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
A hugely successful crime-comedy from Cinema City and director Eric Tsang, Aces Go Places set records at the box office and made a star of Sam Hui. Hui plays King Kong, a clever thief who steals a cache of diamonds from some gangsters, framing another thief called White Glove for the crime. That's when the bald detective Albert Au (Karl Maka), who has been chasing King Kong for quite some time, pairs with the volatile female Superintendent Ho (Sylvia Chang) to bring him to justice. King Kong ends up joining the good guys, with the requisite hostile patter firmly in evidence, to defeat White Glove and another bad guy dubbed Mad Max (Chen Sing), and recover the diamonds from the hiding place where they were left by King Kong's dead accomplice. The English version is missing ten minutes of the comedy which makes this movie special, and the fight scenes are nothing to write home about, but the original's mix of broad action and even broader slapstick made it a hit, spawning four sequels over the next seven years and a failed 1997 attempt at revival with a new cast. Dean Shek co-stars with Cho Tat-wah, Raymond Wong, and cult filmmaker Tsui Hark in a small role. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Tsui Hark's original version of this violent and bloody film was first banned, and then censored and recut to eradicate any unwanted political comments. Although politics were not completely excised, the film runs mainly on high testosterone. Like many Hong Kong films of the slasher genre, the story introduces graphic scenes of violence, including short scenes of actual animal torture. The plot centers around a group of teenagers who accidentally run over a man, an unhappy event that is witnessed by the warped animal hater, played by Lin Chun Shi. She blackmails the teenagers into sadistic acts, one of which inadvertently lands them with a pile of Japanese money claimed by the mob. From there, the teenagers fight off malevolent white guys who do not wield anything less than AK-47s. Outgunned and outnumbered, the teens seem doomed to extinction in great, bloody, graphic detail. If a political statement can be found in the saga of bad whites against Chinese teens, it certainly does not involve passive resistance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1981
After thrice failing at the box office, future Hong Kong cinema behemoth Tsui Hark has his first bona fide success with this wildly popular slapstick spoof on Hollywood gangster and detective flicks. Yoho (George Lam) is a private dick on the skids who thinks that his luck is about change with his latest case. Soon, however, he finds himself ensnared in a brouhaha between notorious gangster Ah Capone (Karl Maka) who is plotting to bilk an aged millionaire out of his highly valued stocks. As Yoho bumbles from one situation to the next, he crosses paths with a variety of shady characters including a beautiful femme fatal (Kelly Yiu) and a hired gun known only as Popeye (Eric Tsang). Along the way, he gets help from his diminutive childhood chum Chief Inspector Robin (Teddy Robin Kwan). Throughout the film, Tsui Hark pays frequent tribute to American silent film slapstick and Warner Brothers cartoons. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Teddy Robin
Following up on his debut outing Butterfly Killers, Tsui Hark spins this gory and controversial cannibal crime flick. The film opens with Agent #999 (Norman Tsui Siu-keung) being sent to a remote island to apprehend wanted criminal Rolex (Melvin Wong Kam-sum). Of course, the island is largely inhabited by crazed, blood-thirsty man-eaters who want little more than to gnaw on human bones and devour human brains. 999 barely escapes with his life after a foolhardy jaunt to the local slaughterhouse. Meanwhile, Rolex is desperate to leave the island himself but cannot because of the tribe's deranged boss known only as "the Chief" (Eddy Ko Hung). The criminal eventually finds the cop assigned to arrest him, hoping to join forces and escape this hell of half-eaten corpses. When Rolex gets felled by the Chief, 999 must figure out how to escape by himself. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Han Kuo Tsai
- 1979
Within the walls of Shum Castle, a flock of butterflies seems to have acquired a taste for blood. In this complex tale, a classic of Hong Kong cinema, writer Fong, who knows nothing of martial arts, unravels the mystery with the help of his fearless female companion, the lovely Green Shadow. Together they face robots from the future, the aforementioned butterflies, and martial artists from their present. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lau Siu-Ming
