Maybe its all the motorcycle riding I have been doing, but when I was in China two weeks ago, I really wanted to get my hands on a DVD copy of Derek Yee's 1995 award winning blockbuster 'Full Throttle', starring Andy Lau and Gigi Leung. I had a copy of this one on VHS back in the day that I got from Yulah and
watched it several times, but that was nearly 10 years ago, its been a while since the last time I saw it. It holds up remarkably well. Maybe its just cause I am in Japan now and am more in tune w/ the Asian sport bike scene, but aside from some bad color coordination on the motorcycle jackets, it hardly seems out of date at all. (or perhaps I just don't notice Gigi's dorky looking glasses, etc). The actual story is pretty meandering and melodramatic... Andy is the king of illegal bike racing in HK, he lives to race, his gf protests, his father hates him, bikes crash, people die, a come back must be made! :-D Derrick Yee (one of the best directors in HK, even if I didn't like One Night in Mongkok that much), does a good job with this one, as do most of the actors involved. Apparently this film cleaned house at the HK film awards in 95. It also features Elvis Tsui (that guy who did all those Cat. 3 movies in the late 90s to pay the bills), Paul Chun (bad guy in All for the Winner, amongst many other roles), David Wu (who seemed to kind of disappear from films? I think he just does TV stuff now) and Chin Kar Lok (who gets kudos for not having a lame English name... like Elvis...) Its high on the melodrama, especially at the end... but as a motorcyclist (who likes to drive fast and has crashed at least once), I can identify with some parts of the film, even if they might not resonate very well with the average person. A lot of the scenes feel like a huge commercial for Nankai, Arai and Honda Racing... but thats OK... cause I like looking at motorcycles! ;-) The racing sequences are actually filmed quite well technically. No cheap-ass CG used in this one to make things look dangerous (like... 'too fast too furious'). Its the real deal, getting an inch from the guard rail at 150 km, real wipe outs, etc. Check it out. non-gear heads will still go for the character interaction and romance stuff too. :-P
May 16, 2005
