Wong, Kirk

The Big Hit

Film fans might someday recognize 1997 and '98 as the years Hong Kong came to Hollywood. Stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh all appeared in major Hollywood projects and directors John Woo, Ronny Yu, and Tsui Hark directed Face/Off, Bride of Chucky, and Knock Off, respectively. Another entry into this new era of entertainment is The Big Hit, directed by Che-Kirk Wong (who also directed Jackie Chan in Crime Story), executive produced by John Woo, and produced by Wesley Snipes. Mark Wahlberg leads this all-American cast in a played-for-laughs macho blowout. Rounding out the testosterone brigade are Lou Diamond Phillips (sprouting a gold-capped tooth and a dirty mouth), Bokeem Woodbine (who, according to this DVD's director audio track, wore extra socks where it counts), Antonio Sabàto Jr., and Avery Brooks. Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a nice-guy hit man with an ulcer and a severe insecurity problem. He's short on cash due to the spending habits of his unsuspecting fiancée Pam (Christina Applegate) and his girlfriend-on-the-sly Chantel (Lela Rochon). He and his crew decide to do a little freelancing and cook up their own heist to make a little mo' money--specifically by kidnapping Keiko (China Chow), the daughter of a Japanese businessman whom they target for ransom. Little do they know her dad is broke and she's the goddaughter of their boss. The Big Hit has action scenes aplenty (one of the stunt coordinators worked on Woo's The Killer and Bullet in the Head) and the same cornball sense of humor as other films in the Hong Kong action genre. Slick pacing and over-the-top humor made this movie a miss with the critics but a fun ride for fans of Hong Kong-styled action. --Shannon Gee

Crime Story

(Martial Arts/Action) Based on a true story Jackie Chan plays a special agent assigned to protect a wealthy business magnate. Things get complicated when the tycoon is kidnapped in a daring ambush. System Requirements:Run Time: 103 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/MARTIAL ARTS Rating: R UPC: 796019803892 Manufacturer No: 80389

Jackie Chan's most dramatic work casts him as a no-nonsense undercover cop on the trail of a ruthless gang of kidnappers who discovers that a respected figure in his own department may be involved with the criminals. In this film based on a true story, director Kirk Wong brings a gritty sense of realism to the action-filled police thriller while allowing plenty of opportunities for Jackie to show his stuff, notably in the bravura climax, a solo battle with the gang that culminates in a raging fire that devours a creaky apartment complex around them. Wong's sleek, hard-edged style meshes well with Jackie's acrobatic vigor, and Chan proves to be an adept and effective dramatic performer. However, fans expecting his trademark physical gags and comic interludes may be disappointed. This is a startlingly different side of the versatile Mr. Chan, and his performance helps make this grim "policier" one of the best serious Hong Kong action thrillers to date. --Sean Axmaker

Crime Story

Jackie Chan's most dramatic work casts him as a no-nonsense undercover cop on the trail of a ruthless gang of kidnappers who discovers that a respected figure in his own department may be involved with the criminals. In this film based on a true story, director Kirk Wong brings a gritty sense of realism to the action-filled police thriller while allowing plenty of opportunities for Jackie to show his stuff, notably in the bravura climax, a solo battle with the gang that culminates in a raging fire that devours a creaky apartment complex around them. Wong's sleek, hard-edged style meshes well with Jackie's acrobatic vigor, and Chan proves to be an adept and effective dramatic performer. However, fans expecting his trademark physical gags and comic interludes may be disappointed. This is a startlingly different side of the versatile Mr. Chan, and his performance helps make this grim "policier" one of the best serious Hong Kong action thrillers to date. --Sean Axmaker

The Big Hit (Superbit Collection)

Film fans might someday recognize 1997 and '98 as the years Hong Kong came to Hollywood. Stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh all appeared in major Hollywood projects and directors John Woo, Ronny Yu, and Tsui Hark directed Face/Off, Bride of Chucky, and Knock Off, respectively. Another entry into this new era of entertainment is The Big Hit, directed by Che-Kirk Wong (who also directed Jackie Chan in Crime Story), executive produced by John Woo, and produced by Wesley Snipes. Mark Wahlberg leads this all-American cast in a played-for-laughs macho blowout. Rounding out the testosterone brigade are Lou Diamond Phillips (sprouting a gold-capped tooth and a dirty mouth), Bokeem Woodbine (who, according to this DVD's director audio track, wore extra socks where it counts), Antonio Sabàto Jr., and Avery Brooks. Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a nice-guy hit man with an ulcer and a severe insecurity problem. He's short on cash due to the spending habits of his unsuspecting fiancée Pam (Christina Applegate) and his girlfriend-on-the-sly Chantel (Lela Rochon). He and his crew decide to do a little freelancing and cook up their own heist to make a little mo' money--specifically by kidnapping Keiko (China Chow), the daughter of a Japanese businessman whom they target for ransom. Little do they know her dad is broke and she's the goddaughter of their boss. The Big Hit has action scenes aplenty (one of the stunt coordinators worked on Woo's The Killer and Bullet in the Head) and the same cornball sense of humor as other films in the Hong Kong action genre. Slick pacing and over-the-top humor made this movie a miss with the critics but a fun ride for fans of Hong Kong-styled action. --Shannon Gee

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

Flash Future Kung Fu

Imagine an old-school martial arts melodrama about competing fighting schools dropped into the grungy sci-fi world of Blade Runner, and you have an idea of the curious mix of styles in Flash Future Kung Fu. Eddy Ko is the maverick star pupil of an honorable school who secretly engages in underground "Black Boxing" bouts, a black market sport off limits to the school. The ambitious X-Gang, a bloodthirsty neo-Nazi-like organization, plots to take care of Ko and his friends and take over the city with their army of mind-controlled zombie soldiers. In true Hong Kong fashion, it boils down to a showdown of champions, and this one takes place in a boxing ring in an eerily empty warehouse with video coverage broadcasting the event all over.

