Long Arm of the Law (1984)



	Long Arm of the Law		Return to Review Archive - L
	\| review \| awards \| availability \|		Lin Wei
	Year:	1984
	Director:	Johnny Mak Tong-Hung
	Writer:	Philip Chan Yan-Kin
	Action:	Billy Chan Wui-Ngai
	Cast:	Lin Wei, Wong Kin, Kong Lung, Chan Ging, Wong Yan-Tat, Yeung Min, Shum Wai, Lam Kwok-Bun, Tommy Wong Kwong-Leung
	The Skinny:	A fascinating, layered crime thriller that stands head-and-shoulders above most films of its genre.
	Review by Kozo:	This excellent crime thriller is a testament to real filmmaking. Johnnie Mak’s story of a group of mainland thieves is a gritty, realistic, and compelling action drama that never moralizes - thus realizing its power. Professional stuntman/bit player Lin Wei stars as the leader of a group of mainland thieves, who uses his residence in Hong Kong to plan a hit on a jewelry store. His cohorts all hail from the same town, and all dream of taking the dough back home and being rich. However, their experiences in traveling to and residing in Hong Kong are fraught with difficulties, chief among them their status as Mainland Chinese in HK. Each has their own personal issues to work through, but this isn’t a feel-good fuzzy film about redemption and ultimate reconciliation. The characters are stymied or even undone by their disassociation with Hong Kong; their success and/or failure hinges on who they are. In the end, they don’t affect the situation - it affects them. The casting is a major key. From top to bottom, the actors are mainly amateurs but their performances are starkly real. What’s interesting is that no one appears to be the good or bad guy. The thieves want the money but the cops want the thieves, and each commits reprehensible acts to get what they want. There are no heroes here. There’s only a society that loses. This film is a rarity: an genre picture that transcends its iconography and becomes art. This is a startling work of fiction that speaks volumes about its people and society - and still manages to entertain. (Kozo 2000)
	Awards:	4th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards • Winner - Best Supporting Actor (Shum Wai) • Winner - Best Editing (Cheung Yiu-Chung) • Nomination - Best Picture • Nomination - Best Director (Johnny Mak Tong-Hung) • Nomination - Best Screenplay (Philip Chan Yan-Kin) • Nomination - Best New Artist (Lin Wei) • Nomination - Best Cinematography (Koo Kwok-Wah) • Nomination - Best Action Design (Billy Chan Wui-Ngai) • Nomination - Best Original Score (Lam Mo-Tak)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Mega Star/Media Asia Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.
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