Like Hollywood, Hong Kong is crazy for sequels and remakes. Their version of Kevin Costner's THE BODYGUARD (1992), is, predictably, an exercise in excess. It's also grand hyperbolic fun. The film received its first official US release on home video in 1998.
Mainland Chinese security agent Hui Ching-yang (Jet Li) is assigned to Hong Kong to protect Michelle Yeung (Christy Chung), the last surviving witness to a murder. Strict and unyielding, Hui dismisses all but two of Michelle's squadron of local bodyguards, and tightens security, to her chagrin.
When she finally convinces him to take her shopping, they are assaulted by dozens of hitmen.
After Hui lays waste to the killers and whisks Michelle home, she finds herself falling for him. But even as the duty-bound Hui spurns her advances, Wang Wen-jun (Ngai Sing), brother of one of the fallen killers, lays siege to the house with scores of gunmen, who are subsequently slain by Hui.
Following a protracted battle, Hui takes a bullet protecting Michelle, but manages to kill Wang with a knife.
The original BODYGUARD had one insurmountable problem from the very inception--the casting of Kevin Costner as the indomitable title character. Jet Li on the other hand is entirely believable as he dispatches Michelle's original bodyguards in a lightning-fast showcase of martial skills. The film
dispenses with many of the silly contrivances of Lawrence Kasdan's original script, substituting even sillier contrivances of its own, starting with the very first scene, in which Hui protects a government official by mowing down countless assassins. This is then shown to be a "mock raid," a
practice to test Hui's abilities. If it's only a practice however, why was everybody bursting with bloody wounds? It's a cinematic cheat of course, but the sequence does adequately inform the viewer of the suspension of disbelief necessary to swallow the fairly dopey plot to follow, with its total
disregard for logic and/or continuity. For the climax, not only does Michelle outrun a bullet seen speeding toward Hui in slow motion, but Hui outruns her outrunning the bullet, tossing her from harm's way. Nonetheless, the final battle in the sealed house, with gas mains opened precluding gunfire
and making the combatants literally fight for breath, is an extended treasure-trove of witty if implausible gimmickry. Making extensive use of wirework for conspicuously impossible feats, the inventive choreography by director Corey Yuen (who has a one-line cameo in the shopping scene) was
nominated for a Hong Kong Film Award as best action design of the year.
Made in 1994, the film's political agenda deserves mention. Hong Kong cops, still in the employ of the British government, are depicted as lazy, gluttonous, hedonistic consumers and inveterate gamblers. Michelle, an "ABC" (American-Born Chinese), is self-indulgent and petty. Mainland Chinese
(including both Hui and the main villain, Wang), are by contrast stern, capable, disciplined, single-minded, and loyal unto death. Michelle's wealthy boyfriend shows up for the end and attempts to buy off Wang, but is told his money means nothing; it's a matter of honor between the Mainlanders.
Veteran bad guy Ngai Sing makes an excellent foil for Li, possessing acrobatic fighting skills along with an intense and vicious demeanor. Li and Ngai's characters seem to have killed one another at film's end, but a quick fade brings us to a brief coda wherein the other principals race to say
goodbye to the bodyguard at the border. They don't quite make it, and Li's absence from the scene (he is shown in an unrelated shot as the credits roll) suggests the ending was a last-minute addition, after he had already left the production. (Graphic violence.) leave a comment
