I wasn't sure why this film didn't work as well for me as with other films with and by Sammo Hung. It's a Hong Kong version of The Dirty Dozen, collect a group of criminals and send them on a suicide mission in Vietnam. There's a reason why The Dirty Dozen is 2h 30min long, it spends half of its time introducing each of the characters and make you actually care about them when it's time for the actual mission. This film throws us right into the mission with a quick introduction of each character with a freeze frame and a letters printing out their name and the crime they're in prison for. You can also tell that this film is much more serious than Sammo's other films, still, there's a really strange kind of comedy throughout the film, one with a stuttering prisoner that made me cringe a bit and also the Lucky Star actor Charlie Chin, constantly flirting with the ladies.
But what we lose in plot, we get back in the action. The usage of firearms reminds me more of films like Rambo: First Blood Part II or Commando, loads of shooting, very macho and big guns in each arm while they kept on killing enemies. I couldn't say I cared too much how much firepower was used during the film, it somehow felt wrong to see Sammo shoot his enemies with guns. But we also get lots of martial art in the film and when Yuen Biao joins the gang as a local vietnamese who happens to be just as amazing at fighting as Sammo. The Killing Fields' Haing S. Ngor have a small role in the film as well, but I felt like the film didn't know how to use him, so his role was sadly forgotten in the end for what could've brought some more depth to it.
If you could rate different acts of the film alone, the third act is what would get 10 out of 10 stars from me, introducing late in the film the Giggling General (yes, he's named that here on imdb too) played by Wah Yuen, an actor I usually relate to comedies like Kung Fu Hustle, but here he's really creepy, and that giggling starts as something silly and funny soon turns into something very scary and dangerous. The extended fight scene between him and Yuen and Sammo gave me goosebumps, it was amazingly choreographed and the part where you could see Sammo's directing pay off the most.
Sadly the first acts drags the films rating down for me, but watch it for the final fight, it's well worth it. And like pretty much all other 80's HK action films, this one is just over 90 minutes long so it's a quick watch.
But what we lose in plot, we get back in the action. The usage of firearms reminds me more of films like Rambo: First Blood Part II or Commando, loads of shooting, very macho and big guns in each arm while they kept on killing enemies. I couldn't say I cared too much how much firepower was used during the film, it somehow felt wrong to see Sammo shoot his enemies with guns. But we also get lots of martial art in the film and when Yuen Biao joins the gang as a local vietnamese who happens to be just as amazing at fighting as Sammo. The Killing Fields' Haing S. Ngor have a small role in the film as well, but I felt like the film didn't know how to use him, so his role was sadly forgotten in the end for what could've brought some more depth to it.
If you could rate different acts of the film alone, the third act is what would get 10 out of 10 stars from me, introducing late in the film the Giggling General (yes, he's named that here on imdb too) played by Wah Yuen, an actor I usually relate to comedies like Kung Fu Hustle, but here he's really creepy, and that giggling starts as something silly and funny soon turns into something very scary and dangerous. The extended fight scene between him and Yuen and Sammo gave me goosebumps, it was amazingly choreographed and the part where you could see Sammo's directing pay off the most.
Sadly the first acts drags the films rating down for me, but watch it for the final fight, it's well worth it. And like pretty much all other 80's HK action films, this one is just over 90 minutes long so it's a quick watch.