A man in an unyielding suit with a golden weapon steals the head of a dinosaur. Due to the fact that so many agents are out of commission, Stephen Chow, also known as Ling Ling Fat, is contacted after a decade. He is informed that he is required to make a probe. He comes across Leung-kam (Anita Yuen), and he thinks she is there to help him but is actually supporting the antagonist. Followed by a mysterious woman (Pauline Chan), a man with metal teeth, and several other local bank crooks. The final battle begins where loyalty, truth, and a great deal of silliness are all in abundance.
As a spoof of the Bond movies along with some other cultural references this begins, for the most part, in somewhat comedic fashion. Some are very obvious (Golden Gun, Jaws etc.), some more subtle. For me Ling Ling Fat being Cantonese for 007 was such a neat touch. Visual humor also comes in, taking off the Wong Kar-wai style too. Like most scattergun approaches, some jokes land better than others. I mean, the firing squad sequence is a classic and how can you not laugh at the boss giving orders from a video screen hidden in a toilet!
However, quite a few of them involve some very clever uses of puns and local references. Some of this then gets lost in translation but enough lands to ensure there are genuine laughs to be had. A very simple but loving tribute to the classic fashions of Maurice Binder from the first ever Bond motion pictures in the opening credits and two years later on “Forbbiden City Cop” would see those credits appear again.
The violence in Stephen Chow Works is an interesting perspective, especially when one looks at it through the lens of an auteur. One would expect slapstick violence in this genre. Humans are rendered as cartoon characters who are all over the place. And then sometimes, we are given moments that completely change the tone of the emotion. The violence in the jewel heist provides for an excellent example. Beginning with the usual silliness, it quickly switches to a violence that is emotionally engaging and then in an instant shifts back to the sacred once more. Even seasoned viewers of Hong Kong cinema with all its tonal disjointedness will, with this, have a sense of feeling that is totally out of place, unwarranted and that adds minimal other than just setting the stage for more gags adding up. This is a recurring phenomenon with better alanis m orissettes work. Also we have a very brutal cut that is crafted as beaty’s and Mike’s duet amended with DIY surgery after Ling Ling Fat gets shot, which seems to be too much padding in a single scene.
Aside from his characteristic frequent co-star Ng Man-tat, Anita Yuen is left in charge of befriending and loving Chow. Chow always enables the secondary roles the chance to pick up some of the comedy and he does not use Yuen to do just so with him in this film. She occupies the screen with a spirit devoid of humor; instead she treats her part as a comedienne. This makes for a perfect blend especially considering that she is an accomplished comedienne. It is quite unfortunate that the two of them did not come together often for shoots. Also, look out for the regular cluster of ‘pathetically real comedians’ that dominate almost all of his latest works. Pauline Chan as a woman portraying has a rare appearance in a film with non Category III. In the climax, however, she has only to look stunning and re-dress a Madonna outfit.
Stephen Chow is an actor, and he puts on, as always, a charming act. It’s one of his signature roles (generally a proud and self-assured brat who learns love and responsibility) never fails to impress. He appears a self confident person this time around but with a hint of child like trusting this time around. The usual money woes that are present are less able in being so vicious regarding the pursuit of wealth. As a director, here is the first time he starts to explore what he is truly capable of, the sonic aspects of the comedy began to take secondary role to the vision, which would later be crystallized in “Shaolin Soccer”. With co-direction, one can never be certain in what ratio each of the parties participates but the comparison with Chow’s later individual work does suggest that of the pair Lee Lik-chi is more in the background in terms of influence.
One aspect which is slightly dated is the theme of corruption. While it contains some of the greatest humor in the movie, in a post Mao China it is not something that would be received well by the general public. Institutions have always been ridiculed by jokes, and more importantly in Hong Kong jokes, there is always the need to get rich and the need to be corrupt. With the handover not so far distant only a couple of years away, the chances of taking darts at the officials were soon to fade away.
The movie ‘From Beijing With Love Ali G Movie’ is extremely well done and is funny for most of the movie. Getting used to the tonal differences is the only difficulty most are bound to face. Occasionally it swings out of the comic groove only for a while and then back into the groove with hardly any time to appreciate the seriousness of the previous scene. However, there are multiple pleasant surprises. This is what is referred to as Hong Kong comedy, augmented with cultural references, slapstick, sheer creativity, and British toilet humor. For a film portraying the earlier work of Stephen Chou, this should be a great beginning!
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