Tsui Hark Movies
A pivotal figure in the evolution of Hong Kong cinema, action virtuoso Tsui Hark was one of the most popular and influential filmmakers ever to emerge from the Pacific Rim motion-picture community. Famed for his work's rapid-fire pacing, gymnastic camerawork, and visceral intensity, Hark also won acclaim for his rapier wit and impressive stylistic range, moving easily from the martial arts to gangster dramas to even romance. In addition to reviving the moribund swordfighting and kung-fu genres in the early '90s, he was also instrumental in bringing the special effects wizardry of Western filmmaking to the East, eventually following the lead of longtime friend and associate John Woo to Hollywood.Born Xu Wen Guang in Vietnam in 1951, Hark made his first 8 mm amateur film at the age of 13. After relocating to Hong Kong in 1966, he later attended the University of Texas, graduating in 1969. The following year he directed a documentary, From Spikes to Spindles. After relocating to New York City in 1975, Hark accepted an editorial position at a Chinatown newspaper, later helping develop a community-theater group while working on several cable television projects aimed at Asian audiences. In 1977, Hark returned to Hong Kong, beginning work as a television producer for TVB. Two years later, he made his directorial debut with The Butterfly Killers, followed in 1980 by the back-to-back efforts Dangerous Encounter -- First Kind and Hell Has No Door. After completing 1981's award-winning All the Wrong Clues, the first in a string of box-office smashes, Hark mounted his most ambitious project yet with the 1983 sword-and-sorcery epic Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, a visual effects extravaganza employing technicians previously involved with the creation of Star Wars and Tron.
Remaining a remarkably prolific talent, Hark returned in 1984 with a pair of new features, Aces Go Places 3 and Shanghai Blues. After 1985's Working Class, he turned to his acknowledged masterpiece, 1986's Peking Opera Blues; a frenetic martial arts farce set in 1913, the picture was one of the first Hong Kong productions to receive global interest, heralding a new era in Eastern filmmaking. That same year, Hark produced John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, a landmark effort which switched the focus of the industry from chop-socky adventure to hardboiled crime action. Hark spent the next two years working almost solely as a producer, supervising films ranging from the superb A Chinese Ghost Story to I Love Maria to The Big Heat. Only in 1989 did he return behind the camera to direct A Better Tomorrow 3.
While maintaining his busy production schedule, in 1990 Hark co-directed Swordsman with filmmakers including King Hu, Ann Hui, and Ching Siu Tung. The solo effort Once Upon a Time in China, the first in a series of films about the character Wong Fei Huong -- an herbalist healer and martial arts master -- followed a year later, making mainland actor Jet Li a massive star. After following with parts two and three in the Once Upon a Time series, Hark adapted the Chinese fable The Green Snake in 1993. Between 1994 and 1996, he directed a staggering six films -- Once Upon a Time in China 5, The Lovers, A Chinese Feast, Love in a Time of Twilight, Tri-Star, and The Blade, respectively -- before traveling to Hollywood in 1996 to film Double Team with Jean-Claude Van Damme and NBA star Dennis Rodman. Teaming again with Van Damme two years later for the wildly unsuccessful Knock Off, it soon became obvious that the spark that Hark displayed in his imaginative Hong Kong productions simply didn't translate well to American celluloid. Back on his native soil and making something of a comeback in 2001 with his spastically kinetic action thriller Time and Tide, Hark took the conventions of the Hong Kong thriller that he had defined alongside John Woo in A Better Tomorrow and turned them on their head, retaining some of the old magic and resulting in one of his more entertainingly original chaotic offerings in some time. Next up Hark would delve into fantasy with the effects-heavy sequel to his 1983 hit Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain, Zu Warriors (2002). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 2008
