If I had to recommend one thing about Soi Cheang’s latest action film, “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”, it is that viewers should watch it without looking at any trailers.
Go in blind, as the film is a wild ride from start to finish.
Set in the 1980s, “Walled In” tells the story of Chan Lok Kwan (Raymond Lam), a refugee who gets scammed by Mr. Big (Sammo Hung) and escapes into the famous Kowloon Walled City.
In it, he is slowly taken in by Tornado (Louis Koo).
The leader of the triad gang protecting the residents in the city, Tornado’s protection of Chan, eventually causes three other gangs led by Mr. Big, Dik Chau (Richie Jen), and Uncle Tiger (Kenny Wong) to attack the city.
Two of Tornado’s close friends, Dik Chau and Uncle Tiger, have their gangs and eventually turn on him, not out of petty gangster reasons but due to the former’s history that involves Chan.
After joining forces with Mr. Big and his gang, they quickly realize the bad decision they have made.
A rollercoaster of fists and insanity
Like most Hong Kong crime films, “Walled In” has a very airtight story that deals with themes of brotherhood, loyalty, and, well, crime.
It’s something the film does very well, and then it just goes mad, but in a good way.
Right after the second act and until the climax, Wong Gau, one of the film’s secondary villains, transforms into “Walled In’s” main villain.
Played by Philip Ng, Gau is this film’s version of DC Comics’ “The Joker”.
In every scene that he is in, the man is cackling like a crazy person, and everything that he does is equally insane, to the point that Ng’s performance overshadows the other three veteran actors playing their antagonist roles.
And it does not stop there. Gau even has superpowers; he is as impenetrable as Superman.
Other characters repeatedly punch, kick, stab, and slash him, but he receives zero damage.
At one point, someone swings a concrete block the size of a filing cabinet at him, and Gau crushes it by just lifting his arm.
Meanwhile, everyone else either gets easily injured or, even straight up, just dies.
It’s extremely unrealistic, but the irrationality of Gau’s feats helps viewers root harder for the main heroes, such as Chan and his three close friends.
The action in “Walled In” is just as good as the story, and it’s hard to forget days after watching it.
Whenever the film isn’t ruminating on its drama, its long action sequences are carried by great stunts and martial arts choreography.
Some characters are doing kung fu punches so hard that you somehow feel it in your seat.
At one point, the back of Raymond’s head is slammed against the edge of a wall while his legs fly back, a pendulum swinging his upper body down on the edge of a concrete floor.
There’s a lot of moving parts in these sequences that elevate the action on screen.
Not just an adrenaline rush
Now, make no mistake: “Walled In” is an action film, but everything else in it is not superficial decoration.
That has to be said because Soi Cheang did not need to go as far as he did when it came to bringing Kowloon Walled City to physical life, but he did.
The original “city,” which was a dense, layered slum settlement, is long gone.
It was demolished between 1993 and 1994.
Now a park rests on top of its historical remnants.
Hence, “Walled In” was not filmed in the actual city but in a replica of it.
In the film, the set and production design go above and beyond in bringing viewers to what Kowloon Walled City looked and felt like.
The floors are coated with grime, dirt, and questionable liquids.
Electrical wiring and cables are hastily strewn across rooftops in an endless web of potential electrical fire hazards.
Stairs lead to more stairs and up into even more stairs.
There is no sense of geography as to where any of the tiny corridors are leading.
There is trash everywhere. At the same time, there are scenes of children enjoying the small comforts of that world and adults doing the best they can with menial labor like making meatballs.
Soi Cheang directs it all without dehumanizing the place and the people living in it.
There is a great depth of empathy and humanity in how Walled In was shot and directed.
Everything physical in “Walled In” looked like a 1:1 representation of what can be seen in documentaries about Kowloon Walled City, and everything human about the residents is something that can be seen in documentaries of slums in general, like the ones in the Philippines.
The gritty cinematography is also great. A big problem that modern Hong Kong films have is how they use digital photography to make everything look sterile and artificial, with the actors’ skin looking like it’s made from plastic with no blemishes.
Look up Johnnie To’s “Three” and then compare the cinematography in the latter with his older crime films, for example.
Soi Cheang’s “Walled In” does not have this problem.
Everything looks dirty, dim, and dank, while the actors—even if they all naturally look good—are also filmed with the same aesthetic.
It harkens back to old Hong Kong crime films.
If a gun was held to my head and I was forced to criticize one thing with the film, it’s probably how it failed to make me smell the stench that Kowloon Walled City had, because other than that, Walled City is the perfect film for what it is meant to be and does exactly what it sets out to do.
“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” is currently playing in cinemas.
