Shu dan long wei (1995)

Directors:

Jing Wong
Lun Ah

Writers:

Domonic Muir (dubbed version)
Jing Wong (writer)

Release Date:

1 July 1995 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

He Redefines Revenge

Plot:

After failing to save his wife from 'The Doctor', Kit Li is working as a bodyguard and secret stunt...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Hand Grenade | Poisoned Blade | Obscene Finger Gesture | Animal Attack

Cast

Jet Li	...	Kit Li
Jacky Cheung	...	Frankie Lone
Chingmy Yau	...	Helen
Charlie Yeung	...	Joyce
Kelvin Wong	...	The Doctor / David Wang
Valerie Chow	...	Fai-Fai
Billy Chow	...	Kong
Ma Wu	...	Frankie's Father
Charlie Cho	...	Charlie
Ben Lam	...	Rabbit (English dubbed)
Chung-Hsien Yang	...	Detective Chow Kam (Joyce's Boyfriend)
Suki Kwan	...	Li's Wife
Bobby Yip	...	Ugly Extra
Tak Yuen	...	Salvage-Corps Man
Corey Yuen	...	Wai

Also Known As:

High Risk (Hong Kong: English title)
Meltdown (USA) (video title (dubbed version))
Sue daam lung wei (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

USA:101 min | Hong Kong:101 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Netherlands:16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Sun Entertainment

Trivia:

Jacky Cheung's character Frankie Lone was originally intended for 'Jackie Chan'. Before production began on High Risk, Chan was starring in Jing Wong's movie, Sing si lip yan (1993) (a.k.a. City Hunter). They didn't get along during the filming, and the experience of working with Jackie was so bad that Wong Jing chose to make the character of Frankie Lone a mockery of Chan. Jackie Chan was understandably offended and Jet Li personally apologized to Jackie for his involvement with the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: Frankie tricks the henchman searching for him and his dad by placing his sneaker just barely visible behind the wall and jumps the guy from behind after he shoots at the shoe - falling flat on his face. We then see Frankie doing pushups with both his shoes on again.

Quotes:

Frankie's Father: What's wrong?
Frankie Lone: Maybe I'm poisoned.
Frankie's Father: Huh?... I'm not gonna suck it out!
Frankie Lone: But I'm your little sonny boy!
[he slaps Frankie's backside]
Frankie Lone: Waaarrrggggghhhhhh!

Movie Connections:

References Gojira (1954)

Not a rip-off!

The film was made by Wong Jing during a time when it seemed like everyone was doing Die Hard style films. Normally, the plot lines are about some guy who has a law-related profession (i.e. Police, FBI, SWAT, etc.), something tragic happens and he gets reduced to an embarrassing job until he has to gain his honour back by being confronted by a similar situation as he encountered before - usually it's with the same person who is the reason for his present mediocre state. But, of course, it's a Die Hard style film in the sense that deals with a protagonist stuck in a situation that's beyond his control in an isolated environment i.e. terrorists taking over a plane, train, hotel, ship, etc.

Jing's film is meant to be a parody and not a rip-off, so he does it in a way that's exaggerated so as to get his point across to those movie buffs in-the-know (I'm surprised nobody got the joke). So, this time we have a Chinese SWAT-style officer (Jet) whose wife & child get blown up in a bus during an attempt to disarm a bomb. He eventually retires and is forced to become the bodyguard & stuntman for an egotistical & womanizing movie star who claims to do all of his own stunts and gets drunk, like, 65% of the time. Of course, this leads to a situation which leads Jet to the terrorists he encountered before (though this time via a Russian jewellery exhibition that takes place in a Hong Kong skyscraper) where he eventually regains his honour through risking life through peril.

Wong Jing's film balances a great mixture of humour, tension, touching moments (in the uncut/unaltered Chinese version, anyway) and action (in the form of martial arts, gunplay, pyrotechnics and vehicle stunts - two of which involving a car and a helicopter which literally have to be seen to be believed). Though the film features more gun-toting than MA, what MA is there - is still good. The film also has a nice visual style and a decent pace that never lets up!