When the triad's boss was executed by authorities for attempting to smuggle counterfeit prints into Hong Kong, its members were left in disarray. His vast fortune has passed on to his two adopted children, Audrey (Bernice Liu) and Jason (Lai Lok Yee), but his triad brothers, mainly Funky (Simon Yam), insist that the money belongs to the gang. Meanwhile, Kalf (Andy He), the son of a prostitute whose face is covered in scars, along with his mute protégé Dambi (Zhang Lu Xia from the film coweb), hatches his own plans for revenge on the bandits. But when the warring parties began to carry out their deadly plans, everything was not what it seemed at first glance, including some of the characters.
Almost from the start, Bad Blood became a victim of its own ambitions. With a precious little budget, a handful of stars and a couple of talented fighters, writer/producer/director Dennis Lowe (The Last Stand) set out to create a swashbuckling revenge action thriller with elements of a thriller. It's packed with numerous masterfully choreographed fight scenes, most of which feature the impressive Andy On and Zhang Lu Xia. These scenes feature a variety of weapon styles and techniques, including creatively choreographed fights with sticks, knives, and that ancient thing with a blade on a rope. This kind of thing is truly impressive, and even the most greedy critics have to admit that the film is at least capable of entertaining the viewer. There are other nice moments in it, but compared to the action, they are almost completely unnoticeable.
Lowe's script is either overly pretentious or preposterous, depending on your point of view, but either way, it falls short in places of the dramatic heights it aspires to. Between the uneven pacing and moments that lack martial arts or glimpses of the scantily clad supporting cast, it becomes tedious, pointless and clunky at times.
Lengthy sequences keep our attention on the characters performing mundane tasks, such as brewing a cup of coffee or packing a suitcase, but they are aimless and do nothing to complement the plot, exposing the shabby nature of the production for all to see. However, the film slowly but surely turns into complete absurdity, and only the partially entertaining ending saves it from complete failure.
Simon Yam plays as much of a bad guy as he does in most of his roles, blithely gobbling down fistfuls of peanuts while threatening anyone who gets between him and his money, and in his latest appearance, sports a cool yellow coat that's just not worth talking about. not to mention. Bernice Liu plays the demure daughter turned into an incredible femme fatale with sophisticated taste, but she doesn't look convincing as the bloodthirsty beast the script intended.
More than anyone else, the film belongs to Andy On and Zhang Lu Xia, and audiences could be forgiven for thinking that Bad Blood is simply a showcase of their fighting skills, sprinkled with some chatter between fights. At least in the first half of the action movie, their scenes look like excerpts from a completely different film, but when the storylines intertwine (for reasons that are never fully revealed), they begin to “fit” into the plot, just like the audience themselves.
Familiar faces appear throughout the film, such as Lam Suet, Wong Tin Lam, Chan Wai Man, Seung Sin Sin and Chun Xiu Fai, who appear to support the production company POV Movie, which created this project. Time will tell what awaits her in the future, but I personally will keep an eye on their new projects with a reasonable amount of curiosity.
I'm not going to argue that Bad Blood is a good film, or at least a stand-alone film, but it does have some genuinely entertaining moments and impressive action sequences, and a plot that will make you smile more than once. But at the same time, when viewing it, it causes yawns, and the excessive number of sighs and glances, which should be regarded as a successful dramatic work, is a complete disgrace, which can, no doubt, negatively affect the purchase of the film by serious international distributors. This project could well have provided the rising action stars with an excellent opportunity to show themselves in the future, but this time luck passed them by.
Author: James Marsh
Source: twitchfilm.net
Translation: EvilDollaR
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Tags: Bad Blood, Simon Yam, Jiang Luxia, Andy He
Tags: Bad Blood, Simon Yam, Jiang Luxia, Andy He
A rip with English subs appeared on the bay.
Did not met. It's still too early for DVD. If it’s lying somewhere, it’s only the screen.
EvilDollaR, on imdb.com/title/tt1465499/ it says that "Bad Blood" was released on January 21st!
Is it already online?