The Final Test (1987) User Reviews

Cheap and cheerful enterprise

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 19 September 2022]

THE FINAL TEST is essentially the Hong Kong version of OUTLAND, that Sean Connery sci-fi flick by Peter Hyams about a drug conspiracy on a mining planet. Here, Kara Hui's brother Austin Wai plays an undercover spy sent in to investigate Yuen Wah's mysterious mining company and uncovering a very similar conspiracy in the process. It's a low budget, often wacky affair that offers plenty of action, a neat TERMINATOR homage, and fun character turns for Blacky Ko and Billy Lau. The film's bizarre insistence on imposing a pop song over violent montages is just one of its odder aspects, but overall it's a cheap and cheerful little enterprise.

Not Much Offered Here To Entice Viewers.

[rsoonsa · 2/10 · 3 August 2005]

The new supervisor of security services for a mining colony in the year 2025 accepts (for pay) a very dangerous mission as we recognize from having seen his predecessor chased and shot to death by apparently unimpassioned colony guards, but after he arrives at his new post, an undercover assignment since he is contracted as an "intelligence agent", he learns that there is a deeper conspiracy at hand than that (use of illegal drugs to improve performance of workers) for which he was prepared. The principal drug being administered at the colony is Ritalin with another, more powerful, substance additionally injected into the hired help, and the new security chief discovers that he is fighting virtually alone against the controlled addiction, with his sole collected ally the location's resident physician, a woman who is under a cloud for prior malpractice. Obviously grounded to large extent upon the Peter Hyams film OUTLAND, this low-budget Hong Kong affair lacks those production values requisite to lift it above the standard, its score flagrantly derivative and its production design and costuming unimaginative, while logic is murdered in a script that is full of foolishness; however, the sets are cleverly constructed and the camera-work is skillful throughout. Direction is uninspired as is the acting, heavy emphasis placed upon physical humour that generally falls flat, despite efficient editing that moves the piece smartly along while helping viewers to avoid pondering upon why a futuristic society would utilize old-fashioned crossbows as weaponry. The film's ending is so abrupt that it appears obvious someone in control simply decided that enough is enough. A DVD version provides no extras other than a menu but the Mandarin soundtrack is benefited by optional English subtitles that are a cut above the norm for Hong Kong cinema.