Full Contact (1992)
In an effort to get his buddy out of a gambling debt, Jeff agrees to join forces with Judge in a weapons heist. The job goes bad and Judge betrays Jeff. Jeff plots the ultimate revenge on Judge and his followers and it is a question of whether he can follow through with his plan.
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Simply A Masterpiece
Good concept, poorly executed.
Crappy film
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Jeff (Yun-Fat) is a bouncer at a nightclub and one of the coolest dudes ever. He and his friend Sam (Wong) get mixed up with a gang of three unhinged criminals: the flamboyant and amoral Judge (Yam), his mohawked meathead sidekick Dino (Frankie Chan) and Virgin (Fu), the overheated female member of the group. While Jeff is after the money a potential heist might bring so he can help Sam with his gambling debts, not to mention to improve his own life and the life of his girlfriend Mona (Bridgewater), things naturally get out of hand and Judge gets very close to killing Jeff, but Jeff narrowly escapes. Jeff then spends his time in Thailand training to get back into fighting shape so he can take on Judge and his buddies once and for all. And the final showdown will be an epic one for the ages. So get ready because this is going to be some FULL CONTACT revenge! In our estimation, Full Contact is among the finest action product - or any product - produced in the fertile 90's in Hong Kong. It's a crown jewel of the genre, a shining example of what action could be and should be. It's just an awesome movie, directed with energy and verve to spare, that's gigantically entertaining and holds up to multiple viewings easily. From the opening guitar lick forward, you know you're in for something special.Chow Yun-Fat has never been better. As Jeff, the seemingly indestructible bouncer who coasts along on his motorcycle while wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette while shooting baddies with two guns, he defines the word "cool". This is the role he should be known for. Every great action movie needs a super-evil baddie, and Simon Yam as Judge is perfect. He's deceptively fey one minute, and deadly the next. His charisma is of a completely different sort than Jeff's, and the contrast is noticeable and they make perfect rivals.Adding to the excellence of this movie are the time-honored training sequences and disco scenes. The song used, "The World Has Gone Insane", by Alan Tam, perfectly captures the spirit of not just the movie but the time in which it was produced. As do the songs by Extreme. Full Contact is also Ringo Lam at his best. He fashioned a powerful, intense and fast-paced ride of a movie that's directed slickly and confidently. It's filled with the violence and stunts we've come to know and love, but somehow this movie is on a higher level than most. There's even subtle themes to look out for, such as Jeff getting shot in the middle of his hands and bleeding, possibly a reference to the stigmata of Jesus? Regardless, Full Contact delivers the goods in spades and at this point in time is in a "much imitated, never equaled" sort of situation.
To help a friend who's heavily in debt to a loan shark, Jeff (Chow Yun Fat) joins up with the gay villain, Judge (Simon Yam), for a weapons heist where he'll be double-crossed by who he thought was a friend who joined the gang with him. This wouldn't be an action film if he were to simply let bygones be bygones of course, so he plans a mighty vengeance against all who betrayed him. This is pretty standard revenge movie stuff, it's saved, however, by the great action scenes as well as well as Yun Fat's performance (excellent as always, well at least before he made the jump to Hollywood who always seem to make amazingly great foreign movie star into lesser than what the can be) My Grade: B Mei AhDVD Extras: Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Swordsman 2" & "Treasure Hunt"
It's a joy to watch Chow-Yun Fat and Anthony Wong work together. One made his career playing rugged heroes with golden hearts, the other excels at playing villainous, ruthless cowards. This film shows why. The depth they bring to their roles, in addition to Ringo Lam's imaginative direction, puts this in the upper-echelon of Hong Kong action films. These mothers got backstory out the ass. There's something almost "70s neo-realist" about certain scenes. The familiar theme of honor between thieves (or the lack thereof) drives this story, as it has many other Chinese shoot-em-ups. This time though, it's done with real grit.Besides, I could just plain watch Anthony Wong do anything. It's probably to his credit that he hasn't "broken through" over here. He'd just end up having to play the "Evil Triad Boss" opposite Matt Damon or something ridiculous like that.Ringo Lam is no slouch at shooting action scenes, either.Simon Yam of the Naked Killer series (and the new Tomb Raider movie!) also makes a memorable appearance as the flamboyant hyper-bad guy.If you like Hong Kong films, don't miss this one.
A truly incredible film. Chow Yun-Fat has to be one of the greatest action stars ever. And Ringo Lam's camera work was top notch. The action sequences were second to none. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of action.