Enter the Phoenix

Screen caps courtesy of Fridae

Despite having a somewhat dopey premise, Stephen Fung's directorial debut Enter the Phoenix is a funny movie that also manages to convey drama without getting sappy. In the film, Daniel Wu plays Georgie, the exiled gay son of a triad boss (Yuen Biao) who is living in Thailand. After Yuen's death, his right-hand men (Law Kar-Ying and Chapman To) come to find Georgie. They mistake his straight best friend Sam (Eason Chan) for him, and make the offer to take over the gang. Sam's life-long dream has been to be a "dai lo" (big brother), so he convinces Georgie to go along with the ruse. Things seem to be going fine, until a hot-headed member from another gang (Stephen Fung) finds out Georgie/Sam's secret and uses it to try and gain power.

Hong Kong movies (with the exception of a few films like Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together) have not been known for treating gay characters well. Usually, they are painted with the broad swishy brush of stereotype. Thankfully, Stephen Fung manages to step past most of those potholes. While there are a couple incidents of groan-inducing Wong Jing-esque hamminess -- most notably from a short cameo by Sam Lee -- the character of Georgie himself is treated well. Yes, he's gay, but ultimately, he's a human being -- and that is why I think Enter the Phoenix works. It doesn't necessarily depend on Georgie being gay, but the orientation does add something to the movie.

Unfortunately, like many Hong Kong comedies, Enter the Phoenix seems to throw a bit too much into the mix. Besides the main plot, there are also several side stories, such as one dealing with Karen Mok's character falling for Georgie and trying to "convert" him. Bits like this are charming enough, but I would have liked to see more time dedicated to the story proper. Ultimately, the main characters (Stephen Fung's in particular) feel a little under-developed. There are quite a few cameos from other big names like Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse and Sammi Cheng, and is as the case with a lot of these star-packed pictures, everyone seems to have to get their time in the spotlight, and the movie as a whole suffers a bit as a result.

Even so, I did enjoy Enter the Phoenix. While it didn't feature gut-busting hilarity, there are quite a few parts that generated laughs, such as Law Kar-Wing's cursing in English repeatedly and Eason Chan's equally laughable attempts at catching the "gangsta mack" style. While I didn't really care too much for the characters, they were all pretty likeable -- even the "bad guys" like Michael Chan came off as decent in the end. There are even a couple of decent action scenes. Enter the Phoenix isn't a perfect movie by any means, but it's a fine start to Stephen Fung's directorial career.

RATING: 7

DVD Information