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PROUD
AND CONFIDENT (1989)
A.K.A.
- Proud And Confidence
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
Ace
marksmen Wah (Lau) manages to prevent a potential slaughter
due to his exceptional sharp-shooting skills. Though his
immediate superior is angry at the cavalier attitude Wah
displayed during the operation, the powers-that-be decide to
promote the young police officer to their special arms unit.
Along with his cheeky best friend Wai, Wah joins the newly
formed special unit that is trained to deal with expected
terrorist attacks. Although he was the best in his former
unit, Wah finds that there are a few rivals keen to undermine
his glowing reputation. He also finds his arrogance attracting
attention from the specially employed tactical researcher
(Kwan) whose knowledge of the enemy is constantly undermined
by the self-centred Wah. Such petty rivalries are put to one
side when I.B.S (an international terrorist collective) plan
to attack a controversial politician. The special police unit
go into action against the threat, but there are tragic
casualties.
'Proud
And Confident' is an unusual amalgam of a few different
ingredients. Firstly there's the obvious allusion to 'Top
Gun'; despite the change of setting, the characters, storyline
and dynamics all owe quite a lot to Tony Scott's film. The
cocky young hero is a carbon copy of Maverick and even his
romance with the initially frosty instructor (a hopelessly
miscast, but beautiful Rosamund Kwan) develops in an almost
uncannily similar way. While this obviously brings into
question just how much of 'Proud And Confident' is in any way
original, there's nonetheless enough to entertain within the
film. Andy Lau pretty much copyrighted the swaggering hero at
this time in his career, but it's encouraging that the later
scenes give him a chance to flex his acting muscles in some
dramatic scenes. 'Proud And Confident' also introduces the 'I.B.S'
- it was a partial education to me as I'd always thought this
acronym stood for 'Irritable Bowel Syndrome', a fact that
would have made for a particularly intriguing action film.
Alongside
its 'Top Gun' fixation, 'Proud And Confident' also pre-figures
the mid-90s obsession with SDU films. Made a good few years
before Gordon Chan's 'Final Option', this Andy Lau vehicle has
all of the conventions that are expected of that sub-genre,
even though it was made before the idea really caught on.
Where 'Proud And Confident' does fall down is when it
substitutes genuinely tension-filled action sequences for
over-the-top bravado. These unintentionally amusing, Python-esque
scenes of outrageous action really don't help the serious tone
of the closing thirty minutes.
While
it has its faults (its blatant plagiarism that even extends to
a stolen gag from 'Police Academy') this is nonetheless an
enjoyable piece of 80s Hong Kong cinema. It's undeniably rough
around the edges, but in its favour it has a solid cast and
some good interaction between the characters - certainly worth
an evenings viewing.
Rating:
  
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