A whirlwind romance dies beneath the icy depths of the Pacific Ocean after a diver vanishes in the ancient ruins off Yonaguni Island, and his would-be fiancé embarks on a desperate quest to uncover his true fate. Years ago, acclaimed underwater photographer Dave Chen (Guo Xiao Dong) hid a sparking engagement ring in the 10,000 year old ruins at the westernmost tip of Japan. The ruins are Dave's greatest passion in life, and he always looked forward to the day he would return to the site with his true love, and propose to her in that awe-inspiring setting. Now Dave's dreams of finding the perfect mate have come true, and he's ready to propose to the beautiful Jing Gao (Lee Sinje). But as Dave, his sister Helen (Isabella Leong), and Jing Gao board a boat and set sail for the ruins, Helen implores her brother to take some time and weight his options. Insistent that he has found the woman he longs to share his life with, Dave follows Jing Gao into the ocean, never to be seen again. Soon thereafter, the decapitated corpse of a man is discovered, though lack of proper DNA evidence prevents the authorities from claiming that the body belonged to Dave. Devastated, Jing Gao drifts into a fantasy world populated by mysterious phantoms, where she discovers a strange piece of glass marked with the number "1016." As Jing Gao turns to her friend Simon for advice on finding out what really happened to Dave, Helen follows her instincts and travels to nearby Turtle Island in Taiwan in search of clues. What she finds there - a human head and a video camera featuring footage of the fateful dive - may be crucial to solving the mystery of her brother's disappearance. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angelica Lee
- 2008
Seven Swords director Tsui Hark proves his multi-genre mastery with this romantic comedy. Kitty Zhang (CJ7), Guey Lun Mei (Secret), and Zhou Xun (Painted Skin) star as three women who are very different, but they share a similar goal of finding romance. They encounter a variety of strange experiences and even stranger people on their journey to love, but will their dream men be waiting for them at the end of the road? ~ Kimber Myers, All Movie Guide
Three maestro Chinese action directors - Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and Johnny To - co-helm the adventure saga Triangle. The film actually constitutes a film serial, divided into thirds, with each filmmaker responsible for one episode. Three drinking buddies, Fai, Sam and Mok are visited one dark and stormy night by a strange old man who dazzles them with the tale of an ancient treasure. The artifact in question - worth untold amounts of money - lies buried beneath an almost impenetrable government facility. The retrieval mission is theirs, if they wish to accept it, and if they can claim the treasure, they get to keep it. Indeed, the "loot" - a magnificent robe of interwoven golden strands, its monetary value inestimable - outstrips everyone's expectations. But in time, the friends' greed and selfishness begin to overshadow their considerations of loyalty, trust and friendship. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Tsui Hark (The Blade) adapted his massive martial arts epic Seven Swords (AKA Qi Jian) from Liang yu-Sheng's ravenously popular novel Seven Swordsmen from Mount Tian. The story opens in the 1660s, following the implementation of China's (Manchu) Qing dynasty. To quell possible nationalist uprisings, the emperor issues a decree forbidding the use of martial arts, and guarantees decapitation for anyone who violates that order. A class of bounty hunters quickly formed to enforce the law and collect 600 pieces of silver for each violator; the most massive and domineering of the warriors is the bald, muscular Fire-Wind (Sun Honglei), a bellicose and volatile creature who lives in an elephantine tentlike dwelling on a hill. This walking terror selects Martial Village, a hamlet in northwestern China, as his next assignment. Meanwhile, in Martial, two young adults, Wu Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and her ex-beau, Han Zhibang) rescue an old executioner, Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar-leung) who foresees the coming wrath and acknowledges the necessity of pulling in the mythical 'Warriors of Mt. Tian' to fight Fire-Wind and his cronies. The four warriors summoned by Fu include Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen), and Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), who dramatically increase the tension and bloodshed when the former develops a crush on one of Fire-wind's hostages, Green Pearl (Kim So-yeon) and decides to kidnap her - sending Fire-wind through the roof. The critically-worshipped Hark reportedly cut two versions of this film (including a 2 1/2 hour cut and a 3-hour cut) and demonstrated incredible confidence in Qi Jian by planning it as the initial installment in a massive series of multimedia sequels, including a 74-part television series, an online video game, comics, and five additional films. The picture itself testifies to this, with the setup for a sophomore installment in its conclusion. Qi Jian, however, did lackluster box office when it opened in the Far East in July 2005, making the follow-ups less than certain. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, (more)
