The Raid
1991; directed by Tsui Hark and Ching Siu-Tung

Though it was helmed by two of Hong Kong's greatest directors, Tsui Hark and Ching Siu-Tung, 1991's The Raid (not to be confused with the Indonesian martial arts film of the same name) is not well known by many western fans of the region's cinema, probably due to the fact that it came out during the peak of Hong Kong film production, when the region was producing almost 200 films per year -- this was the fourth movie Tsui worked on that year -- thus many pictures came to be lost in the shuffle. Thankfully, Well Go USA has recently released a DVD for the North American market, which will allow a whole new audience to check out this hidden gem from Hong Kong film's "golden age".

Many releases from this era were stuffed to the gills with star power, and The Raid is no exception. Though there is a lack of five-star A-list talent on display -- as far as name recognition with casual viewers, which may be one of the reasons the film has largely become forgotten except to diehard film nerds -- there are still many fan favorites working here, including Dean Shek, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Jacky Cheung, Corey Yuen, Paul Chu Kong, Fennie Yuen, and Joyce Godenzi, making part of the fun of this film seeing which actors pop up during the running time -- and perhaps becoming a bit wistful when one realizes just how deep the talent pool was in the Hong Kong film industry at this time.

Based on a series of comic books featuring the character Uncle Choy (played here by Dean Shek) the movie is set in the Japanese-occupied Manchuria of the 1930's. Using corrupt Chinese officials, the Japanese are developing a deadly new form of nerve gas and are intending to test it out on the occupied people. Uncle Choy and his friends want to help out the local resistance, but first must prove their worth before they can take on the Japanese.

Basically, the plot is a means to get to the action setpieces, of which there are quite a few, and most of them are done very well -- which isn't all that surprising, given that Ching Siu-Tung is one of the best action directors ever in Hong Kong cinema. Some of the action is quite violent, which seems at odds with the family/kiddie vibe many other aspects of the film give off. But isn't the wonderfully schizophrenic nature of Hong Kong films one of the very reasons many of us fans got into them in the first place?

RATING: 7

Well Go USA's DVD is uncut and has the original Cantonese soundtrack. Bonus features include trailers for the movie and several other Well Go releases. The DVD is available from Amazon.