Shu dan long wei (1995)

Directors:

Jing Wong
Lun Ah

Writers:

Domonic Muir (dubbed version)
Jing Wong (writer)

Release Date:

1 July 1995 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

He Redefines Revenge

Plot:

After failing to save his wife from 'The Doctor', Kit Li is working as a bodyguard and secret stunt...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Cockroach | Piano | Thrown From Building | Terrorist

Cast

Jet Li	...	Kit Li
Jacky Cheung	...	Frankie Lone
Chingmy Yau	...	Helen
Charlie Yeung	...	Joyce
Kelvin Wong	...	The Doctor / David Wang
Valerie Chow	...	Fai-Fai
Billy Chow	...	Kong
Ma Wu	...	Frankie's Father
Charlie Cho	...	Charlie
Ben Lam	...	Rabbit (English dubbed)
Chung-Hsien Yang	...	Detective Chow Kam (Joyce's Boyfriend)
Suki Kwan	...	Li's Wife
Bobby Yip	...	Ugly Extra
Tak Yuen	...	Salvage-Corps Man
Corey Yuen	...	Wai

Also Known As:

High Risk (Hong Kong: English title)
Meltdown (USA) (video title (dubbed version))
Sue daam lung wei (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

USA:101 min | Hong Kong:101 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Netherlands:16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Sun Entertainment

Trivia:

Jacky Cheung's character Frankie Lone was originally intended for 'Jackie Chan'. Before production began on High Risk, Chan was starring in Jing Wong's movie, Sing si lip yan (1993) (a.k.a. City Hunter). They didn't get along during the filming, and the experience of working with Jackie was so bad that Wong Jing chose to make the character of Frankie Lone a mockery of Chan. Jackie Chan was understandably offended and Jet Li personally apologized to Jackie for his involvement with the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: In one shot where a sign of the 'Grandeur' hotel is shown, it's actually mis-spelled 'Granedur'.

Quotes:

Frankie Lone: [Bond brandished Frankie's trademark nunchaku weapon] Where did you get that?
Bond: I bought it from your shop, make it 10% discount.

Movie Connections:

References Gojira (1954)

great action, unnecessary satire

The action sequences in this film are utterly superb, among the best in Hong Kong's long history of fine action films. Yet it's a difficult film to recommend.

There are a number of real problems with the film. First and foremost is Wong Jing's decision to use the film to strike out at Jackie Chan. While I can understand that Wong and Chan did not work well together on City Hunter, and a case can certainly be made that Chan is overly fond himself and does, indeed, occasionally use stunt doubles (contrary to hype), nothing suggests that Chan is a coward and a raving lush. To suggest this isn't mere satire, it's direct character assassination. This is an incredibly bad strategic decision. All fans of Chan, all who only respect him, and perhaps even many who have only heard his name, will find this attack unnecessary in the extreme and profoundly upsetting.

And there is more in the film to upset the average viewer. The film is not only excessively violent (I rather like excessive violence), but depressingly so. Innocent women and children splat like flies against a window. Various efforts at heroism and decency go unrewarded or even punished. The whole atmosphere of the film is gaudy, dark, choppy, nasty.

Wong Jing has made many films, and some of them are even quite fun. But this isn't really one of them. Wong's history shows that he also doesn't take his profession very seriously, and many of his films suffer for it, getting terribly sloppy at times - and Melt Down is no exception. Which is unfortunate - when you have a stunt crew like this, action choreography as good as this, not to mention Jet Li at the top of his form, so much could have been done, yet it is here left unaccomplished.

Oh, well. Occasionally fun, occasionally disturbing; one last good thing to say of the film is that the end is surprisingly strong and satisfying. If only the same could be said of rest of the film.