- 1997
Martial arts master/doctor Wong Fei-hung (a familiar character in Hong Kong cinema) and his gang find adventure amidst the cowboys and Indians of the American West. The sixth in the enormously popular "Once Upon a Time in China" series of Hong Kong action films that was created by director Tsui Hark in 1991, this episode takes an entirely new direction for the series; it features plenty of broad comedy in the first half (though whether or not it was intentional is debatable), eye-popping stunts and excitement. In another unusual turn, it was also shot with scenes in English as well as the standard Cantonese. Wong's adventure's begins when he and his gang sail to San Francisco to oversee the latest branch of their Bo Chi Lam. They find a country where the Chinese are exploited and despised. Soon after arriving, the courageous Wong (Jet Li) loses his memory after the daring rescue of Aunt Yee (Rosamund Kwan), Wong's long-time love, who was just about to fall from a cliff. Separated from his group, the amnesiac Master Wong ends up with a tribe of Native Americans (all of whom are obviously white), who adopt him. Though they too know martial arts (as do the cowboys Wong encounters), but are no match for Wong, who proves his skill by single-handedly braving the spears, kicks and chops of an enemy tribe. Eventually, Wong reconnects with Aunt Yee and his gang; together they go on to have more adventures and battle a number of evil villains. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, (more)
Gangsters abound in this lively, romantic crime drama that is set in Shanghai during WW II. The tale of Taiwanese patriot Hsu Wen-Chiang begins as he is washed up on a beach near Shanghai. He is taken in by Ting Lik, a kindly beggar who is desperately in love with Feng Ching-Ching, the daughter of a prominent gangster. It isn't long before Ting Lik successfully rises through the underworld ranks to become one of the city's most powerful gangsters. Hsu is beside him all the way and uses his own power to get revenge against those who tried to have him killed much earlier. The film's later focus is on the exploits of Feng who long ago had a relationship with Hsu when he was on the lam in northern China. Back in the present, Hsu and Feng meet again by chance and they resume their affair until Hsu learns that Feng's father is one of his enemies and kills him. Poor Feng goes mad with grief. Ting finds out and swears revenge upon Hsu. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
With a marvelously convoluted plot and featuring plenty of slapstick action, Chinese Feast is essentially a kung-fu film with a tasty twist: the combatants battle with knives, not to carve each other up but to make exquisite culinary delicacies. The story's impetus comes from a long-standing feud between cooking schools and centers on an upcoming cook-off in which two master chefs compete to present the most delicious version of the Qing & Han Imperial Feast staples -- monkey brains, bear paw, and elephant trunk. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A traditional Chinese opera provides the basis for this nonmusical sweet & sour romance that tells the tale of a 4th-century student who finds himself confused when he becomes attracted to a fellow student. Unbeknownst to him, the "he" is really a she in disguise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Snakes and special effects abound as human and mythical worlds collide in this lavish variation of an old Chinese fable about a learned man who falls under the spell of two snake women. After 1,000 years of practice, White Snake is finally able to take on a completely human form. Hsu Hsien, the scholar, falls in love with the lovely White Snake. Her sister, Green Snake, is not as adept at shape-shifting as she has only practiced for 500 years. She is human above the waist only. The serpentine sisters are hunted by a Buddhist monk who is almost to nirvana, and a Taoist monk determined to rid the area of all snakes. When the two forces finally meet, Hsu stands by as a secular witness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Cheung, Joey Wong, (more)
