Full Contact

1992, Movie, 99 mins

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Hong Kong adirector Ringo Lam's brutal, fast-paced joyride should knock the socks off martial arts fans who don't mind that narrative coherence is sacrificed in the name of thrills. Hong Kong expatriate Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat) adheres to his own code of honor and is loathe to cooperate with the Thail gangster who calls himself The Judge (Simon Yam). But Jeff relents when his best friend, Sam (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang), runs up a gambling tab with mob boss Chung (Chris Lee) and Sam pleads for Jeff's intervention. Jeff agrees to take part in a munitions truck robbery for the ruthless, hedonistic Judge and his sidekicks, steroid-abusing Deano (Frankie Chin) and Dwano's adulterous wife, Virgin (Bonnie Fu). But Chung has paid the Judge to betray Jeff. Jeff escapes one assassination attempt, so Judge coerces Sam, who's his cousin, to finish him off. A fire breaks out and camouflages Jeff's skin-of-his-teeth escape, but his wife, Mona (Ann Bridgewater), believes he's dead and, unaware of Sam's treachery, begins stepping out with Sam. Jeff is nursed back to health by a Buddhist monk and begins to haunt Mona and Sam with "ghostly" appearances. Jeff forces Sam to seduce the Virgin, who tells him where the Judge hid the stolen weapons. Jeff has no trouble killing Chung, but driving a wedge into the Judge's organization proves harder. When Jeff finally reveals himself to the Judge, Sam is forced to take sides. On the plus side, a trim, youthful Chow Yun-Fat demonstrates the agility and sangfroid that made him an action film legend before he ever made his Hollywood debut. But Nam Yim's screenplay ignores plot logic in favor of high-kicking set pieces. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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