cityonfire.com | Legend of Speed

	Legend of Speed "I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, but was very well disappointed." - EKU® Legend of Speed (1999) Director: Andrew Lau Producer: Manfred Wong Cast: Ekin Cheng, Cecilia Cheung, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man, Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Moses Cheng, Stephanie Che Running Time: 108 min . Plot: Sky (Cheng) is the Dare Devil of Hong Kong? that is, he's the best at drag racing sports cars from one end of the island to the other. He takes all wagers, including side bets that, if you win, you get to break the loser's leg. He's got a loyal gang around him, including his girlfriend Kelly (Kelly Lin). Except that one of his group of admirers, mousy Nancy (Cecilia Cheung), thinks she's the girl who will love him truly. Sky's life is complicated by the release from prison of the Dare Devil of the 1980s, Hung (Simon Yam of cult favorite "Naked Killer"). Seems that way back when, Hung defeated Sky's father, known as Black Tone, who since has disappeared to Thailand. Depressed after Kelly's death in a drag-racing accident, Sky goes to Thailand looking for dad. Reviews ALEXANDER'S REVIEW: At the risk of being ridiculed forever by my peers here at City on Fire, I feel it necessary to confess to a certain guilty pleasure: I like Ekin Cheng. I think he's a fine, charismatic actor who may have made a few blunders in the roles he's selected (FOR BAD BOYS ONLY comes immediately to mind), but I blame his agent for this. He adds the necessary innocence to the protagonist's role in TOKYO RAIDERS and leather-jacket-cool to his part in LEGEND OF SPEED. Ekin is convincing and doesn't seem to embody, in either role, the pansy-assed teen idol pop-star image he's been lambasted for. Yet despite my newfound love of Ekin as leading man, director Andy Lau's LEGEND OF SPEED is far from perfect. The movie opens with a cheesy CGI scene of cars racing through the streets of HK that could have been lifted from Konami's GRAN TURISMO 2 video game. This animated introduction wouldn't have been so bad but there are similar distracting shots interspersed with real racing later in the film. There is also a ridiculous sub-plot featuring the autistic, car-customizing-genius brother of Cecilia Chung's (FAILAN, TOKYO RAIDERS) character. The absurdity of this plot point is somewhat lessened though by the totally convincing performance by Patrick Tam (BEAST COPS). An AIDS-tainted syringe, ensuing skin lesions, a supposedly dead father named Black Tone and an annoying sidekick with leopard-spot-dyed hair add to the movie's frequent silliness. So what IS there to like about LEGEND OF SPEED? Despite the inclusion of the lame-ass CGI scenes, the races are creatively filmed and suspenseful. They are deftly directed and offer a slew of innovative camera angles creating a convincing illusion of speed. Yet the film's highlight is the convincing (albeit corny) relationship between Ekin's character, Sky, and Cecilia Cheung's delinquent but adorable character. There is definite chemistry between the two and it's enjoyable watching them interact. Finally, the car culture, a scantily clad Kelly Lin (FULLTIME KILLER) and a fine performance by the always cool (and usually menacing) Simon Yam (EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, BULLET IN THE HEAD) add up to a pretty good time. ALEXANDER'S RATING: 7/10 MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: If you're a Japanese-import street racing enthusiast, you'll probably bust a nut checking out some of the automobiles and bikes showcased in Andrew Lau's "Legend of Speed". If you're not, then do what I did: bust a nut enjoying Kelly Lin walking around in those tight, black, slutty, short-shorts. For you girls (and guys that dig guys), there's Ekin Cheng's leather jacket over his bare chest. As you can see, this film has almost got something for everyone until that one person comes along that wants a good, solid plot. We've seen it all before. Man loses. Man trains. Man wins. Nothing new here. The writers try to add some originality by adding an idiotic subplot where Ekin visits Thailand to search for his father who was once a bad-ass car racer himself. The film goes on and on with this bullshit and you don't even stop once to take it seriously. Even the digital effects are some of the worst I've seen and uncalled for considering this film doesn't need any effects. I guess the use of special effects has gone to the director's head after the success of "Stormriders" and "A Man Called Hero". On the brighter side of the film, there were some cool performances. Simon Yam, the film's car-racing villain makes a believable asshole as well as his brother (the guy's name?) who will be remembered in this film for getting stabbed by an aids-infected needle. They even go as far as showing the guy slowly deteriorating which is a haunting sight. Cecilia Cheung, who plays the woman in love with Ekin also sets a nice performance, too bad we didn't get to see her in Kelly's shorts. Patrick Tam, who played a wiz-auto mechanic suffering from a slight case of mental-retardation, seemed to be the only one that truly put his heart and soul into his character. The last film I've seen him in was "Beast Cops", where he, remarkably, played a young Triad member that got the best of Big Brother Roy Cheung. Can't wait to see more of this guy in the future. The bottom line: this film is somewhat entertaining but unintentionally silly. MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 5.5/10 EKU®'S REVIEW: I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, but was very well disappointed. The story is mediocre. The movie was predictable, expect no surprises. The only thing going for this movie is the nice cars they race with. I'm not talking about Ferrari's or Porsches, but tuned up and modified cars (Mitsubitshi's, Subaru's). There was only one good dramatic scene in this movie. Oh and one more thing, the theme song sang by Ekin was very good. The Thailand sequence was pretty boring and almost seemed pointless. But then again, the story was pointless to begin with. I only recommend this movie to people who like cars and racing, and of course Ekin fans. :) EKU®'S RATING: 6/10

Legend of Speed

"I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, but was very well disappointed."

