Customer Reviews

The Big Heat

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The picture quality is sooo bad! Wait for a remaster!

THE BIG HEAT (1988) is a fast-paced, gritty, down-and-dirty crime thriller shot in the streets and urban spaces of Hong Kong as it follows a group of cops in a life-or-death struggle with a gang of thugs employed by a corrupt businessman doing some high-level smuggling. Every scene is pitched around a confrontation that leads in every case to a shootout, car chase, foot chase, explosion or attempted assassination. Although none of the action scenes boasts the spectacle of a John Woo thriller (HARD-BOILED, THE KILLER), the action is consistently exciting, well-crafted, suspenseful and, up until the final showdown, fairly believable. One superb setpiece involves a face-off between the cops and an assassin in a hospital elevator shaft that serves as a model of how to stage action scenes in tight spaces.

The film was co-directed by Andrew Kam and Johnny To and produced by Tsui Hark. It was part of a wave of top-ranked HK urban thrillers led by Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW (also produced by Hark) and Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE. The cast of THE BIG HEAT includes Waise Lee (A BULLET IN THE HEAD), Joey Wong (A CHINESE GHOST STORY), Chu Kong (THE KILLER) and, in an ingenious bit of casting, Philip Kwok, formerly one of Shaw Bros.' FIVE DEADLY VENOMS, who, in the interest of greater realism here, refrains from kung fu, but does his share of shooting, punching, running, leaping, and driving at high speeds. The film features much brutal violence, with some particularly gruesome bits (as in that hospital elevator scene). But if you're a fan of hard-edged crime thrillers, this film is for you.

Unfortunately, many remember Waise Lee as simply a villain because of his roles in ABT and BITH. But he plays a hardened cop with a bad hand, pursuing a crime boss(The Killer's Chu Kong) and working with a young idealistic cop, who buys it at the end. Dont expect the best film Hong Kong has ever put out, but expect a good cop thriller. Waise Lee is good, but is still pretty calm. Chu Kong is slimy as hell, and it is a little gory. Good final scene with Tsui Hark will have you rolling on the floor. This film is widely available on DVD on several web sites, so check it out. By the way: excellent music from The Killer's Lowell Lo.

The shootouts which comprice the action on display here do not have the bullet dodging acrobatic ridiculousness of the likes of Hard Boiled. Instead they are more plausible fair but equally as entertaining. The story involves four cops confronting a hugely dangerous conspiracy, with things made more interesting by giving the hero a damaged hand which means he cannot be sure whether he will be able to fire his gun or not. The picture quality is fine.

Waise Lee stars as a cop who is investigating his friend's murder, and he will do whatever it takes to catch the killer. The killer is a very rich man and wants to kill the cops before they get a chance to arrest him.

Waise Lee is a good actor, but he just doesn't bring anything special to this role. Him and his fellow cops going after the bad guys should be more exciting. Lee just plays his character the same all the way through.

The script is pretty good, but the graphic violence is what stands out the most. Shown in a flashback at the start of the movie, Waise Lee's character was once tortured and had a power drill put through his hand. He plans to retire because he has nerve damage, but he has to solve his friend's murder first. I liked how he has to overcome his immobilized hand at times, but that is where the originality stops in this movie. It is an average entry into the herioc bloodshed genre, except bloodier than most, and the directing is above average. Not a bad movie, just not one I would spend time watching again.

3.5/5

Picture and sound quality on the Megastar DVD are good. Subtitles have a few errors, but overall they are well written.