Sent to Australia to extradite a drug smuggler, a Hong Kong detective takes matters into his own hands after his prisoner is assassinated en route to court in this fast-paced action film. This was the first full length cinematic feature from 'Turkey Shoot' director Brian Trenchard Smith and the film is assembled with all the energy of a young director willing to experiment. There are some great tracking shots courtesy of Oscar winner Russell Boyd and there are several effective low camera angles throughout. Some nifty editing also leads to decent comic relief, such as two Aussie cops declaring that the Hong Kong detective has "probably gone to lunch", followed by a cut to a restaurant brawl. On that note, the drawn-out restaurant fight is one of the best choreographed scenes in the film, and the action is generally solid here, but that is about all. The actual story is very bare bones and talented though star Yu Wang may be at martial arts, he lacks leading man charisma. The film also tends to get distracted from the drug smuggling plot too often for its own good. A romance with an Australian paraglider adds nothing to the tale other than an excuse for a brief topless scene. The film also does not give a nicely sinister George Lazenby enough to do as the chief antagonist in the tale. The theme song "Sky High" is excellent though, and fans of martial arts, Boyd and Lazenby will probably find enough of interest here, but this is a definitely a step down from the Bond movies that 'The Man from Hong Kong' most often feels like it is trying to emulate.
Review of The Man from Hong Kong