The third installment in the Hong Kong Swordsman trilogy is intended to recapture the success of the second film, including its gender-bending performance by Brigitte Lin. Lin reprises her role as Asia the Invincible, a swordsman whose use of a supernatural scroll caused him to turn into a woman. The scroll is once again the object of contention. Resurrected from the dead, she finds that everyone from Japanese ninjas to the Spanish navy are after the scroll. She is confronted by further gender complications when a woman named Snow Joey Wong, a former lover of Asia, assumes Asia's male identity. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin
- 1993
Benny Chan directs and Tsui Hark produces this sprawling fantasy yarn. The film opens with kung fu master Ma Kwun-mo (Tony Leung) being saved by the stunning Pak Wan-fai (Anita Mui) and her pet crane Yuen Yuk. In gratitude, Ma promises not to reveal Pak's identity to anyone. Later, at a kung fu meeting attended by Ma, the evil So Pang-hoi (Lawrence Ng) orders a fleet of poisonous bats to kill every other student at martial arts schools. His plans are thwarted by Yuen Yuk. While hurriedly searching for a remedy for the bats toxins to treat stricken pupils, Pak encounters the embittered Butterfly Lam (Rosamund Kwan), and soon the two are embroiled in a vicious battle using lethal sound waves. Meanwhile, So continues on his quest to take over the world. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
In this second of three "Swordsman" martial arts thrillers, the swordsman Ling Jet Li is traveling with his sister to a religious retreat when they are informed that the leader of the sect has been captured by a mysterious being who has been transformed into a nearly immortal woman through the agency of a sacred scroll. At the same time, the Japanese are once again threatening to take over the Chinese mainland, and this dire fate can only be thwarted by a heroic few. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, (more)
This is the third in a series of movies featuring creatures from Chinese ghost stories. It begins with a scene from the first movie of the series, which shows the hero in an epic conflict with something called the Tree Devil, which has been put to sleep for a hundred years. Now it is "later," and the story focuses on two traveling monks, a scholarly disciple and his aged master, who are traveling the countryside bearing an image of the Buddha to be given to a particular shrine. One night they stay at a haunted temple and become the focus of the amorous attentions of two sexy ghosts, who are in league with the Tree Devil. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joey Wong, Jacky Cheung, (more)
Though generally unknown to Western audiences, Tsui Hark is considered a giant among Asian filmmakers and this exceptional epic, combining hard-hitting martial-arts action with romance, comedy, history, genuine poignance, and sharp insight into the effects of the century-long encroachment of Western civilization in Asia more than amply demonstrates why. The story centers on the exploits of Master Wong Fei-hung (a familiar figure in Hong Kong cinema) a 19th-century doctor, Confucian, and exceptional martial artist. As the film begins, he has just opened a new clinic in Canton Province. To help him with patients, he hires a few apprentices including Porky Lang (the comic relief) and Buck Teeth Sol, who was raised outside China and barely can speak the language. Wong is platonically involved with the lovely, worldly Aunt Yee, who has been abroad most of her life. Wong soon gets in trouble when he begins using his skills to protect and assist the poor and helpless in his community. As a result, someone torches his clinic, forcing Wong and his compadres to set off and get spectacularly staged revenge. They also try vainly to stop Western culture from changing traditional Chinese ways, but they soon find that they may as well be shoveling sand against a rising tide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In Taipei, Taiwan, a television executive is helping the emcee of a television show about child prodigies prepare for a segment featuring a young chess prodigy. While he does this, he remembers a visit to the mainland at the time of the Cultural Revolution to visit a cousin. While traveling by train, he encountered another chess player who was on his way to a prison camp. As he wonders what happened to him, the film cuts back and forth between the two different stories. One is about the cutthroat competition the prodigy must face in 1980s Taipei, the other is about tournament competition in Chinese labor camps in the 1960s. This film looks like two films cobbled together, because that's exactly what it is. After the director of the prison-camp chess match film walked off the job, the film sat on the shelf until the producer could think up a way to finish it. His solution was to shoot a parallel, contemporary story and intercut between the two. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Yang Lin, (more)
