Chan ironically begins his run in his signature genre with something totally unlike anything that would follow…
In honour of the forthcoming release of the late Benny Chan‘s Raging Fire, we look back on his career and the genre for which he was best known.
There weren’t many HK directors who started their solo film careers from the top with their biggest and most iconic films; most took years before their breakthroughs, and some like John Woo even a decade or two. But Chan not only started with one of the biggest HK films up to then, but the one that created a genuine superstar and the quintessential living Hong Kong star. I’m not talking about Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat or Stephen Chow; while they’re all close behind, they’re too closely associated with one type of movie and image each. I’m talking about Andy Lau, whose status was cemented and skyrocketed by Chan’s 1990 solo film debut A Moment of Romance (it also helped that, unlike the others, Lau is just as big of a music superstar). While that was a triad film perfectly in line with what was hot at the time, Chan would quickly prove to have a more special and lasting affinity towards films from the perspective of the other side of the law. And to start with that trend, Chan would show off another side of Lau.
What a Hero! (1992)
A village on Lantau Island. Taekwondo fighter Hwa (Andy Lau), master of the “840-Degree Typhoon Kick” (which seems to operate like a homing missile), receives big news that the Hong Kong Island CID (Criminal Investigative Dept.) has appointed him to be a sergeant. With the blessings of his stepmother/proud concubine of his late father (Meg Lam), his girlfriend Ah Lan (Maggie Cheung), and her father/his Master (Paul Chun), Hwa sets off for the city. He’s ready to fight for the glory of the Yuen Family and his village; whether against crime or any random folk challenging his martial arts prowess.
While Hwa proves to be an exceptional cop, he still learns the job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He’s faced with a dangerous gang of robbers from the Mainland and (before he can even get to that) a very obstructive superior from a rival division, Yeung (Roy Cheung), who wants to assign him to the “Trash Division” and takes credit for his collars. Then there are even bigger worries back home. Ah Lan has already been arranged “before birth” to marry her arrogant, gaudily dressed, dumb US-based cousin Nan (who constantly disparages Hwa and even his own family for their status as peasants). Also, his trusted partner Saucer (Anthony Wong in a very unusual role) develops a curious infatuation with his stepmum that also gets him in trouble with the force….
Very much a student of the Stephen Chow School of Nonsense [冇厘頭] and just as obviously a Chinese New Year release, Hero makes it clear early on just how kooky and un-seriously it takes anything about itself. As Ah Lan gives a romantic voiceover taking comfort in how she knows that coming to see her is the very first thing Hwa will do before leaving, Hwa arrives then immediately tells her that her audible thoughts were wrong, as he came to see his sifu (Master) first.
In other words, the fourth wall on this movie is about as strong and hard to see through as a spider web. And while not nearly as given to esoteric Cantonese wordplay as the Chow movies, some of Hero’s better humour is still rooted in its culture (when a statue of Guan Yu finds the cops praying to it, it determines that must mean they failed yet again and sighs they’re “worthless”.)
Honestly, I was never a huge fan of such movies. But Hero! kept me surprisingly (if not enthusiastically) engaged by virtue of a fun ensemble cast (even if Lau is no martial arts expert and Cheung’s role is a bit underwritten) and the first true glimpses of Chan’s thematic and stylistic trademarks. It’s funny to see the very core content of most of Chan’s future films — an elaborate heist or two and the buildup to a climatic martial arts/gun battle with the antagonist gang — taking a huge backseat to cheerful tomfoolery here.
And in keeping with the festive, family-friendly New Year spirit, Hero! doesn’t show anybody getting shot even with a lot of shooting. Here, the Hero’s two real challenges are getting the best of two arrogant jerks who are technically acquaintances: his girlfriend’s cousin who’s in collusion with her dad to buy off her hand in marriage; and his colleague, who becomes Hwa’s rival at the police Taekwondo tournament in addition to in the station itself.
In what would become a recurring scenario for ALL Chan’s police movies to follow, the hero finds serious trouble from his superior being corrupt, incompetent and/or simply a bastard.
Even while the comedy is definitely front and centre, Chan actually put a higher degree of effort and visual style into the martial arts and crime scenes (no pun intended) — higher than he even needed to bother with. He was taking the opportunity on a kind of movie that pretty much gives free rein as long as you keep the cheer and gags coming to hone his future craft.
Hero!’s successfully modest goal to provide frenetically frivolous fun is summed up when Hwa comes face-to-face against a trio of sparring colleagues practising “Geng Hei Fat Choi” (Happy New Year!) styles. The “Wish Safety for Everyone” Punch and “May All Wishes Come True, Get Promoted” fighting stance might not sound very formidable, but….ok, they’re not. This would be about the only time Chan would make such an obvious potboiler from outside of his usual element. But even in making a New Year rom-com, he throws the romance and new year content out in the middle of intermittent gunfights, drug deals, kung fu and random little acts of violence — the sign of a director who just couldn’t help himself.
Funny enough, Chan’s more internationally famous mentor Johnnie To — who’s generally regarded as the much more “serious” director — would make fluffy potboilers like nobody’s business throughout his whole career (not to say they’re all without merit, but some are and most are definitely a cut or two below his crime/drama ones). But since Chan’s action/crime movies (i.e. everything since Man Wanted except for the please-forget Meow) were already consistently very successful anyway, he never really had to worry about his pot losing heat. And despite having the huge-name cast here led by the man he cemented as a superstar, several of Chan’s cops & robbers films to come would be even bigger hits than this potboiler.
And on that very note, What a Hero! aptly proved to be an auspicious start to a celebrated director-genre run. And even when noting how big New Year releases nowadays tend to have far more elaborate settings and budgets that are a few hundred-million HKD/RMB or so higher, it’s remarkable how little many have really changed in basic style and content; The Wandering Earth was not any less frivolous, casual, impatient or diverting than this yarn, and this one still has more heart.
Join us next week for the next in our The Benny Chan Cops & Robbers Rundown.
“Got the money?”
“Got the stuff?”
“You give the money I’ll give the stuff.”
“You give the stuff I’ll give the money.”
“First give the money then you get the stuff!”
“First give the stuff then you get the money!”
Back when it was an outlandish gag to have villagers call each other up on cellphones to spread the word around.
HK Geonotes
At the time, Lantau Island was said to be about as traditional of a village area as one could still find in Hong Kong, hence its use to depict a backwoods family not too familiar with the city here. Just in the years after this movie was made, however, the island underwent massive development including one each of HK’s most important tourism (Ngong Ping 360 cable car), recreation (HK Disneyland) and business destinations (HK International Airport, replacing the old Kowloon one due to extreme inconvenience to both pilot and general population for having to closely fly around buildings). That’s to say nothing about the more numerous regular businesses, estates and transport (as it didn’t even have a subway line going to it) added, though the island has preserved a handful of the old fishing houses. So the Lantau depicted in this movie won’t be entirely familiar to those (including myself) who went in the last 20 or so years.
Side note
A couple of scenes feature Anthony Wong singing while “playing” the guitar in traditional, lightheartedly parodic manner. A few years after this, however, Wong would record hard rock albums that were anything but: In very Wong-like fashion, his debut album (subtitled in English as “Have a Nice Day F*ck Someone”) would force the HK record industry to establish their equivalent of the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” label.