Triads - The Inside Story
Li Man Ho: Chow Yun-Fat
Inspector Chung: Kenneth Tsang Kong
IMDb link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0098667
download the closing theme in .mp3 format
Version reviewed: DVD
Ratings:
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DVD Audio: 7 of 10
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DVD Video: 5 of 10
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Subtitles: 3 of 10
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Story: 2 of 10
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Performances: 4 of 10
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CYF: 4 of 10
This film has one thing going for it: Chow Yun-Fat sure is cute. For a story which
purports to be the "inside story" about Hong Kong gangsters, that's not exactly a
ringing endorsement.
Actually, this might be an "inside story", it's just that the story is so confusing and
there are so many people wielding kitchen knives and not afraid to use them (and use them
a LOT) that I couldn't tell who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. I think CYF was
playing a good guy. Well, maybe. Actually, it seemed as the writer wasn't sure if the character
of Li Man Ho was good and righteous or just stupid and weak.
What I was able to ascertain was that Ho is a cute guy (oh, we covered that already)
who is the son of a Triad boss, living the life of a wealthy real estate agent in the USA. (In
case you're not familiar with the term, think of "Triad" as a rough equivalent to the Mafia.)
When Ho's dad is killed in a turf war of sorts Ho comes back with his wife and son to Hong Kong
for the funeral and is not exactly universally admired by Dad's cronies but is pressed to
become the new Triad leader anyway. They need somebody and apparently he will do.
One gets the feeling they just want a warm body (I could insert a comment here, but I won't)
and Ho fits that bill if nothing else. Ho resists but after more kitchen knives start flying
through the air and not missing their marks, Ho ends up being Boss anyway. Or something
like that.
After a brief but confusing buddy-building exercise of playing what looks like soccer but
also seems to involve kitchen knives (and which features an unintentionally amusing theme
song sung by none other than Chow Yun-Fat), yet another turf war starts up but it seems
to involve a third Triad society and somebody gets his eyebrows shaved off and that seems to
upset the entire balance of power of the Hong Kong underworld and for a while there the
kitchen knife business experiences a true Renaissance.
Somewhere along the line the police
take notice of all the stabbed people staggering around the streets, but Kenneth Tsang Kong
seems more intent on looking like "Columbo" than in arresting anybody, so there's not much
happening on that front.
The film lurches toward its climax when CYF's character yells at his wife for suggesting
Hong Kong might be a wee bit dangerous for their child, what with all the people dropping
dead around them and so on; Ho keeps saying "let us go back to USA" to his underlings a
lot but he looks so pained and confused (maybe it's not the character who is pained and
confused, but CYF for agreeing to star in this film) that one is really unsure that he
could find his way to the airport.
At any rate, after finally succumbing to the urge
to squash someone with a tow truck (a familiar feeling for us all, I'm sure), Li Man Ho
seems to have had enough and he burns the ritual altar of the Triad society, looks pained
as the guy who takes the rap for him gets carted off to jail, and agrees with the sentiment
expressed by a fellow Triad buddy that he "makes a good brother, but a lousy gangster".
Just replace the word "screenwriter" with "gangster", and I think you have an apt comment for
another contributor to this film.
We are subjected to the Triad theme song sung by CYF again as the credits roll. At least
nobody is stabbed beneath the credits (at least not on camera), not even the guy who thought
it would be a good idea to let CYF sing the theme.
This movie has a lot of clanging knife fighting and people knocked repeatedly in the head
with planks containing nails, plus the occasional birthday party, funeral and auction scene
thrown in for atmosphere. The theme (as an instrumental version) is really not that bad, and
the score has a pleasant Chinese-restaurant feel to it but when the best thing you take
away from a film is a vague hankering for dim sum, that's not really worth paying $30
to own on DVD. Even if you're a die-hard CYF fan, just rent this one to see him. Or just
look at some screen caps and have some take-out, it will be just as satisfying and you
won't have to pretend that CYF really is a good singer out of loyalty.
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