his actors
to do anything besides recite their lines with supposedly
serious expressions. Wu Jing gets to display an innocent
likability as well as an explosive anger, and the
actor is impressive in that he makes an impact with
both personalities. However, much of the real drama
is handled by the Cookies, and they falter. Part of
the problem is that one of them, Theresa Fu, is little
more than a plot device who plays sounding board to
the increasingly burdened conscience of the other.
Miki Yeung gets to handle most of the drama, and gets
the thankless task of selling the film's tough existentialism
through copious dialogue. Not surprisingly, it proves
too much for the actress. In the past, Yeung has shown
a bright screen presence as well as some hidden depth,
but she can't convince here.
Dennis Law's screenplay
and direction don't help much. Law's script features
pages of thematic pontificating masquerading as dialogue;
the script practically calls attention to itself with
its own self-importance. Law's direction is also too
obvious, choosing to verbalize when he could just
present things visually. Characters spend a lot of
time talking about hopes, dreams, values, and other
stuff, but seldom do we actually see any of this demonstrated.
When characters finally do spring into action, it's
only to bring the film to its foregone, unsatisfying
conclusion. Fatal Contact has the tools to
be a good film, but it takes its disparate elements
and uses them incorrectly. The bad stuff is elaborated
and focused on, while the good stuff is only intermittently
glimpsed. That said, the good stuff can at least please
the fans of either Wu Jing or Ronald Cheng, who should
get their fix of action, comedy, or maybe even both.
But those looking for an out-and-out good movie may
be heavily disappointed. What's even more disappointing
is that Wu Jing has yet to take the lead role in an
actual good film, and Fatal Contact doesn't
change that. At the very least, Wu will be returning
soon in 2007's Let's Steal Together, though
he'll be supporting the Twins in that film. It seems
solo superstardom for Wu Jing is something we still
have to wait for.