Dennis Law writes and directs 2006’s Fatal Contact (Hak Kuen) providing a mediocre offering of the tallest order. The story begins with Ko Gang (Jacky Wu) being offered the opportunity to take part in an underground fight. He refuses, and prefers to remain with the circus troupe which is doing the rounds in Hong Kong in the present time.
Fast forward a little, as a fellow performer eventually becomes his girlfriend (Miki Yeung). The two end up in a restaurant at one point, and when they’re refused the use of a coupon for their meal, an argument ensues and the two leave paying more than they would have liked.
The dispute leads the two down a lonely road as they reflect on the moment, with the girlfriend trying to convince the newly acquired boyfriend that being poor is a bad thing, and taking part in an illegal underground fight is a good thing, since they’ll make money and won’t live a life of poverty. Thus commences the adventure.
What strikes you immediately is how bad the film is, from the acting to the amateurish direction of the camera shots, to the abomination of a story line. Everything about the film screams, “cheap”, from location to dialogue, and everything in between.
If it wasn’t bad enough that the film is poor and shoddy, the first thirty minutes of the film are a veritable bore. You would perhaps have more fun dissecting your own brain than watching this film. The reason you would be dissecting your brain is of course to find out why you went and wasted time playing the movie in the first place. If no reasons can be found for this error in judgment, the treatment must begin. The treatment must be brutal!
It’s only forty-five minutes into the movie we get some real martial arts action going. Up until now it’s been a rather torrid arrangement of bad acting mixed with bad martial arts, topped with, minor, sparks of flair from the lead Jacky Wu. You have to see it to believe it, to convince yourself that you’re wasting a good hour and forty-five minutes watching this tripe.
The plot goes no where, the actors act their silly little roles as if they were performing for the Razzies. There’s simply no conviction in their performances, and you have to wonder what senile and demented fool not only came up with the idea for this film, but actually commissioned it as a viable product that could be sold to people as entertainment. To top it off, who’s the idiot watching this movie? Me!
To be fair, Jacky Wu is actually a good martial artist, and he’s the only good thing about the film. The choreography is poor, the fights are a mismatch and rarely offer anything worth raving about, if at all. The biggest disappointment is how little Jacky Wu is tested, and how the poor soul got stuck in a scriptless tragedy of a film.
What we have here is a total lack of respect for film making, and an incompetent example of how to make a film. I wouldn’t be surprised if the actors weren’t actually actors but actual circus and street performers picked up off the sidewalk and given a bit of change to act in this monstrosity.
Are there worse films than this? You bet your bottom dollar there is. But is that even a valid excuse to create a bad film? Hell no! Dennis Law needs to go back to film school and learn what it takes to develop good entertainment.
Even the highlights of the film, the so called action, in the form of martial arts is so disappointing. You must not have good exposure to martial arts films if you even find this film’s action even remotely interesting. The action even delves in the world of the unrealistic and completely implausible, offering scenes which make you cringe with embarrassment, or simply wanting to turn the screen off for fear you might through up at the prospect of yet more mediocre action scenes.
I went into the film with my eyes open, not expecting anything, and having no preconception of what the film might provide. What I wasn’t expecting was a total waste of my time, and a sheer disaster of a film to occupy my precious moments of sleep time. Had I not been on medication, I would probably have smashed my screen in with a knife and electrocuted myself to death.
You feel nothing for the characters, the plot leaves you wanting less, the clock doesn’t move fast enough to watching this pithy excuse for a film, and the action leaves you stone cold and comatose. So what redeeming features does the film have at its disposal? The fact that it ends is a bloody bonus in my book.
Verdict: An abomination of a martial arts film that offers little of merit. The only fatal contact in this film is that my eyes were exposed to it.