- EKU®

Legend of Speed (1999)

Director: Andrew Lau

Producer: Manfred Wong

Cast: Ekin Cheng, Cecilia Cheung, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man, Simon Yam, Kelly Lin, Moses Cheng, Stephanie Che

Running Time: 108 min .

Plot: Sky (Cheng) is the Dare Devil of Hong Kong? that is, he's the best at drag racing sports cars from one end of the island to the other. He takes all wagers, including side bets that, if you win, you get to break the loser's leg. He's got a loyal gang around him, including his girlfriend Kelly (Kelly Lin). Except that one of his group of admirers, mousy Nancy (Cecilia Cheung), thinks she's the girl who will love him truly. Sky's life is complicated by the release from prison of the Dare Devil of the 1980s, Hung (Simon Yam of cult favorite "Naked Killer"). Seems that way back when, Hung defeated Sky's father, known as Black Tone, who since has disappeared to Thailand. Depressed after Kelly's death in a drag-racing accident, Sky goes to Thailand looking for dad.

Reviews

ALEXANDER'S REVIEW: At the risk of being ridiculed forever by my peers here at City on Fire, I feel it necessary to confess to a certain guilty pleasure: I like Ekin Cheng. I think he's a fine, charismatic actor who may have made a few blunders in the roles he's selected (FOR BAD BOYS ONLY comes immediately to mind), but I blame his agent for this. He adds the necessary innocence to the protagonist's role in TOKYO RAIDERS and leather-jacket-cool to his part in LEGEND OF SPEED. Ekin is convincing and doesn't seem to embody, in either role, the pansy-assed teen idol pop-star image he's been lambasted for.

Yet despite my newfound love of Ekin as leading man, director Andy Lau's LEGEND OF SPEED is far from perfect.

The movie opens with a cheesy CGI scene of cars racing through the streets of HK that could have been lifted from Konami's GRAN TURISMO 2 video game. This animated introduction wouldn't have been so bad but there are similar distracting shots interspersed with real racing later in the film. There is also a ridiculous sub-plot featuring the autistic, car-customizing-genius brother of Cecilia Chung's (FAILAN, TOKYO RAIDERS) character. The absurdity of this plot point is somewhat lessened though by the totally convincing performance by Patrick Tam (BEAST COPS). An AIDS-tainted syringe, ensuing skin lesions, a supposedly dead father named Black Tone and an annoying sidekick with leopard-spot-dyed hair add to the movie's frequent silliness.

So what IS there to like about LEGEND OF SPEED?

Despite the inclusion of the lame-ass CGI scenes, the races are creatively filmed and suspenseful. They are deftly directed and offer a slew of innovative camera angles creating a convincing illusion of speed. Yet the film's highlight is the convincing (albeit corny) relationship between Ekin's character, Sky, and Cecilia Cheung's delinquent but adorable character. There is definite chemistry between the two and it's enjoyable watching them interact. Finally, the car culture, a scantily clad Kelly Lin (FULLTIME KILLER) and a fine performance by the always cool (and usually menacing) Simon Yam (EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, BULLET IN THE HEAD) add up to a pretty good time.

ALEXANDER'S RATING: 7/10

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: If you're a Japanese-import street racing enthusiast, you'll probably bust a nut checking out some of the automobiles and bikes showcased in Andrew Lau's "Legend of Speed". If you're not, then do what I did: bust a nut enjoying Kelly Lin walking around in those tight, black, slutty, short-shorts. For you girls (and guys that dig guys), there's Ekin Cheng's leather jacket over his bare chest. As you can see, this film has almost got something for everyone until that one person comes along that wants a good, solid plot.

We've seen it all before. Man loses. Man trains. Man wins. Nothing new here. The writers try to add some originality by adding an idiotic subplot where Ekin visits Thailand to search for his father who was once a bad-ass car racer himself. The film goes on and on with this bullshit and you don't even stop once to take it seriously. Even the digital effects are some of the worst I've seen and uncalled for considering this film doesn't need any effects. I guess the use of special effects has gone to the director's head after the success of "Stormriders" and "A Man Called Hero".

On the brighter side of the film, there were some cool performances. Simon Yam, the film's car-racing villain makes a believable asshole as well as his brother (the guy's name?) who will be remembered in this film for getting stabbed by an aids-infected needle. They even go as far as showing the guy slowly deteriorating which is a haunting sight. Cecilia Cheung, who plays the woman in love with Ekin also sets a nice performance, too bad we didn't get to see her in Kelly's shorts. Patrick Tam, who played a wiz-auto mechanic suffering from a slight case of mental-retardation, seemed to be the only one that truly put his heart and soul into his character. The last film I've seen him in was "Beast Cops", where he, remarkably, played a young Triad member that got the best of Big Brother Roy Cheung. Can't wait to see more of this guy in the future.

The bottom line: this film is somewhat entertaining but unintentionally silly.

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 5.5/10

EKU®'S REVIEW: I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, but was very well disappointed. The story is mediocre. The movie was predictable, expect no surprises. The only thing going for this movie is the nice cars they race with. I'm not talking about Ferrari's or Porsches, but tuned up and modified cars (Mitsubitshi's, Subaru's). There was only one good dramatic scene in this movie. Oh and one more thing, the theme song sang by Ekin was very good. The Thailand sequence was pretty boring and almost seemed pointless. But then again, the story was pointless to begin with. I only recommend this movie to people who like cars and racing, and of course Ekin fans. :)

EKU®'S RATING: 6/10