Another Meltdown (1998) Bi xie lan tian (original title)

Director:

Wai-Lun Lam

Writers:

Alex Law (written by)
Roy Szeto (written by)

Release Date:

31 October 1998 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

A patriotic Chinese cop is reposted to fictional East European country Lavernia as punishment for ignoring orders during a plane hijack operation...

Plot Keywords:

Bullet Ballet | Violence | Explosion | Gun Sau | Slow Motion Scene

Cast

Wenzhuo Zhao	...	Yim Dong
Qi Shu	...	Chan Pun
Andrew Lin	...	Keizo Mishima
Ken Wong	...	Hung Wai-Kwok
Kenneth Tsang	...	Lone Moon / Tasta
Tung Cho 'Joe' Cheung		(as Tung Joe Cheung)
Xin Xin Xiong	...	Captain Kiang
Lan Shun		(as Lau Shun)
Shek Chan
Sam Kai-Sen Huang
So Wai Nam
Kai-Wai Lo
Leung Yat-Ho
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ricardo Alexander	...	Prisoner
Michael Miller	...	Shower Attacker
Jude Poyer	...	Prisoner (shower fight)

Directed by
Wai-Lun Lam		(as Allun Lam)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Alex Law		written by
Roy Szeto		written by

Produced by
Tiffany Chen	....	administrative producer
Julia Chu	....	associate producer
Alex Law	....	producer

Original Music by
Alex San

Cinematography by
Pak-Suen Kwan

Film Editing by
Angie Lam
Marco Mak		(as Mak Chi Sin)

Art Direction by
James Leung
Jason Mok

Costume Design by
Shirley Chan

Makeup Department
Joe Fan	....	hair stylist
Irene Ip	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Julia Chu	....	production supervisor
Rita Fung	....	production manager
Adai Ng	....	production manager (as Addi Ng)
Bonnie Shum	....	assistant production manager
Tsz Kin Tsang	....	assistant production manager
Chun Shu Yan	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kam Ling Ho	....	assistant director
Sylvia Liu	....	assistant director
Eddy Yeung	....	assistant director (as Eddie Yeung)

Art Department
Kwok-wing Chong	....	assistant art director (as Joel Chong)
Man Chow	....	props
Shu-Wing Fung	....	props (as Shu Wing Fung)
Hin Fat Hung	....	property master

Sound Department
Nick Watson	....	sound consultant: Dolby

Stunts
Shek Chan	....	stunts
Yuk-Sing Ma	....	martial arts coordinator
Chun To Tan	....	martial arts coordinator
Cho Wah Wong	....	stunts
Peter Wong	....	stunts
Xin Xin Xiong	....	martial arts coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Da Ka Cheung	....	focus puller
Chup Hun Lee	....	assistant camera
Kin Man Ng	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Tamás Kertész	....	extras casting: Hungary

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lily Kwok	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Angie Lam	....	post-production coordinator

Other crew
Ming Yang Chen	....	mandarin dialogue
Siu-Tung Ching	....	action director
Bo-Chu Chui	....	presenter
Charles Heung	....	presenter
Xin Xin Xiong	....	action director

Production Companies

• China Star Entertainment
• Win's Entertainment Ltd.
• Eastern Film Production Co.

Distributors

• China Star Entertainment (1998) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Long Shong Entertainment Group (1998) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Win's Entertainment Ltd. (1998) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (Spain) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Hong Kong Legends (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• Nelonen (2006) (Finland) (TV)
• SBP (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• SBP (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Lightworkers  editing
• Cubists  computer animation
• True Technic Ltd.  studio
• Toplight Engineering  equipment
• Union Film Laboratory  laboratory
• Kodak (Far East)  film

Also Known As:

"Bi xie lan tian" - Hong Kong (original title)
"The Black Sheep Affair" - Hong Kong (English title), UK (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:96 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English | Japanese | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Germany:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | Norway:15 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

China Star Entertainment

Not so great achievement this time, Hong Kong

Allun Lam's The Blacksheep Affair (1998, Hong Kong) is a fast paced action pack set in some fictional East European country Lavernia. Man Cheuk Chiu's character Yim Dong, a policeman, is sent there as a punishment for his disobedience towards his authorities during the film's opening plane hijacking. In Lavernia, there's an evil Japanese Mishima (Hoi Lin) captured and his group has done some very severe damage to the people and he thinks he's on mission from God to "cure the world" by killing and so on. Qi Shu plays Dong's old love Chan Pun who also happens to be in Lavernia. What follows is action and brutality as the evil Japanese kill and kill innocent people and the good Chinese cop must fight them to death.

The film is very annoying in its attitudes towards foreigners, Japanese mostly. They are depicted as evil and rotten killers that cannot be good or change. The screenplay is filled with lines like "those evil Japanese this and that.." and I really can't appreciate a film that has so incorrect attitudes and undertones for no any apparent reason or real importance. And that's not everything that's wrong with this film.

Qi Shu's character, a young and attractive female, is depicted as total moron who can't do anything in a hot situation but scream hysterically and act as if she had no idea what's she screaming for and could she perhaps do something to it. This film suggests that females can't really do much and they are just useless pieces of flesh in a dangerous situation. All that seem to be good and capable for something noteworthy are of course the Chinese men and their police.

The music is very bad in my opinion and even though it tries to make the goings on more dramatic, it fails and sounds almost naive. None of the characters become too interesting or close to the real person so their destinies don't touch and make me feel anything either. There's only one thing this film manages to do somewhat good and that is the action.

The action choreography by the great Ching Siu Tung is not as near as kinetic and inventive as in his masterpieces (Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, various John Woo films plus many others) but his talent make the action scenes easy to watch and thus the whole film much easier to watch. The violence is surprisingly brutal and almost exploitive so there's plenty of evil acts committed by evil, uncharismatic and unreal characters in this film. Not too nice an experience for a lover of ambitious and unique Eastern cinema.

The Blacksheep Affair is very close to the most boring and needless HK category and is worth watching only for the occasional action scenes and some inventive usage of camera. For most of the time, the twisted and moving camera angles and drives don't mean anything special, they're just there to make the film look more "stylish", but at least occasionally they manage to depict something, too. A good example is at least the scene in which Qi Shu's character escapes from the raging masses. Otherwise there's nothing special or memorable in this film, and thus it is among the least convincing pieces of the more recent Hong Kong cinema.

3/10 and barely so.