( 2006 / Hong Kong )
( 2006 / Hong Kong )
Review by Paul Cooke Director: Pou-Soi Cheang Starring: Edison Chen , Sam Lee , Lam Suet & Pei Pei Source : Joy Sales Films / NTSC All Region / Approx 1:85:1 Ratio / Anamorphic 16:9 Enhanced / Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS / English Language Subtitles
‘‘Killing means nothing to him !’’
You want your Action eggs sunny side up ? , well best then to look elsewhere !. This batch is beaten and beaten to a bloody pulp !. Not since the heady days of gritty Hong Kong made Eighties CAT III films has a movie hit so hard whilst still moving. A contemporary classic from the school of hard knocks , where the pupils from both sides of the fence learn from the same teacher. A class act that brandishes a brutality rarely seen in this time of stringent censorship , and a very welcome one indeed.
The dark and unsettling tone is set from the start as Edison Chen’s startling character Pang appears from out of a darkened recess , deep down in the engine room of a fishing trawler. A ship hand cautiously hands down some food to him. A sloppy bowl of what in texture could only be described as fish eggs topped off with a porn star protein !. Pang woofs down the serving as if it may be his last and then slinks back into the half light he crawled from. The opening credits roar onto screen with an industrial thud that pounds out a resonating chant of Seventies flavoured Euro horror , thunderous enough to awaken the very dead themselves.
Dishevelled and dirty , Pang disembarks at a docking port and is immediately hailed into a waiting taxi. He is given a note with a telephone number , which is identical to the scrawl etched upon a scrap of paper he pulls out from his own pocket. The cab driver feverishly communicates a text message ‘‘He’s arrived’’ !. So begins the journey through hell for Pang , a Cambodian killer for hire. Money is passed to the edgy Pang , caught up in an environment where the language is unclear to him , as is interpreted by the vacuous sounds of the soundtrack. He is an outside hired contract killer in Hong Kong , and is soon doing what he has been paid to do. In a swiftly dealt remorseless act he explodes into type in a restaurant , standing up from his own table to serve his own delivery of death to an elderly lady. Forcing her head down upon the table he calmly unloads repeated gun shots at extreme close contact to her skull. A vicious yet immediate death follows as blood and brain matter hit the table like ripe fruit exploding in a blender. Pang’s job is done !.
Police officer Wai Ti arrives late at the murder scene , a slovenly kempt detective played brilliantly by the now multi movie matured Sam Lee. His character has an attitude carried over from having a police officer father who wants for nothing but Wai to not follow in his footsteps. Wai’s life is complicated by his father being shot in the line of duty , resulting in him laying in bed in a coma. The result of a drug deal that has Wai questioning his own father , along with an ongoing investigation by Internal Affairs. Life could not be any more complicated for the anti authoritarian Wai , who’s defiant attitude alienates him from his colleagues. Wai is though an unquestionably smart operator. This murder affords him time to refocus his inner anger as he heads up the chase to locate and apprehend the fleeing Pang.
Pretty much in real time Wai steps away from the murder scene and identifies his objective , as Pang misses his return taxi ride due to the drivers angst at being stopped by the police. A subtle interaction of eye contact between Wai and Pang is made across the divide of a roadway , a chilling moment and then suddenly the chase is on. What follows is pulse pounding stuff right through until the nihilistic ending.
Wai and his partner corner Pang in a roadside eatery in a standoff that sees Wai’s colleague act as negotiator to Pang’s hostage taking character. The abruptness of Pang’s cornered reactivity is eye opening and leaves Wai with no second doubt in his mind with what he is dealing with from thereon in. The deliverance of Pang into police custody here does not take place under negotiator guideline and what plays out is shocking , startling and downright nasty.
From the set go ‘Dog Bite Dog’ identifies itself as intrinsically emotive film making at its CAT III base roots. It is rare that a movie has the power to make your heart miss a beat , yet this exceptional piece does so one more than one occasion !. The movie pulsates with a savage intent akin to a rabid dog humping a cactus , oblivious to its own pain , yet truly alive in the moment of its extreme release !.
Keeping Pang in custody proves to be futile as he escapes in dramatic fashion , dislocating his thumb to free himself from his shackles and resulting in him turning over the police car in metal mangling style. His ability to survive has been engrained in him from a very young age. Raised in a cruel Cambodian den of iniquity and enduring brutal fights to the death. A rancid environment of pestilence and pain , lorded over by gangsters placing bets on the young children pitted against one another. Feeding from a refuse waste mountain and playing amongst its putrid palette of vile garbage Pang knows only one lifestyle , kill or be killed !.
Wai sets about uncovering who his nemesis has been contacted by and races around trying to locate the killer before he is able to abscond back across the border into Vietnam. His uncompromising style of policing is definitely not by the book , and he religiously serves out slaps and attitude to all he grills for information. Good cop , bad cop goes right out of the window. Sam Lee’s matured serious recital here is all bad ass good cop. He has come a long way from the early days of support act comedic relief to the lofty heights of this pinnacle performance.
Big screen newcomer Pei Pei provides an exemplary performance as an introverted love interest to Pang. Poignantly crossing her path within the squalid environment of a waste dumping ground that is her home. He rescues her from her incestuous father and though initially reluctant finds himself drawn to her. A relationship that endangers Pang’s path to escape but further explores a humanity within him that he has never before experienced. It is a tragic tale of love that creates a complicating triangle , one that inevitably brings about full circle the paths of all three lead characters.
Events race by in equal measure of quality drama and moments of sustained violence. Cop versus killer embroils itself into the very fabric of the coalesced musical accompaniment , literally growling out of the speakers as these two savage dogs unabatedly appose each other. The shuddering thud of a pursuant cop hitting an oncoming speeding truck heightens the tumultuous track , and screeches in high pitched pain as the body ricochets beneath the undercarriage in its animated death knell.
There are brief moments during proceedings that may be perceived as only mildly grim , but these are merely fractious periods that can be regarded as a manic depressives feel good flick !.
It is only in the final part of this incredible outing that Director Pou-Soi Cheang slips into predictability. The Action remains relentless and violent until the very end , but there is a point leading up to the final reel that delivers a near sublime moment to conclude that is then exceeded. Cheang’s highly creditable desire to unleash all of those jaw dropping moments , from the unadulterated CAT III movies preceding this , just gets caught up in an over the top roller coaster that careens into the preposterous. A glorious finale for those weaned on the outlandish Hong Kong highs from the Eighties , but here the stand alone higher ground was calling but five minutes earlier. A minor niggle that will of course be open to debatable interpretation , and that is a further compliment to the divergence of this decidedly engrossing film. By all accounts just when you thought ‘They don’t make them like that anymore’ , they have gone and done it … and more !.
© 2007 cinema-nocturna.com
