The Last Blood

There’s a reason why those in the know were championing Hong Kong action movies in the early ‘90s.  While Hollywood was cranking out tepid retreads like The Last Boy Scout, HK filmmakers simply cut to the chase, reloaded the ammunition and delivered a frenzied take on what America invented in the first place: the buddy picture.  1991’s The Last Blood (known as Hard Boiled 2 in the UK) is a blood-spattered escapist cop comedy that wants nothing more than to top itself after every bullet-riddled scene!

After an assassination attempt on the Dalai Lama leaves him in desperate need of a rare blood type, two members of an anti-terrorist squad track down the only living donor: a clumsy con-man nicknamed Fat Boy.   Dodging bullets from hired thugs and rushing to beat the clock, the trio race through Singapore crowded with civilians celebrating the national holiday…which makes for a lot of collateral damage!

 

Directed by Wong Jing with an eye for all the ‘90s HK action cliches (broken glass, exploding fireballs, leaping gun battles), The Last Blood is a hyperkinetic blast of cinematic energy.  Seriously, there aren’t enough adjectives to describe it!  The script may be shallow with wild shifts in tone, but it’s never boring and often honest-to-god exhilarating.  From a team of killer stewardesses to a relentless motorcycle gang, Wong Jing dials up everything to eleven, including the casual brutality with a body count that includes innocent bystanders, old ladies, sick kids and not one but two love interests!

 

Action choreography is key but a great cast of recognizable faces doesn’t hurt either.  Alan Tam and Andy Lau pair up well, veteran Bryan Leung gets a big moment or two and Eric Tsang effectively hams it up as the comic relief.  The Last Blood has been overshadowed by the more serious-minded films it admittedly lifts from (e.g. John Woo) but there’s something to be said for a crowd-pleasing production that knows which way to shoot…and never misses the target.

 

Premiering on Blu-ray from 88 Films, it’s a beautifully cinematic presentation; Wong Jing’s use of long lenses comes across particularly well.  Extras include an audio commentary by Hong Kong film expert Frank Djeng, theatrical trailer, fold-out poster and classy new artwork on the included slipcover.

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembo...
Read more

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annab...
Read more