Red Zone
12/19/00
Review
Format: VCD
Stars: Kenny Ho, Kenneth Lo Houi Kang, Yu Rong Guang, Lester Chan

Ken Lo's character is hired to go undercover by Guand and Kenny Ho to capture Lester Chan, who has weapons (I guess).

Another cop vs. the bad guys movie. But, I knew that when I started searching for this thing 5 months ago, and now that I have it I'm very impressed. I was told correctly that the fight scenes, though not abundant, were excellent. And I was very surprised to see gun fights that were entertaining as well. Another thing to note is that everyone does their own thing in this, besides Lester Chan because there were some odd cuts with him. But other than that, Ken Lo, Ken Ho, and Guang all do everything on their own, stunts and fights. I had never heard of Kenny Ho before, and I was surprised at what he could do. Kenneth Lo and Guang perform excellently as I expected too.

Like I said, not too many fights. The first one is short, maybe 10 hits total, with Ho and Guang taking on Ken Lo in a bar. Nothing special.



But shortly afterword, our friend Ken Lo has a brawl in his house. This fight is so excellently choreographed that the first time I watched it it seemed to take a few minutes, while in reality it had a total of a little more than a minute of actual fighting. Kenneth takes on three guys in his house using strategy to make sure they all get knocked out. What makes this scene so good is both the choreographer's techniques and Kenneth's ability to totally outshine anyone who steps in front of him. He fakes being hurt, knocks 2 guys away, throws one's head into the ceiling fan and dropping him to the ground, takes the other two at the same time, knocks one away while he knees the other in the chest, which lays him out, and finally gets smacked around a few times before he can get a good hit off the last one, whom he knees in the face, sending him back over a glass table. If I were to show this clip to you, you wouldn't be very obliged to get this movie, mainly because it's the longest and best fight, so you'll have to buy this one to see the talent involved. Oh and Ken Lo can still kickbox with the best of them.



Guang has a little exchange with someone on a hillside which, though only about 16 seconds long, is excellent to the degree of the one with Kenneth. He fights an escaped witness (I think), and Guang falls and hits his head on a hard surface on the hillside. Was it intentional? It looked real. Awesome choreography again, and I wonder if the person who made it was thinking "Hmm, what can I do to make this fight short, but still make people totally satisfied?" Reminds me of the fights in In the Line of Duty 5.



The next part seemed as though it was the last scene, but it wasn't. Kenny Ho and Guang infiltrate some hideout and go their own ways. While Guang takes on 4 guys in a small room, Kenny Ho is chasing after a jeep while riding a bike! Before that, though, he and the guy he was chasing jumped from some 10 feet up onto the top of a car. This bike scene is something I haven't seen since Project A. I imagine that had this been a Hollywood movie, the bike would be replaced with either a motorcycle or a motorized SOMETHING. Ho seems to ride it himself the entire time, and at one point he's in front of the jeep and almost takes a spill! Guang's fight is impressive, with him doing everything on his own, plus a heel kick, followed by a jumping roundhouse, followed by another heel kick! Most of this is him defending against shovels and picks, but I still like it. Doesn't seem the least bit contrived.



In the last scene, Ho and Guang rescue Lo in a gunfight. I figured, "Well, I don't like gunfights much, but since the rest of the action in this movie was so good, this must be good too." Right I was. Guang and Ho don't spend the whole time shooting, but jump through racks, slide along something hanging from the ceiling, and then Ho, out of no where, does a double jump kick on a guy that looks like something Jackie has to have a double do for him these days. Oh and it was him, this movie doesn't use cheap cuts to confuse the viewer into thinking that the actual guy did it when a stunt double did. It's all real. Lester Chan, though, is faked a few times. He gets beaten up by Ken Lo at the end and Lo looks good doing it, though it's maybe 20 seconds long.



I don't know if everyone read my review scheme, but even if this movie had had only that one fight with Ken Lo in the beginning, I would still love it (but I'd be angry if they didn't use Guang for anything). It shows that the choreographer knew what he was doing and then sat back saying, "There, it's small, but no one else can do as good a job." Well I appreciate it, and I'm so happy to own this movie.

I'll add that the acting was all top notch. Ken Lo's character was done perfectly I think, with him doing a sort of "I can kick your ass, but let's be friends" additiude. Guang, well, I don't know, but whatever character he plays I'm always happy it seems. Probably because he's usually a lead player. Ken Lo's roles are usually small, and whenever he can show this much talent, I jump for joy. Another thing is that all the action has very fitting music, and the sound effects are as believable as the best films out there.

5/5

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