This 1982 thriller has the cyber-punk look and texture down cold: misty dark rooms lit by the cathode-ray blue of TV monitors, a funky mix of punk fashions with decorative gas masks and radiation suits, and bizarre nightclub theatrics (two women in pink tutus savagely club a third in a leopard-skin jumpsuit, then try to drown her). It doesn't make much sense, but this pre-Hong Kong New Wave adventure from future Hong Kong luminaries director Kirk Wong (Crime Story, The Big Hit) and editor David Wu (Hard-Boiled, The Bride with White Hair) is a fascinating twist on a familiar genre. --Sean Axmaker

Odyssey In the Mind's Eye: Luminous Visions

Organized Crime & Triad Bureau

Director Kirk Wong set the style for the lean, edgy Hong Kong cop thriller. In this drama, special forces officer Danny Lee bends the law and suspends civil rights to track down ruthless criminal Anthony Wong (Hard Boiled), the leader of a notorious robbery ring, on the run with his loyal girlfriend Cecilia Yip. Lee, who performed similar duties in John Woo's The Killer, is driven and demanding as the passionate authority figure, a man whose selfless sense of duty teeters over into vigilantism, while Anthony Wong tones down his usual flamboyant style to play a charismatic, sensitive criminal who earns the director's sympathies. There's no John Woo bravura shootouts or stylistic frenzies in Kirk Wong's sober, sometimes too restrained approach, lacking the dramatic edge of Rock and Roll Cop and the punch of Supercop, two of his later productions. But the violence packs a wallop in its street-realist directness, and Wong knows how to stage a high-tension action set piece, as evidenced in the opening chase scene and the dynamic police-dragnet finale. What more attracts the director, however, is the inner workings of crime and punishment: the maze of the underworld hierarchy and the mechanics of crime, the contradictions that pull at the police and the bureaucratic tangle they navigate. Though there's none of the romantic gloss that Woo invests his cowboy criminals with, Kirk Wong loves to explore the dynamic that separates--and binds--cop and criminal. --Sean Axmaker

Rock N' Roll Cop

Zhong an zu [Region 2]

Jackie Chan's most dramatic work casts him as a no-nonsense undercover cop on the trail of a ruthless gang of kidnappers who discovers that a respected figure in his own department may be involved with the criminals. In this film based on a true story, director Kirk Wong brings a gritty sense of realism to the action-filled police thriller while allowing plenty of opportunities for Jackie to show his stuff, notably in the bravura climax, a solo battle with the gang that culminates in a raging fire that devours a creaky apartment complex around them. Wong's sleek, hard-edged style meshes well with Jackie's acrobatic vigor, and Chan proves to be an adept and effective dramatic performer. However, fans expecting his trademark physical gags and comic interludes may be disappointed. This is a startlingly different side of the versatile Mr. Chan, and his performance helps make this grim "policier" one of the best serious Hong Kong action thrillers to date. --Sean Axmaker

The Big Hit [Region 2]

Film fans might someday recognize 1997 and '98 as the years Hong Kong came to Hollywood. Stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh all appeared in major Hollywood projects and directors John Woo, Ronny Yu, and Tsui Hark directed Face/Off, Bride of Chucky, and Knock Off, respectively. Another entry into this new era of entertainment is The Big Hit, directed by Che-Kirk Wong (who also directed Jackie Chan in Crime Story), executive produced by John Woo, and produced by Wesley Snipes. Mark Wahlberg leads this all-American cast in a played-for-laughs macho blowout. Rounding out the testosterone brigade are Lou Diamond Phillips (sprouting a gold-capped tooth and a dirty mouth), Bokeem Woodbine (who, according to this DVD's director audio track, wore extra socks where it counts), Antonio Sabàto Jr., and Avery Brooks. Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a nice-guy hit man with an ulcer and a severe insecurity problem. He's short on cash due to the spending habits of his unsuspecting fiancée Pam (Christina Applegate) and his girlfriend-on-the-sly Chantel (Lela Rochon). He and his crew decide to do a little freelancing and cook up their own heist to make a little mo' money--specifically by kidnapping Keiko (China Chow), the daughter of a Japanese businessman whom they target for ransom. Little do they know her dad is broke and she's the goddaughter of their boss. The Big Hit has action scenes aplenty (one of the stunt coordinators worked on Woo's The Killer and Bullet in the Head) and the same cornball sense of humor as other films in the Hong Kong action genre. Slick pacing and over-the-top humor made this movie a miss with the critics but a fun ride for fans of Hong Kong-styled action. --Shannon Gee