Tsui Hark and Ching Siu-ting spin this adventure yarn inspired by old Hollywood adventure serials. Set in the 1930s when China's last emperor Puyi allies himself with the invading Japanese army, the film centers on aged though wily Dr. Choy (Dean Shek) vows to lend his experience and his medical expertise to the resistance. He teams up with the luckless Lieutenant Mang (Paul Chu Kong) whose ragtag army needs all the help it can get. After a hair-raising encounter with spy WO-1 (Fennie Yuen), the force decide to take out a chemical weapons factory located deep in Japanese held Manchuria and run by the evil Masa (Tony Leung Kar-fai) and legendary secret agent Yoshiko Kawashima (Joyce Godenzi). Corey Yuen and Jacky Cheung also star. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
This continuation of A Chinese Ghost Story reunites some of the original cast. Ning Leslie Cheung, the wandering scholar from the first film, is mistakenly imprisoned. An old man helps him escape and gives him a medallion for good luck. Ning meets a group of rebels, and the medallion causes them to mistake him for the old man, who turns out to be a well-known sage. Joey Wong, who played the ghostly heroine in the first film, portrays Windy, the leader of the rebels. Ning falls in love with Windy because of her resemblance to his past love and joins in a struggle to save her father from an evil warlord. The romantic element is toned down from the original; this installment emphasizes outrageous martial arts sequences, creatures, and special effects. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong, (more)
Tsui Hark takes the reigns of this series following a much-publicized rift between himself and John Woo -- the director of the first two A Better Tomorrow films -- to direct this prequel based around Chow Yun-Fat's memorable Mark character. Set in 1974, Mark ventures to Saigon after his cousin, Cheung Chi-mun (Tony Leung Kar-fai), gets into hot water with the local police. Using a contact in the Vietnamese army, the two soon start trafficking black market weapons with a beautiful female assassin named Chow Ying-kit (Anita Mui). After a deal goes horribly wrong, the three -- along with Ying-kit's father -- try to leave Vietnam, only to have Ying-kit be detained by customs. Back in Hong Kong, Mark and Chi-mun set up a small garage. When Ying-kit returns, her old mobster boyfriend, Ho (Saburo Tokito), also makes an unwelcome appearance. Though Ying-kit has fallen for Mark, he refuses to reciprocate because Chi-mun has fallen for her. Ho hates them both and tries to kill them with a well-placed bomb. Though the attempt fails, Ho promises more if the two don't leave town. Instead, Ho leaves for Saigon with Ying-kit who is quietly plotting revenge. Mark and Chi-mun soon follow them, hoping to save Ying-kit and kill Ho themselves. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Anita Mui, (more)
In this stylish Hong Kong thriller, Tony Leung stars as a cop in Shanghai during the 1930s. His department is overrun with corruption, while gangsters rule the city via the opium trade. The young cop recruits the aid of some rickshaw drivers who turn out to be men he served with during the war, and in the tradition of The Untouchables of U.S. television and film, the group leads a crusade against the mob. This is an early work by Kirk Wong, who later directed the 1998 film The Big Hit starring Mark Wahlberg. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
Internationally renowned filmmaker Tsui Hark produced this amiable screwball romantic comedy from Hong Kong director Chor Yuen. Popular action star Chow Yun-fat plays Chow Ting-fat, a stockbroker who is in love with two different women. Joey (Joey Wang) is a beautiful boutique owner and Sally (Sally Yeh) is a glamorous stewardess. Chow wants to marry them both, and manages to do that very thing, but naturally must keep each woman unaware of the other's existence in his life. The usual farcical situations ensue, with Chow's friend Chi-hung (Waise Lee) aiding him in the constant subterfuge necessary to keep his activities a secret. One person who does notice when two different women claim to be Chow's wife is Inspector Cheng (Kent Cheng), who starts investigating Chow's situation with a grim dedication rarely seen outside of homicide units. As might be expected, Chow's luck eventually runs out after one too many near-misses, and Joey and Sally join forces to get revenge on the two-timing bigamist. It's a familiar plot, but the exuberant actors and Yuen's skilled direction make it constantly seem fresh and amusing. Carrie Ng leads an impressive supporting cast including David Wu and Shing Fui-on. