Yellow Rain tells the story of Chen Buo (Loi Hei), a 'Gweilo' in Taiwan, born to a Chinese mother and an American soldier. At an early age, Buo is forced to endure racist and physical abuse by Taiwanese school kids who mock him for his Western looks, and for not knowing who his father is. This eventually leads to a bloody altercation which lands him in prison.
While in jail, Buo meets Brother Monkey (Dick Wei) who saves him from the hands of a bunch of perverts. Later, once released, Monkey introduces Buo to the head of a triad organisation, Brother Tiger (Ku Feng). Monkey and Buo quickly become blood brothers but, rather than follow the triad codes and rules, Buo and his gang instead resort to extortion and robbery which infuriates certain leading figures of the underworld.
The bosses meet and decide that Buo needs to be taken care of, a task that is predictably given to his 'brother', Monkey.
The film feebly tries to suggest that, the consequences of racism endured by Buo as a young boy, inevitably leads one down a one-way street and irreversible life of crime. Actor Loi Hei is arguably mis-cast and is perhaps a little too clean cut to fully convince as the 'inhuman beast' that he describes himself as at one point.
Explosions that look more like smoke bombs and some bloodless close quarters gun battles give Yellow Rain a cheap look and feel in places but, the film takes a darker, nastier turn in the final third when Buo and his gang are being hunted down. A scene when one gang member and Buo's girlfriend are tortured is pretty brutal but effective. The hostage/siege situation which opens and closes the film is fairly well executed with a few neat ideas up its sleeve.
Action consists of mostly gun play but Dick Wei, Alex Lo Rei and Lau Siu-Kwan have a few crisp but brief fights to help elevate the film into above average territory. (Incidentally, director Liu Sung-Pai, also helmed the superior Life Is A Bet, 1992 which reunited some of the cast of Yellow Rain - most notably Alexander Lo Rei and Lau Siu-Kwan).
The Taiwan VHS under review is the fully uncut version which features more background and context to Buo's upbringing. It also features an uncomfortable scene where Buo is jerked off in prison by fellow prisoners who were curious to see what an erect western cock looked like..this scene is often censored in other versions.
3 out of 5
Review source: Scholar, VHS (Taiwan) (Mandarin language with English subtitles)
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