The golden age of Hong Kong cinema
On the big screen in 2024, a Hong Kong-made action masterpiece "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", which has been born for many years, made a shocking debut, bringing hope to the Hong Kong film industry, which has been in a downturn for a long time. This action blockbuster jointly created by Hong Kong film superstars such as Sammo Hung, Louis Koo, and Yam Xianqi was even selected by the Cannes Film Festival into the "Midnight Screening" unit, which shows its unique charm.
Looking back on the glory days of Hong Kong cinema, action movies can be called the flagship of Hong Kong cinema. From Bruce Lee's kung fu action masterpiece that inspires the pride of the Chinese nation, to Jackie Chan's kung fu movie with comedy elements, to Donnie Yen's new round of martial arts frenzy, Hong Kong-made action movies have established an unshakable position in the hearts of fans around the world. However, in the past decade or so, the Hong Kong film industry has gradually declined due to various reasons, and there are very few excellent action blockbusters that have attracted global attention.
The Kowloon Walled City has a unique background
The story setting of "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" is ingenious. As the world's most densely populated human settlement, the Kowloon Walled City was chosen by the director as the core scene of the film. This small world, which is only 47,000 square meters but once housed tens of thousands of residents, concentrates the purest and lowest life in Hong Kong in the second half of the last century. At that time, every corner of the Kowloon Walled City revealed the hard work and survival wisdom of Hong Kong people, and also gave birth to countless artistic inspirations to explore human nature.
The choice of the Kowloon Walled City, once regarded as a hotbed of crime, as an action movie setting is a nod to Hong Kong culture. Through the use of light and shadow, the director strives to recreate the narrow, dark but human atmosphere of this area of Kowloon. In the film, the fireworks in the walled city, the small traders and hawkers, and the residents flying kites in the cramped space and other details all outline the warmth and coldness of the Kowloon Walled City, which is quite romantic.
Three generations of superstars, old, middle and young, joined forces
In addition to the unique choice of scenes, the selling point of "The Siege of the Walled City" lies in the high-quality quality of the director team and the actors. The chief director Cheng Baorui has directed many award-winning masterpieces, and the producer Yip Wai-shun is also a heavyweight in the Hong Kong film industry. They gathered masters in this film, and invited a group of powerful people such as Kenji Tanigaki and Johnny To to serve as action directors and creative consultants.
In terms of actors, this film cost 300 million Hong Kong dollars and took 8 years to build, which can be described as the peak moment of three generations of Hong Kong actors. In addition to the powerful actors Huang Debin, Wu Yunlong and others, the film also takes the "Four Sons of the Walled City" as the core, with Lin Feng, Liu Junqian, Hu Zitong and Zhang Wenjie playing the protagonists of the younger generation.
And the most eye-catching thing is the joining of several veteran film superstars. Sammo Hung's eldest brother is over the age of old but has no worries, this is the latest work in his "Tower Kung Fu" series; Ren Xianqi used to be an all-round artist of film and television songs, and not only contributed wonderful martial arts scenes in this film, but also created an introverted character image very well. The collaboration between the master and apprentice duo Louis Koo and Lin Feng is regarded as the best warm-up for the film version of "Looking for Qin", and the cooperation between the two in the film is smooth, natural and impeccable.
The ultimate battle beyond the limits of action movies
For an action movie, the quality of the fight scenes is undoubtedly the highest standard for judging. At this point, "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City" is definitely a good work. Nearly half of the length of the film is a big-scale hard-core action scene, and it hits the flesh and explodes the audience. The film integrates elements of various martial arts genres, in addition to the bloody mixed martial arts, there are also extremely professional sword duels; In addition to skillful hand-to-hand combat, there are also tense gunfight scenes. The director and action director do everything to feast the eyes of fans.
And the finale of the "Four Sons of the Walled City" vs. the mad villain Wang Jiu's 30-minute ultimate battle pushed the film to a climax. The two forces fought on the rooftops of the buildings in the entire Kowloon Walled City, and the scene was extremely spectacular. The villain of Wang Jiu played by Wu Yunlong is hideous and murderous, but it is also quite comedy, which makes people like it but hate it so much that they grit their teeth. The outstanding performances of the four protagonists are breathtaking, and they deduce a rare artistic height in action movies.
Expectations for the future of Hong Kong action films
There is no doubt about the outstanding achievements of "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", which is the culmination of the essence of Hong Kong films, and it is believed that it will be recorded as an important piece in Hong Kong film history. What's even more gratifying is that it shows a way to live, proving that the three generations of the old, middle and young can come together to create the pinnacle of Hong Kong film masterpieces. In the future, perhaps this film can open a new model: it not only uses the appeal of the older generation of big names, but also makes room for the new generation of powerful factions, and the two complement each other and inspire more excellent Hong Kong films.
In general, the dark horse of "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City" unexpectedly became the biggest winner of the May Day show in 2024, not only bringing an audio-visual feast to the audience, but also bringing infinite hope for the revival of Hong Kong films. I look forward to more excellent works rooted in Hong Kong's local culture and infused with modern spirit in the future to reproduce the glory of Hong Kong films!