Movie Review: Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰

I’m not really a fan of Wong Ching Po; I enjoyed Jiang Hu/江湖, but after Ah Sou/阿嫂 I skipped his next few films. So I’m not familiar with his recent work.

But I am very impressed by his directing here. He makes a new movie that is suffused with antiquity but not suffocated by it. It is a celebration of older films but not a slavish reproduction.

I think Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰 really is what Quentin Tarantino thinks Kill Bill is.

The story of a country boy who comes to the big city, it’s an updated version of… well, a lot of movies.

The film is profoundly evocative of several eras and genres of film, and you can see the spirits of the Shaw Brothers, Bruce Lee, and old Hollywood.

I remember wishing my grandmother could see this film, because it seemed like something she would have enjoyed. 

My grandmother wasn’t Chinese (not even by marriage), and wasn’t a martial arts fan, but I know she loved old movies, and Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰 feels like one in all the best ways.

If I say it is soundly generic, I mean it in the most flattering way. There are no surprises in this story, and it is in its own way completely predictable.

But hey, so is sex, and that seems pretty popular.

I found myself smiling at the way the film unfolded, because the story went exactly where I knew it had to go.

Early in the film, Andy On’s character violently consolidates his ownership of a nightclub. Having seemingly been snubbed when he flippantly instructs the singer to sing him a song, he turns to leave.

On generic cue, she begins singing… and the world stops.

I’ve seen that done before an awful lot of times, but when I watch this movie again it will still be one of my favorite moments.

What is new about   Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰  is the look and feel. The cinematography is sleek and rich, as is the knowing, self-conscious air the film projects.

I really liked the way the film winked at itself (and at us) so often. It presented characters so classically stereotypical that it felt more like an homage.

But I think that was the intention.

By the time the film reverts to the seemingly obligatory anti-Japanese plot line, it has developed such a nostalgic air that it seems much more organic to the plot than most other recent films.

It also helps that the scrīpt manages to demonize Japan politically without falling into racism or essentialism.

Certainly, the depictions of the Japanese as villains are overstated and simplistic, but that can be said for all of the characters; it’s an intrinsic part of the production.

Philip Ng is not an actor from the 50s, 60s, or 70s. 

But he managed to convincingly capture the classic depiction of the smiling, naive rural bumpkin of the films of yesteryear. His character is so earnest it’s unbelievable. Except that we’ve seen it so many times before.

Philip plays Ma Yongzhen, the archetypal country boy who comes to the big city to find his fortune.

His transformation is as predictable as it is entertaining. Ng takes his cues from classic cinema depictions, showing us a character whose naïveté is written all over his face.

Possessed of superhuman strength, an unshakeable sense of morality, and not much else, Ma comes to Shanghai looking for work.

Sammo Hung, Yuen Cheung Yan, Fung Hak On and Chen Kuan Tai play the existing power structure of Shanghai’s underworld.

They are being displaced by Lung Chat, played by Andy On.

“波塞! I said bring me the 波塞!!!”

A young rising star of Shanghai’s underworld, he is brash, violent, and bordering on psychopathic, the devil who leads the innocent astray with entree into a dazzling world of money, power, and women.

He gets ALL the p*ssy.

Andy On plays the role with a remarkable dexterity, one minute dazzlingly charming and the next coldly ruthless.

“Is Andy On gonna have to choke a b*tch???”

Having once been just like Philip’s character, Lung Chat is now the crass, pragmatic realist who knows that you only get what you take.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t smile and look good while you’re doing it.

Andy was dubbed into Cantonese in the version I saw. He was still very impressive, and one reason I want to see the Mandarin version is so I can see his role in its original language.

These two real-life friends share more than a few Moments of Bromance as their friendship, literally forged in a fire, grows.

“Dude, don’t touch my leg.”

As Lung Chat re-discovers his humanity, Ma Yongzhen becomes more worldly.

“A Blowjob is adrink , you idiot. Zip your fly and get back to work.”

Michelle Hu is adorable as the petulant, aggressive young woman who scolds Philip’s character for everything he does and never seems to have a nice thing to say to him.

Because she likes him and that’s what girls do.

It’s enough to make you think she’s Irish Catholic.

Jiang Luxia plays her sister, in a role too small to allow her to display her considerable martial arts skill.

This photo was already like that.

But at least she’s there.

And she’s hitting someone other than me.

Let’s face it; Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰  is about martial arts. And it certainly delivers.

The majority of the cast are obviously trained martial artists, and it makes a very big difference in the fight scenes.

There is some digital undercranking employed, as well as CG, but it is obvious that these people know what they’re doing.

冒煙腳踏式.

The crispness of their actions and the physicality they display can’t be faked; you can either do it or you can’t.

These people can. 

It certainly helps to have Yuen Wo Ping do your action choreography, but what helps more is having people like Philip Ng and Andy On who can execute those scenes so impressively.

They look real because they are.

What’s nice is that the slightly obscured look used in some of the fight scenes is, in this instance, a stylistic choice rather than a means of camouflaging shortcomings.

The best thing I can say about Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰 is that I was very, very grateful to see a movie that obviously took a lot of effort in front of and behind the camera.

It exceeded my expectations, and they were already pretty high. This isn’t just a great martial arts movie, it’s a great movie.

I smiled the whole way through it, and after the movie I thought to myself, “This is why I moved to the other side of the world.”

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai/惡戰 kicks more ass than an epileptic in a Weight Watchers meeting.