Head Hunter
Chow Yun-Fat
Rosamund Kwan
IMDb link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085841
other links:
Version reviewed: VCD
Ratings:
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VCD Audio: 4 of 10
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VCD Video: 2 of 10
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Subtitles: none
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Story: 1 of 10
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Performances: 2 of 10
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CYF: 2 of 10
A very early film in Chow Yun-Fat's career. It was released in 1983 but seems
to have been made earlier than that might indicate; other films from 1983 show
a much different (and more mature) CYF as well as feature a more polished acting
style.
Simply put, this is a very bad movie. The only redeeming quality it has is
an early performance by Chow Yun-Fat. While his performance isn't very good,
you have to keep in mind what he had to work with: a moronic plot, a budget
of around fifteen bucks and camerawork which seems to have been done by
somebody's Aunt Millie.
Since my Cantonese is only of the most primitive variety and this film has no subtitles
on the version
I have seen (I am not sure if there is a subtitled version), I can only give the
basic outline - but that's not hard to do, as this is a story about as complex
as that of the Three Bears.
Chow Yun-Fat plays a soldier who both witnessed and
perpetrated atrocities in Indochina. Back at home in Kowloon, he has taken it
upon himself to act as an avenging angel (of sorts) and assassinate the unrighteous.
Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he is plagued by visions and
nightmares of his war-time experiences. He doesn't seem to have much of a life
outside of killing people, fondling guns in a coyly sexual manner while lying
in bed, and being attentive in a somewhat snotty way to an attractive television
reporter (Rosamund Kwan, looking pretty in spite of some truly dreadful makeup
and costuming). The one good deed he does which doesn't involve shooting, stabbing,
drowning or electrocuting people is tending to the blind mom of a fallen comrade;
he visits her at her hovel and gives her money and food, making up imaginary letters
from her dead son saying how well sonny is doing on Macao.
Looking thin at times and almost emaciated at others, CYF dutifully kung-fu's his
way through some scenes, rides around on a glorified motor scooter in a brown
vinyl jacket and does his best to look sexy for Rosamund Kwan. There is one
murky sex scene between the two (to the tune of "Take My Breath Away" from
the film Top Gun - sung in Chinese, of course) which has a little
bit of steam to it, but only a puff. Unfortunately only a
hint of the presence of the CYF known to most fans can be glimpsed in this film, sometimes
shining through the sweat, tacky clothes and pink lipgloss (!) the film's creators
saw fit to subject him to. I would tend to think that this role is to CYF what
such roles as Boy In A Plastic Bubble is to John Travolta - something which paid
the rent, but is probably best left forgotten to insure sound sleep at night.
I can't decide if it is a tribute to CYF's greatness or to my obsession with his films
that accounts for the fact that I sat through this truly abominable film - twice.
This film is strictly for those obsessive-compulsive CYFanatics who absolutely must
see every film he has ever made. Everyone else, beware. Watching this film is like
shooting the rapids on that familiar creek that everyone tends to end up navigating
without a paddle.
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