Hong Kong 97

"Hong Kong '97" is one of those many "hitmen-with-a-conscience" flicks. The T-1000 himself Robert Patrick plays a laconic assassin named Cameron, who succeeds in killing a Chinese diplomat just on the eve of the day Hong Kong becomes part of China from the U.K. The killing results in trouble for Cameron, as guys with itchy trigger-fingers try to pump lead into our "hero", his girlfriend, and his buddy (played by Brion James, who finally portrays a good guy!) Though visually striking, "Hong Kong 97" is a pretty dense film, with an incoherent plot and bad dialogue. Patrick tries hard, but his charming good lucks can't really save this film from falling down a well of despair!

I rented Decoy and this flick one night as a Robert Patrick double bill. Hong Kong 97's story would seem to have potential, but nothing comes of it. Robert Patrick stars along a bunch of recognizable faces (some b-movie regulars) that have seen better days in the typical gun-for-hire on the run / can't trust anyone routine.

I still remember when Hong Kong was going to revert powers. It was almost surreal. All British assets were clearing out and the news was portraying it as the 90's version of the Berlin Wall. Of course, this movie has none of that underlying paranoia or sense of unease. It's just a bunch of cheaply filmed scenes helmed by Albert Pyun. For fans of direct-to-video action, this doesn't register a blimp on the radar and even Robert Patrick fans will have to agree Hong Kong 97 is pretty sore.

It's 1997 Hong Kong and the last days of British rule. Reginald Cameron (Robert Patrick) is a hired assassin who kills the incoming Chinese leaders of Hong Kong. He is hunted in the city and finds refuge with his ex-girlfriend Katie Chun (Ming-Na Wen). His mentor Simon Alexander (Brion James) and friend Jack McGraw (Tim Thomerson) try to unravel the murky conspiracy surrounding the kill order.

This is a poor B-movie. It's surprising to see some interesting actors. It tries to build up the exotic aspects of Hong Kong. The action is a lot of functional shoot em up but there is nothing extraordinary. The tension is never that high. I also don't find an assassin who kills a high Chinese official that believable when he's shocked at all the trouble he's in. I rather have him be a harden killer who expects all the danger.

It's a tragedy to see Albert Pyun slumming it with this sort of direct-to-video car crash, Hong Kong 97 is far from his finest hour, a shame given the potential of the story and setting is a winner. Robert Patrick takes the lead alongside a bunch of B-movie frequenters, including Andrew Divoff, Brion James and Tim Thomerson, they do what they can with the rather poor, cliched script but even then their natural chemistry can't lift what's fundamentally shoddy writing. Pyun's direction is alright but his action scenes rely too much on choppy slow-motion, lacklustre gunfights and poor staging, I don't think even a better quality of print would be able to save these. I can give some credit to Michael McCarty's score which does a decent job of matching the mood and atmosphere of the setting but that's about it. While there's a bit of B-movie fondness to be found with Hong Kong 97, it doesn't mark many of its contributor's finest hours and is probably best left forgotten for the most part; just stick to the AVGN video.

We watched one of those rare movies the other night that was so bad, it actually was good.

Improbability piled on top of unlikelihood layered over with banality and stupefying inconsequence.

Other than that, it was quite good.

The first "humping scene" was one minute and ten seconds in. (We have a little pool every time we watch a movie. Usually if you choose any time within the first twenty minutes, you have a chance.) Why stick with it, why not scrap the tape and use it to record Debbie Travis.

Because this movie boggled the mind. Just when you said "it can't get any worse" it did.

But the definitively awful thing about it was the amount of gunplay.

Hi…I don't like your necktie…take that…blam blam.

In one memorable scene, the leading man ---HEY, LOOK AT ME, I'M DOING A BAD IMPRESSION OF PIERCE BROSNAN --- naked and in bed with an equally naked lady (well, I doubt she was much of a "lady") is interrupted by three gunmen.

He rises from the bed, a gun in each hand, which he uses to dispatch the bad guys. BLAM BLAM WHANG ZING BANG Actually, if they were trying to kill this character, they would have been GOOD guys.

But we continue to agonize over our handgun problem.

The reasons for it are pretty obvious when you watch a movie like this