Long Arm of the Law: Parts 1 & 2

Filtering international politics through the lens of action-movie escapism isn’t exactly rare in Hong Kong cinema.  Current events pop up as plot devices all the time as a means to inspire car chases, gunplay and hand-to-hand-to-foot combat.  But Johnny Mak’s Long Arm of the Law (1984) has a bit more on its mind than just getting your pulse racing.

Big Tung is the leader of a group of mainlanders – called the Big Circle gang - who sneak into the city to do some crimes; specifically, a jewelry heist set-up by Tai, a shady gangster who uses the new recruits to kill a crooked cop.  Now wanted by the police, the boys are torn between sticking it out in Hong Kong and its tempting consumer-driven lifestyle or hightailing for home with nothing to show for their trouble.

 

Mak’s film unfolds with a remarkable amount of ambivalence towards its main characters.  The Big Circle gang aren’t exactly traditional protagonists; their smash-and-grab stick-ups result in a score of dead cops and innocent pedestrians.  But Long Arm humanizes them with sympathetic shades of gray, inviting the audience to share their wonder over nightclubs, whorehouses and bathroom attendants.  So, it’s all the more shocking when the film twists them into the vicious criminals Hong Kong authorities made them out to be in the first place.

 

Speaking of which, Mak doesn’t shy away from laying some blame at the feet of Hong Kong itself.  From general derision to outright discrimination, mainlanders are treated as almost less than human.  It’s not a justification for the apocalyptic shoot out in the film’s finale, shot with French Connection-style intensity inside the infamous Walled City neighborhood, but it does leave you wondering if two wrongs really make a right.

 

While Long of the Law saves most of its ammunition for the final reel, its sequel, LOFTL: Saga 2 (1987), gets things going early.  Offered a chance at citizenship if they work as undercover cops, a new trio of immigrants are tasked with helping curb the Red Circle crime wave.  But when their HK partner is killed, they once again become marked men, betrayed by an ambitious police captain who sees them all as expendable.

 

Even more one-sided politically, this one casts the mainlanders as honorable men of action, while Hong Kong urbanites bully, cheat and steal from them at every opportunity.  With directing duties passed along to Michael Mak, the vibe this time around is far more traditional and polished.  The action scenes are amped up and more frequent, the bad guys more black-and-white.  It may not have the visual impact of the first entry, but it doesfeature one of the most uncomfortable torture scenes in HK history.

 

88 Films’ double feature 2-disc special edition is a beautiful looking set inside and out.  Both films are presented in 2K restorations and include audio commentaries from Frank Djeng and new interviews with the cast and filmmakers wrapped up in a sturdy and stunning-looking box.  

 

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