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黑白戰場 (2005)
Colour of the Loyalty


Reviewed by: steve_cole1
Date: 01/14/2007
Summary: Great Film

This is a great film Eric Tsang brings back those infamous eye brows back again . Shawn Yue you can almost say he is an actor he is improving . I am a wong jing hater but i have to say hats off to him he has made to great triad films this and the other colour film

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: j.crawford
Date: 11/05/2006
Summary: Gripping, mind-blowing! Outstanding!

Wong Jing does it once again writing, producing and co-directing Color of the Loyalty with Billy Chung Siu-Hung. Master filmmaker infuses a standard triad revenge story with heavy handed melodrama to create a gripping, mind-blowing cinematic experience. This movie features industry giant Eric Tsang as a triad boss with a troubling familial situation on his hands that can only lead to a tragic outcome. Look for actresses Suki Kwan Sau-Mei and Lancy who both give outstanding performances working opposite Tsang. Having been a fan of Shawn Yu Man-Lok since I saw his performance in Riley Yip Kam-Hung's Just One Look [2002], it is no surprise that this young man carries this movie to a mesmerizing conclusion.

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 07/11/2006
Summary: Ummm

Unfortuantely, the dvd skipped often and i am not sure what i missed so it makes it even more difficult to score.

What i did see was a interesting plot line of who wants to kill the big boss, but nothing is what it seems. The ending is a real suprised, no one would of guessed it, which makes this movie, unlike a lot of recent hong kong movies, unpredictable. You just dont know whats going to happen next

i will just give a special mention to Roy Cheung, i still beleive this guy is highly underrated and should be given bigger roles. He always plays the bad guys so well

If you want to watch a movie where you will be suprised and entertained, look this way

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: gfanikf
Date: 11/13/2005
Summary: A Great Film

A really solid film from Wong Jing and Billy Jung both in terms of technical and storytelling points. Some have commented that this films represents nothing that the Genre hasn’t been before and there right but a good film doesn’t have to re-invent the wheel to succeeded. The films greatly benefits from a competent cast that knows what to do. Shaw Yue is getting better and better in his acting though he still has room for improvement. Eric Tsang could act in soft core historical epic porn film and still do a great job. He an Anthony Wong along with a handful of other HK male actors are the few who can turn in a good performance in anything as long as they want to. The film is also helped by an excellent score (remember the days when a score in a HK or MA film meant one real piece of music and nothing else) by Marco Wan Ho Kit which includes a very lovely guitar theme that places over the credits. Fung Yuen Man also does an excellent job photographing the film (which mostly takes place at night). I would like to highly recommend this films to both fans of the actors and the genre, I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 07/31/2005
Summary: Three Colours Abstract?

One of the fun things about Hong Kong cinema is trying to guess which films are sequels to each other - COLOUR OF THE LOYALTY sounds like it's going to be a sequel to COLOUR OF THE TRUTH, then has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Awesome. Perhaps Wong Jing is paying homage to Kieslowski's famous Three Colours trilogy, and we'll soon be treated to COLOUR OF THE JUSTICE or COLOUR OF THE LIBERTY?

Wong Jing has never been shy about his homages, to the extent that some unreasonable people have accused him of stealing from other films on occasion! Actually he's just borrowing them, and has promised to return them all when he's finished with them. COLOUR OF THE LOYALTY borrows from a number of sources, including THE MISSION, JIANG HU, the other JIANG HU (THE TRIAD ZONE) and probably many others, but there's been enough cross-borrowing in the Triad genre that it's hard to say where any one idea comes from. The basic premise is that there's a contract out on Eric Tsang's life, and a group of outsiders are brought in to protect him, since he doesn't trust his own men. The film does a good job of keeping you guessing who's behind it all, and where the next threat is going to come from. This may be because it doesn't make a lot of sense when you get to the end, but I'll worry about that if I find myself watching it again.

