Kowloon Walled City in China is such a fascinating place it’s almost unbelievable it actually existed. It’s borderline sci-fi to the point sci-fi has borrowed from it to build their own overcrowded worlds. I was primed to be curious about this Chinese action film because of its setting… and I came away enjoying it but also thinking I’d have rather watched a documentary.
The film is about a guy in Hong Kong on the run from a gang… he’s chased into Kowloon where he’s “safe”… but falls into conflict quickly with the local gangs. But he survives and eventually integrates into the community, meeting the aging crime bosses who, back in the day, fought a war over leadership of the Walled City.
From what I’ve seen about Kowloon, the recreation in this film is great. It looks like what I remember, full of a rat’s warren of electrical cables, narrow walkways, rag-tag shops, and barely-there views of the sky. It looks so good, when a character comments on the smell, I could believe it. I’m not sure the nightmare of Kowloon was all those people crowded together without law and order… or the stank.
The film opens with a pretty cool action set piece full of all the unlikely but cool kung-fu stuff you might expect. Then it settles into a pretty good life-on-the-streets type drama as the lead integrates into the society. I kind of liked the film’s downtime and it made me wish we were actually watching a film about Kowloon.
But, really, we’re just watching a gangland crime drama. Sure, absolutely, when the fighting starts, the lack of a police force comes into play. But, really, what action film even has a police force unless necessitated by the plot. So really we’re just having fights in tight spaces without cops. Could be any film set in any city, really.
As far as the plot goes, it gets pretty squirrely with a lot of backstory, backstabbing, and revenge… I wasn’t invested and I got a little lost. But the core central group of young men and the aging crime bosses were good enough to hold onto, to enjoy the trip even if I wasn’t always sure why everyone was punching everyone else.
It’s a pretty good film that will probably be loved by hardcore action/martial arts fans. I’m half-way there and it’s a good film. Wish it had more to say about its cool location… but maybe I should just go look for a documentary.
Score: 80