Since the early 80’s (Many would say even earlier then that) Hong Kong cinema was the leader in the world for excitement per celluloid inch. They cranked them out with wild abandon, had zero taboos and had only one mission: ENTERTAIN THEM TILL THEY CAN’T TAKE IT! No one could top their bone crunching action (“That guy MUST be dead!”), their over-the-top ghost covered horror (“Did he just eat that kid!?”), and the melodrama that didn’t stop at beating the tears out of you (“Make the tragedy end!”). They were cheap, they were fast and they were successful. And then the year 2000 arrived. You can blame it on the immortal pirate industry, American blockbusters stealing the spotlight or the government’s disinterests in supporting their own. It doesn’t really matter, because at the end of the day the industry still starved to a painful death and the survivors that shambled from the massacre were nothing but pale Hollywood imitations. There were (and still are) a few fighters for the cause (Johnnie To) but every good film that comes out is followed by a arid wasteland of nothing. The great golden age of Hong Kong film has come and gone. It’s time to mourn.
“Fuck that!” say’s Director/Writer/Producer Benny Chan.
The director of half a dozen Hollywood styled thrillers (Gen X Cops, Divergence, Heroic Duo) Mr. Chan is going to steal back the glory days. That means the actor’s are going to do their own stunts, the stunts are going to be bat-shit insane and the story is going to be done with a straight face. Three young cops (Pop Stars Nicholas Tse, Jaycee Chan and Shawn Yuen) find themselves up against a family of four super-duper martial artists (Led by Wu Jin) and their eeeeevil plan. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. It’s a simple story that exists as a reason to kick ass. And they do. Lots and lots of it.
I cherish every time a film has a moment that causes me to jump up in my seat and scream “Whoa!” and Invisible Target is the proud father of half a dozen of them. None of the main protagonist here are actually martial arts, but that doesn’t’ stop from jumping down 50 feet, being smacked by a truck and then rolling off the hood of a car. Wu-Jing, an actual martial arts super-star, is the real deal and they don’t waste an inch of him. The fights are bloody, fast and vicious without ever losing that hard-edged real stunt feel. There’s always something to smash into or a pane of glass to go crashing through in the world of Hong Kong film. The difference between the flicks of old and Invisible Targets is that this looks like a million bucks. You could place this bad-boy up against any current Hollywood bullet-fest and this would one come out on top. The lighting, camerawork and editing are untouchable.
The acting from all the leads isn’t’ too bad either. On paper these guys are nothing more than ‘Pretty Boys’ but their still trying their hardest to make you forget it. Nischolas Tse is all broody in a mustache, Shawn Yuen shaves his head for the squinty bad-ass look and Jaycee Chan steps out of his father’s shadow (The one and only Jackie Chan) and shows some solid melodramatic chops as the weakling traffic cop. He’s a little slow and sloppy on the fighting side of things, but hey, he never claimed to be his old man.
Other than a slow rough patch leading up to the climax and a 10 minutes growth that should have been snipped off, I have no other major complaints with Invisible Target. It’s a rock solid action extravaganza that pulls out all the stops to entertain its audience. I can only hope this is the gasps of life of new age in Hong Kong film, and not a death rattle.
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