Rock 'N Roll Cop (1994)

AKA: Rock and Roll Cop 

Director: Kirk Wong

Writer: Bing Lou, Winky Wong

Cast: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Wu Xing-Guo, Yu Rong Guang, Carrie Ng Ka-Lai, Jennifer Chan Ming-Chun 

Running Time: 95 min.

Plot: See review below.

RAGING GAIJIN'S REVIEW: The premise behind this 1994 HK action flick should sound somewhat familiar: an unruly rogue cop from one country is partnered up with a determined, straight-laced cop from another country in order to stop a dangerous criminal who knows no political borders. Anthony Wong stars as the titular character, a guitar-playing cop from Hong Kong who teams up with a cop from mainland China. Surprisingly, "Rock 'N Roll Cop"doesn't resemble "Lethal Weapon" or "Rush Hour" nearly as much as you would imagine from the synopsis. This is due largely to the fact that the characters' personalities are rather muted. Anthony Wong's character really isn't that much of a dangerous hothead and the cultural differences between him and his Mainland partner are not that pronounced or dwelled upon. The filmmakers decide to instead focus on the procedures the police follow in order to track down the villains. 

Does it work? Yes and no. This film has a strong visual style that is typical of early 90's Hong Kong. There's a lot of neon and deep blue lighting, fluid camera work, and gunshot squids. "Rock 'N Roll Cop" is also incredibly violent. It's one of those Hong Kong films where the bad guys kill people just to make a point. The movie has a very serious and dark tone that works well for it. The Mainland cops that Anthony Wong teams up with are all fun to watch (with the exception of a romantic subplot involving one of them). They're honorable and resolute policemen who take their jobs seriously, and they partake in the movie's few action sequences. Director Kirk Wong, who previously helmed "Organized Crime and Triad Bureau", takes us through their methods and tactics in pain-staking detail. It's all interesting except for one thing... 

The major problem with this film is that it often feels like a series of set-ups that never build to anything. There's a scene where a bunch of cops are trying to tail a suspect through a crowded area without being noticed (the kind of scene that is a staple of the genre). It's a massively choreographed and well-conceived sequence involving dozens of extras; however, it ends abruptly when the cops are suddenly called off the suspect. Later on, a bunch of cops converge in a large indoor shopping mall (always a great place for an action scene) to arrest the wanted criminals they've been after since the beginning of the movie. But instead of having an intense shoot-out, one of the criminals surrenders while the others easily escape. Even the opening of the film is a disappointment: it starts with the robbery of a mahjong parlor where dozens of innocent bystanders are killed; the criminals escape to a van and barrel down the street with cops in tow. Anthony Wong is near by selling some records to make a quick buck and happens to spot the van. He opens fire and the criminals retaliate by tossing a grenade at him. When their grenade blows up his prized record collection, you expect Wong to take vengeance right then and there (he is the rock 'n roll cop, after all). Instead, he gives up and the movie cuts to another scene. He then spends the rest of the film trying to chase these rotten bastards down. 

This leads me to another major criticism of this film: despite being the "rock 'n roll cop", Anthony Wong doesn't really do all that much. He barely even fires more than a few shots of his gun. The most I can recall him doing is interrogating a prisoner, playing the guitar in a few scenes, and giving people vaguely helpful advice like "be tough, just like the spirit of rock 'n roll". What's worse is that he spends not one but two scenes hand-cuffed/tied to the villains who drag him along and use him as a hostage. As a result, his character never comes across as tough or capable. At every turn, the Mainland cops steal the show from him with their gung-ho tactics. Although I love Anthony Wong as an actor, all these scenes made me wonder why he was even the subject of the movie at all. 

Compared to the seminal classic "Organized Crime and Triad Bureau", this film is rather weak. If you're dying for an early 90's HK crime flick, then you could do worse than this... but you could do a lot better too. The climax of the film features a fantastic action scene in which the Mainland cops dive off a freeway over-pass, firing their guns as they sail through the air (all of this in slow motion); the problem is, this is another moment where Anthony Wong is tied up to the bad guys and rendered useless. All of this begs the question: how can you have a movie called "Rock 'N Roll Cop" and not make the main character a tough, capable bad-ass? I don't know but Kirk Wong tried to do it and the result is less than stellar. 

RAGING GAIJIN'S RATING: 5.5/10