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Following the bloody climax of the previous film, A Better Tomorrow -- again directed by John Woo -- opens with Sung Chi-hi (spelled Tse-ho in the first film though still played by Ti Lung) getting released from jail on the condition that he rat out his gangland associate and a shipyard owner, Lung (Dean Shek). Chi-ti's younger brother, a young cop named Chi-kit (Leslie Cheung), is working undercover on the case and has already gotten into the gangster's good graces by dating his daughter, Peggy (Regina Kent). Fearing that he might put his brother's life in danger, Chi-hi cooperates with the cops. Meanwhile, Lung comes to believe that he is responsible for the death of a competitor and flees to New York. There he promptly goes crazy while under the care of Ken (Chow Yun-fat), the twin brother of the sunglass and trench coat-sporting Mark who died in the previous film. During a gun battle with the Mafia who tried to blackmail the exiled crime boss, Lung miraculously regains his sanity. Together he and Ken return to Hong Kong to settle a few scores. This film's onscreen mayhem was almost matched offscreen. Director John Woo and producer Tsui Hark had radically different views of how the film ought to progress. As a result, Hark reportedly recut the film without Woo's consent, ending a long-time professional relationship between the two filmmakers. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat
Legendary Hong Kong producer/director Tsui Hark and filmmaker Ching Siutung combine forces in this high-flying supernatural romance classic. Ning Caichen (Leslie Cheung) is a lowly tax collector who takes refuge for the night at the spooky Lam Ro temple. There he encounters and promptly falls in love with a beautiful ghost named Nie Xiaoqian (Joey Wang). Unfortunately Xiaoqian is damned to serve the evil hermaphroditic tree spirit Lao Lao, who (thanks to an extraordinarily long tongue) feasts on the souls of amorous young males. Usually Xiaoqian, along with her comely sister Qing, tempts would-be Lotharios to their arboreal doom, but she too is smitten with the downtrodden wanderer. Soon afterwards, Caichen meets Master Yan (Ma Wu), a Taoist hermit, martial arts master, and a sworn enemy of Lao Lao, who tells him of Xiaoqian's true, otherworldly nature. Nonetheless, true love proves to be strong. Caichen promises Xiaoqian that he will help spring her from her dubious employment and Xiaoqian protects her love from the evil wood sprite. Later, things grow more complicated for the lovers when they learn that Xiaoqian has been betrothed to a demon warlord. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Wong Tsu Hsien, (more)
- 1987
In this gangster epic in the tradition of The Godfather, the murder of a crime boss leads to a tense power struggle between his three adopted sons. As it is slowly revealed which brother is the traitor, the three-way standoff turns into a bloody final shootout. The signature style of Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo is somewhat absent, most likely due to his collaboration with co-director Ma Wu. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
John Woo established himself as one of Hong Kong's premiere action directors with this ultra-hip, ultra-violent action classic. The film centers around the complex relationship between two brothers: Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung) is a recent graduate of the police academy while Tse-ho (Ti Lung) runs a massive counterfeiting ring along with his gangland associate, Mark Lee (Chow Yun-fat). Tension between the two brothers comes to a head when their father is murdered after a crime deal goes sour and Tse-ho lands in jail after being double-crossed. In perhaps the most influential scene in Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, Mark avenges his friend by staging a dinner table assassination. As Mark tries to shoot his way out of the restaurant, pulling a series of hidden pistols from potted plants and alcoves, he gets horribly injured. With both founding members of the counterfeiting syndicate incapacitated, the operation falls into the hands of Shing (Waise Lee Chi-hung), Tse-ho's former underling who has little of his boss' élan or experience. When Tse-ho gets out of jail, he reunites with his now-crippled comrade, Mark, to take out Shing and to protect Tse-kit whose life is in danger for investigating their former subordinate. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, (more)
