R E V I E W :    Undercover Blues

Reviewed 3/19/01 | Background | Movie Review | DVD Review | Recommendation

Background 

Winson / 2000 / 76 minutes
Directed by Billy Chung Siu Hung
Written by Simon Lui Yu Yeung and Pang Ho Cheung

Billy Chung Siu Hung directed his first film in 1991 (Legend of the Brothers). He made three films that were released in 1993, two in 1996, two in 1999, and four in 2000.

The film opened theatrically in Hong Kong in November 2000 and grossed just HK $121,695.00. Director Chung's latest film (as of this writing) is Espirit D'Amour.

Movie: plot, performances, production, rating

Plot: Undercover cop Joe has disappeared while on assignment in Malaysia. His superiors, afraid that Joe may have crossed over to the criminal side, send Frank to get him back. Joe was Frank's student at the academy, and the two were once close friends. Frank assembles a team of three men with problems caused by undercover work: Fred, a cop turned gangster; Simon, on suspension and accused of accepting bribes, and Charles, whose marriage is on the rocks. Once in Malaysia, Frank unexpectedly runs into an old girlfriend, Phoenix. Frank tries to hold things together, complete the mission, and reclaim his friendship with Joe.

Performances: Very good performances by Ray Lui as Frank and Simon Lui as Fred. Daniel Wu is prominently featured on the DVD's front cover, although his role as Joe is a supporting one. He is very effective in his brief screen time. Unfortunately, I don't know the other actors well enough to be able to identify them by name. But the cast is strong.

Production: The cinematography by Daniel Chan Fai is notable for bathing the film in deep greens and blues. Director Chung moves the film at a brisk pace and throws in some interesting camera work as well. The music (I could not locate a credit for the composer) is percussive and refreshing.

Rating: Category IIB. Quite a bit of bloody, explicit violence.

DVD: look, sound, subtitles, and features

Look: The letterboxed (1:85 to 1) presentation is excellent. Black levels are very deep, colors are bright and vibrant, and fleshtones are natural. Nearly all of the scenes are tinted either green or blue, so the excellent color saturation on the disk enlivens the proceedings. The source print looked very good, although some dirt could be seen from time to time.

Sound: The Cantonese DD 5.1 audio track is excellent. Action films need a wide sound field and the disk delivers, with aggressive use of the surrounds and a pleasing bottom end. Also included are audio tracks in Cantonese DD 2.0, Mandarin DD 5.1 and DD 2.0.

Subtitles: The removable English subtitles are white with black backing in a smaller but quite readable font. Excellent job. Also included are traditional and simplified Chinese subtitles.

Features: Nine chapters are available to select from a menu with video clips illustrating each chapter. Four trailers are included for the films I Do, Sleeping Bride (the Japanese film with no English title), The Teacher Without Chalk (looks like a bad VCD dubbed onto videotape), and the animated Grandma and Her Ghosts.

Note: The running time on the DVD's back cover is listed as "approximately 85 minutes" but it actually clocks in at a brisk 76 minutes.

Buy, rent, or pass?

Rent. Solid, stylish b-movie about cops and criminals. Moves quickly, and nicely intersperses commentary on the travails of undercover work with action sequences. I'm tempted to oversell the virtues of this film, but that would be a mistake. It's modest in its ambitions and succeeds as a pleasant and thoughtful diversion.

 

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