 |
| Images courtesy of 88 Films |
Many years before making his mark on American horror with
1998’s Bride of Chucky followed by 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, Hong
Kong based writer-producer-director Ronny Yu initially got his start working
for Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest company and with his third feature The
Postman Fights Back or Strikes Back the director delivered a period
actioner with more than a few tropes and motifs forecasting his eventual
ascension into horror.
With 88 Films in conjunction with Fortune Star, United
Kingdom and United States based filmgoers hungry for more Hong Kong actioners
sporting early appearances of Chow Yun-Fat as well as Leung Kar-Yan and Riki-Oh:
The Story of Ricky star Mei Sheng Fan now have a chance to sink their teeth
into this early Ronny Yu effort. While
not ostensibly a horror film, fans of the director’s later English language offerings
as well as Golden Harvest disciples will have a field day with this mostly taut
genre thriller.
Amid China’s gradual foray into modernity, a postman named
Ma (Leung Kar-Yan) is paired up inadvertently with three other couriers
including but not limited to a thief (Yeun Yat-Choh), pyrotechnics technician
(Mei Sheng Fan) and a hustler (Chow Yun-Fat) tasked with delivering secret
cargo. However, they’re attacked by
bandits and a mysterious ninja who may know more about the package being
delivered than he leads on.
Mostly though the film is a stylishly shot, blocked and lit
action fighter flick with many kick-punch exchanges and plenty of crimson-soaked
kills including a grisly massacre sequence filmed in lush widescreen. Amazingly the film is credited to three
cinematographers Cheung You-cho, Danny Lee and Brian Lai and ushers in a
loosely guitar-rock oriented soundtrack by Tang Siu-lam. Basically a buddy ensemble action adventure
period piece, the film also sports in a few scenes moments that feel lifted out
of zombie horror or in later moments areas that would or would not end up in Freddy
vs. Jason.
As always, Fortune Star does an excellent job with fully
restoring their back catalog of martial arts titles and United Kingdom based
boutique releasing label 88 Films have given fans a beautifully packaged
blu-ray set replete with a double-sided poster, limited slipcover and two
slightly different cuts of the film including the original Hong Kong cut and
the trimmed Export cut. There’s also a
running audio commentary with Ronny Yu and archival interviews with Chow
Yun-Fat, Yu and Leung Kar-Yan rounding out the extras and along with the
slipcover is reversible art of the original theatrical poster design.
While die hards of the wuxia film are likely to come away
underwhelmed or disappointed, fans of Ronny Yu and Chow Yun-Fat are invited to
take a peek at their mutual early starting career points. Fans of the Hong Kong based kick-punch
martial arts actioner will get decent entertainment out of it and horror fans
will enjoy spotting what got him hired to do not one but two of the most
important American horror franchises in the first place.
--Andrew Kotwicki
