"As director, Stephen Fung seems to be much better behind the camera than he does in front of it."
- Owlman
House of Fury (2005)
Director: Stephen Fung Tak-Lun
Writer: Stephen Fung, Yiu Fai Lo, Lo Yiu-Fai
Producer: Jackie Chan, Willie Chan
Cast: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Stephen Fung Tak-Lun, Gillian Chung (Yan Tung), Daniel Wu Yin-Cho, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Wu Ma, Jacky Wu Jing, Michael Wong
Running Time: 102 min.
Plot: Teddy Yu is a Chinese chiropractor and a widowed father of two. But he has led a secret life as a bodyguard for secret agents. Now very some bad guys are threatening him and his kids' lives unless they give up the goods on the secret agents!
Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com
Reviews
OWLMAN'S REVIEW: Let me cut to the chase here: HOF is an okay movie but not very memorable. This would explain why I'm finding it hard to actually put down words on what I liked/disliked about the film - I just can't remember most of it as it turned out to be pretty much harmless fluff.
I do remember this much...
* As director, Stephen Fung seems to be much better behind the camera than he does in front of it. He still has much to learn (eg. eliciting better performances from his cast, overuse of camera tricks like the whole 360 camera spin) but he did manage to put together a somewhat enjoyable movie.
* Yuen Woo-Ping's martial arts choreography here is, as usual, good but the overuse of wirework is getting to be tiresome, particularly in this film where the characters are supposedly part of the "real world" and not super-fancy-pants-flying-heroes (ie. witness the scene of the old man skip up the side of the building - yawn). Nevertheless, the pole fighting scene between Nicky (Stephen Fung) and Nelson (Jake Strickland) was fun to watch.
* Thank God the screen time of Charlene Choi is limited to brief appearances. Whenever that woman opens her mouth, it's like nails on a chalkboard.
* Daniel Wu's Cantonese has improved but his character even admits that his vocabulary and enunciation is limited.
* As the villain, Michael Wong doesn't bother trying to speak Cantonese. That's a plus.
* Anthony Wong proves once again that he's the Robert DeNiro of the HK film industry - great actor with a history of film appearances that cut from one end of the spectrum (great films like Hard Boiled) to the other (awful shit like Gen-Y Cops). His appearance here is middle of the road stuff.
Bottom line: watching HOF won't produce any side effects such as watery eyes, upset stomach, or impotence. Just don't expect any miracles.
OWLMAN'S RATING: 6/10
