Mike Leeder brings another round-up of the news-stories from the world of eastern action that you may have overlooked in the last few weeks…
Calling All The Heroes..!
Benny Chan’s martial arts epic Call of Heroes, which shot under the title The Deadly Reclaim, is one of the most highly anticipated eastern martial arts films of the year, featuring action choreography by the Hong Kong Legend that is Sammo Hung.
The film is set in turn of the (twentieth) century China and tells of a group of villagers who band together to stand up to a young warlord who has been enslaving their lands. The film features an impressive cast lead by Lau Ching-wan (White Storm), Eddie Peng (Rise of the Legend) and Wu Jing (Wolf Warrior), with strong support from Liu Kai-chi (Hero of Tomorrow), Philip Keung (Helios), Yuan Quan (Once Upon a Time in Shanghai), Sammy Hung (Dragonblade) and Ken Law (Unbeatable).
You can see the trailer here:
Stand Up Special Agent…
Hong Kong comedian Dayo Wong (Legend of the Wolf) is to team up with Charmaine Sheh for a new action comedy Stand Up Special Agent, playing a British special agent abandoned by the British Government following the 1997 handover of Hong Kong back to China.
The film will be produced by Stephen Siu Jr and directed by Johnnie To – protege Tse Chun – and sees Sheh and Wong reunited after working on the highly succesfull TVB series We’re Hired some years ago. Wong is one of Hong Kong’s top stand-up comedians but he’s been off the big and small screen for some time which doesn’t seem to worry producer Stephen Shiu Jr, “I am confident. He hasn’t been on television for over a decade, the audience wouldn’t mind paying. The kids who grew up watching Tze Wah are grown, they are a new consumer group.“
In the film Dayo plays a former top British Special Agent, who following the 1997 ‘Hand-Over’, lost his identity and became a literal orphan in Hong Kong, surviving as a private detective. But when a mobster’s wife is released from prison and seeks him out, he might just have the chance to redeem himself and recapture his former glory…
With a plot like that the film might strike a chord with Hong Kong audiences who feel the UK abandoned them when returning the former crown colony to China. And could it strike the same box office as Stephen Chow did more than 20 years ago when he played a secret agent in From Beijing with Love?
Beyond Redemption…
Canadian Chinese stuntman Brian Ho has been making quite a name for himself in the stunt community with his credits including Total Recall, Marco Polo S1 & 2, Push and as the motion capture performer and face of the main character in the Sleeping Dogs video game. Ho also played the character in the live action trailer produced for the games launch and we’ve always thought Ho had the potential to make the move to leading man.
With Beyond Redemption, which seems to have borrowed certain plot points from the Sleeping Dogs game, he gets to play the lead: an undercover cop battling the Triads and his own doubts over imminent fatherhood. The film which also stars Osric Chau from Supernatural, Hong Kong legend Eddie Ko (The Mission, Heroes Shed No Tears) Don Lew (Godzilla), Darren E Scott from Almost Human, and Valerie Tian from 21 Jump Street. The film directed by former Hong Kong Gwailo villain Bruce Fontaine from Operation Condor, will be released in North America by WellgoUSA.
There’s no trailer yet, but here’s a sampling of Ho in action:
Enemy Mine can be yours on blu-ray…
Thanks to Eureka Entertainment, Wolfgang Peterson’s 1985 sf drama Enemy Mine hits Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on June 20th 2016. It was written by Ed Khmara and starred Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr and Brion James.
The premise: A lengthy war rages through the galaxy between the Humans and the Dracs. One of the many battles between their respective forces leaves a human pilot Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and a Drac pilot (Louis Gossett Jr) stranded on an inhospitable planet and forced to overcome their mutual distrust in order to survive.
With a basic plot that has served as the foundation for such projects as Hell in the Pacific and even The Return of Starbuck episode of Galactica 1980, with two foes being forced to work together. The film began production in April 1984 under the direction of Richard Loncraine (Richard III) at the helm, but ‘creative differences’ with 20th Century Fox executives saw him leave the project and Wolfgang Peterson (then best known for Das Boot) takeover as director…reshooting the previously lensed scenes once production relocated to Munich.
The film features very strong performances by Dennis Quaid (Innerspace, The Right Stuff) and an utterly unrecognisable Louis Gosset Jr (An Officer and a Gentleman, Firewalker) buried under pounds of latex, and fan favourite Brion James (Blade Runner, Tango & Cash) who turns up as an evil slaver exploiting all who cross his path. Eureka Classics present the film in high-definition for the first time in the UK in a special edition Blu-ray
Here’s the original UK theatrical trailer…
