Mercenaries from Hong Kong

Mercenaries from Hong Kong (Lie Mo Zhe) (1982)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Wong Jing

Starring: Ti Lung, Michael Chan, Candice Yu, Natalis Chan, Lo Lieh

From: Shaw Brothers

I won’t exclusively see horror films in October. After all, in the next week The Creator will finally be viewed. This atypical Shaw Brothers effort-set in modern instead of feudal times-was viewed on Arrow’s streaming site as throughout 2023, several mutuals have delivered positive reviews of the film. In hindsight I was a fool for not giving this a chance right after I read those reviews as this was the kind of juvenile, absurd 80’s action film I typically derive pleasure from.

After all, the opening seven minutes contains Vietnam veteran Ti Lung: 

* An immediate training montage
* Lung in all black leather storming into a building and shotgunning the bastards responsible for the death of his niece
* A deliberate defenestration as he threw himself out a window and somersaults to avoid capture
* A motorcycle/car chase

After that blast of insanity, a rich young lady hires him for an extraction missing in Cambodia; he recruits various famous Shaw Brothers faces (including Michael Chan and Lo Lieh) for this task. Of course, each has their own quirks and own backstories as for why the reward for the mission would be beneficial for them. Lieh’s daughter needs a kidney transplant, for example.

Only afterwards did I realize this was directed by Wong Jing, and it was his debut. I hadn’t seen any of his work before but from elsewhere already knew his rather, ahem, polarizing reputation and his lowbrow humor. That did explain why there was a goofy gag involving an oversized condom and a few minutes later there was a bit where the horndog of the gang macked on a woman who-uh oh!-was actually trans… that wasn’t as tasteless as you’d fear but the former was a gag in Porky’s and the latter you’d expect in a Porky’s sequel, for crying out loud.

That said, the action for certain delivered. Some of it looked to be on the dangerous side (one setpiece involved our heroes all wielding metal baseball bats) yet I had a blast viewing all this nonsense. After all, when our team is still in Hong Kong they always wear matching outfits, meaning white pants and jackets w/ no shirt on underneath! That is the sort of silliness for me. So is the apparent "borrowing" of musical cues from Jerry Goldsmith's Logan's Run score. A Letterboxd mutual realized that; I'm just "borrowing" that comment.

In the future, an unfiltered, unfettered Wong Jing picture will be viewed to determine how I feel about the controversial actor/filmmaker.