R E V I E W

My School Mate, the Barbarian

Deltamac | 2001 | 90 minutes
Directed by Wong Jing and Billy Chung Siu Hung
Written by Wong Jing

With Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, Joey Yung

B A C K G R O U N D
director, in cinemas, recent and related films

Billy Chung Siu Hung wrote a couple of scripts in the 1980's and has been directing since 1991. His rate of output has sped up, with eight films released between 1999 and 2001 (most recently Paramount Motel, Undercover Blues, and Espirit d'Amour).

The film opened in Hong Kong cinemas in late August 2001.

M O V I E

plot
Wealthy student Edward (Stephen Fung) is doing well with his school work and looks bound for greater things until his ex-girlfriend makes a false accusation and he gets tossed out of the school's high-class environment. He mistakenly ends up in TBS Memorial School, a ready-to-rumble collection of ruffians whose well-earned reputation for fighting even keeps the triad recruiters away.

Former school fighting champion Stone (Nicolas Tse) takes pity on the pacifist Edward and helps him out -- Stone has decided to stop boxing, and so feels some empathy for the misplaced lad. Also siding with Edward is Phoenix (Joey Yung), although her feelings have more to do with libido than with pity.

The friendship of Edward and Stone is put to the test when Edward's wealth comes to the attention of a local triad boss

performances/production
All the energy and verve that this film needs must have trickled away during the planning stages. You can just hear the filmmakers gathered together aforehand: "Let's team Nic Tse and Stephen Fung again — Nic will be the bad boy who reluctantly helps Stephen the rich boy. We'll get Ching Siu Tung to design the fight scenes in a school classroom atop a bunch of desks with fans whirling above their heads. And get a pretty singer to provide some eye candy — why not that girl Joey who was in the news recently?"

Thus organized, the filming began. And here we see a disadvantage to the quick turnaround time possible in the Hong Kong movie world. The story was not developed properly nor the characters fleshed out. Did a final script even get completed before filming started?

While I have enjoyed two previous low-budget affairs by co-director Billy Chung Siu Yung (Paramount Motel and Undercover Blues), his moody stylings seem undercut by Wong Jing's insertion of "cute" and obvious comedy bits, and the requirements of paying proper honor to the respective star power of Mr. Tse and Mr. Fung.

Ah, well. It's only about 90 minutes, and it's nice to see Nic and Stephen developing as actors, and Samuel Pang (Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone and Hit Team) was a bright spark as the teen fighting machine Mantis. But Joey Yung should either stick to her singing career or find a director who can better mask her limited thespian abilities.

The very enjoyable musical score was composed by Tommy Wai Kai-Leung; cinematography by Tung Wai Keung was not particularly distinguished; edited by the extremely experienced Poon Hung.

rating
Category IIB for some surprisingly brutal fighting scenes that turn quite nasty and sadistic.

D V D

look
The letterboxed (approximately 1.66:1) presentation looked very good. Many scenes seem to favor green hues, which is a less-than-attractive look, but the colors are reproduced faithfully. The source print displayed some wear.

sound
The DD 5.1 Cantonese track is fine. The fight scenes sound fairly thunderous, but many non-action scenes seem very quiet (a bit arid and dead) by comparison. Also included is a DD 5.1 Mandarin dub.

subtitles
The white (with black backing) removable English subtitles are very easy to read, well timed, and have few evident mistakes. Also included are traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles.

features
Twelve chapters can be selected from a two-page video capture menu. The film's original theatrical trailer is included.

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N
buy, rent, or pass?

Pass. Disappointing in most every area (action, comedy, drama).

(Reviewed 12/18/01)

THIS DVD IS AVAILABLE AT HKFLIX.COM