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KING
OF ROBBERY
AKA:
N/A
Year:
1996 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
After
escaping from a mental asylum, Boss Sing (Yam) teams up with
his former gang members to go on a robbing spree that is
practically unstoppable. The one small resistance comes
in the form of the local police so they stop off at an arms
dealer to pick up some AK-47s that put out some serious
firepower. Several killings later and Sing has become
top of the most wanted list with a one million dollar price
tag on his head. When he becomes involved with a local
woman the gangs loyalty is stretched to the limit and
questions begin to get asked about the priorities of the
leadership. As the cops get one step closer will the
gang be able to pull together and escape with their blood
stained earnings or will the bickering from within tear them
apart?
A
promising cast struggle to propel this wannabe arthouse movie
into anything that is remotely comprehensible as a complete
film. Certainly for the opening thirty minutes the
characterisation and story go absolutely nowhere and all it
boils down to is one insane gang going on the rampage using
cheap effects and what appears to be a single man running
around with a camera shooting it all. After the initial
(insert sarcastic tone here) excitement the film then decides
that it needs to make more of itself and a police officer is
introduced in an attempt to create a game of cat and mouse
between the law and Simon Yam's character but because we know
so little about our so called anti-heroes the audience can't
associate with them in any possible way. Various camera
techniques are also inserted to try and 'beef up' the content
with the use of freeze frames, blurred replays (which is
incredibly annoying as one entire scene is shown twice in a
row) and the constant use of a hand held camera that only
succeeds in making the production look like a home made family
video.
On
the plus side Simon Yam is as mean and moody as ever even if
he has practically nothing to work with and Roy Cheung pops up
as yet another Triad henchman with a hankering for world
domination. Action choreographer Chin Kar Lok also gets
to appear in front of the camera for a brief cameo as one of
the gang members but even all of this combined talent can do
nothing to save a film that doesn't have any kind of solid
groundwork.
Despite
a couple of average action scenes, some nice shots of Hong
Kong streets and valid attempts at acting, this film was
doomed from the beginning. No plot, no characters and no
budget is always a formula for a no hoper.
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