Hong Kong Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Sha Po Lang (2005) by Wilson Yip

The collaboration between and has produced a number of examples in this genre, with this particular one being one of the finest, and a unique combination of crime and martial arts film.

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Police officer Chan has set as his life’s goal to arrest Wong Po, a triad leader, and he is willing to do anything to achieve his goal. Eventually, he discovers a witness willing to testify against him. However, during the transport to the court where Chan is to be presented, one of Po’s men, Jack, manages to kill the witness and his spouse.

During the assault, Chan is injured in the back of his head, a wound that leaves him with a permanent damage and just a few weeks left to live. Additionally, the sole unscathed individual from the incident is the daughter of the witness, who Chan proceeds to adopt. Wong Po is set free and after a while learns that his wife is pregnant, after years of trying. Ma Kwun, an infamous tough officer, eventually succeeds Chan, due to his condition. He initially disapproves of his predecessor’s methods, a state of mind that leads to friction with his co-officers. Nevertheless, in due course he realizes that in order to face Wong Po, he has to resort to unlawful actions.

Sha Po Lang Simon Yam Donnie Yen

Wilson Yip directs a film that casts aside almost everything artistic, associated with the HK norms, including elaborate camera angles and editing, and music video aesthetics, and just lets the film shine through the story, the protagonists, and the impressive action scenes. At the same time, he retains a rather fast rhythm that highlights all of the above in the best possible away

The contemporary crème de la crème of Hong Kong action is present here, with Donnie Yen as Ma Kwun and as Jack, along with all-star veterans as Wong Po and Simon Yam as Chan. The collaboration between two generations of action stars infuses the film with a sense of balance between the fighting scenes and the actual drama, resulting in both being adequate, to say the least. Regarding the second aspect, this is chiefly represented by the transformation of the policemen, who start as being basically good, but end up being villains themselves. Simon Yam in particular, truly shines in this aspect, being the one connecting the two genres with his performance. 

Sha Po Lang Simon Yam Donnie Yen Wu Jing

Sammo Hung was still impressive as a fighter at the age of 53. However, the definite star of the film is Donnie Yen, who was also responsible for the action choreography, netting an award for his efforts from the Hong Kong Film Awards. All of the combat scenes are impressive; nevertheless, the one between Jack and Ma Kwun is the one that stands out, with Donnie Yen and Wu Jing giving impressive performances. The complexity of the particular scene was on such a level, that it took 5 days to shoot it.

” is an outstanding film, as Wilson Yip manages to present a great combination of crime thriller and martial arts film, through a unique view, that differs much from the plethora of HK action films. 

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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