The film is pretty stylish, and brutally violent in all the right places. The gangsters are all cool if completely one-dimensional, with the women in the cast being left with the task of expressing emotions and other girly stuff like that (actually that's not fair to Eric Tsang, he gives a pretty passionate performance). Shawn Yue is the main lead, and he shows again that he's got potential as an actor, though he's not quite there yet. Eric Tsang compares him to Chow Yun Fat at one point, and you can sort of see that's how he's meant to be acting. Maybe in a few years he'll be able to pull it off, once he comes out from under that fringe of his.

Lam Suet and Roy Cheung are obviously familiar faces and they've played essentially the same character dozens of times so there'd be a shock if they couldn't carry it off here. Suki Kwan struggles with her character, unfortunately - she's a decent actress in the right role (e.g. A GAMBLER'S STORY) but wasn't quite right for this character. Apart from those and a brief cameo from Chapman To, I don't think I recognised anyone else in the cast! A couple of people probably weren't HK actors because they were redubbed into Cantonese even though the film is mostly shot in sync sound. Maybe there was some overseas investment, which often comes with the requirement to cast some actors from the investor's country.

To summarise, COLOUR OF THE LOYALTY is a pretty entertaining and well put together gangster film that can't count originality as one of its strengths, and probably wouldn't stand up to a deep analysis of logic behind the plot. It's not classic material, and not quite as enjoyable as COLOUR OF THE TRUTH, but it's worth a watch :)

Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 07/26/2005

Colour of the Loyalty stars Shawn Yue as a low-level Triad named Fat who is assigned to protect a boss (Eric Tsang) from his own men (led by Triad movie mainstay Roy Cheung) who want to kill him, so they can take over the gang's fortunes. Fat does an excellent job in saving the boss during several attempts on his life, but as more enemies are killed off, it becomes clear that someone else is orchestrating the rebellion within the gang. As the movie draws to a close, loyalties are put to the test as a series of double-crosses threaten to tear the gang apart for good.

So I can figure what you're probably thinking -- Wong Jing had success with Colour of the Truth (which itself was "inspired" by Infernal Affairs) and so he decided to crank out a "sequel", which is just the same film all over again. Well, you're partially right. Colour of the Loyalty was most likely put out to capitalize on Colour of the Truth's success, but they're not directly related in any way, and actually -- despite what you Wong Jing-haters out there might think -- it's a good movie that doesn't depend on toilet humor, bare breasts or ultra-violence to provide entertainment.

Colour of the Loyalty depends heavily on Shawn Yue delivering a good performance, and he does do that here. With several fims, Wong Jing seems to be grooming Yue to be the new Chow Yun-Fat -- a suave but still tough actor. I don't totally buy the comparision at this point, but Yue is turning into one of the stronger young actors currently working in Hong Kong films. Most of the other cast members do well, also. I don't really enjoy Eric Tsang in the comedic roles he is best known for, but he usually is solid with his dramatic work, and it's no exception here. Lam Suet also puts in a good performance as a cop who must walk the line between upholding the law and helping his old friend.

Despite the strength of the performances, Colour of the Loyalty still feels like a bit of a letdown. Don't get me wrong -- it's a very well-made movie. It just lacks that certain something that seperates a good crime movie from a great one. Maybe some more violent shootouts, or a little more unconventional structure -- something needed to be added to the mix to make this film stand out from the huge pack of crime pictures Hong Kong has cranked out over the years. All in all, though, Colour of the Loyalty is a movie that even Wong Jing-haters should be able to enjoy.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]


Reviewed by: evirei
Date: 07/25/2005

As years goes by... I started to enjoy shows with eric tsang in it. From a short guy always being pushed around and bullied. Now he is the big boss in the triad business is simply amazing.

When I first see the title for this movie... I bet either it has the same director or scriptwriter for "Colours Of Truth".

The storyline for this show is a little complicated but the ending is somehow not what I expect it to be... so I think it's a plus point here.

The show started of with rumours that someone wants Eric to be dead, but he's not afraid of it as he already has plans on battling the problem.

And this is when Shawn Yue came about in the show. Shawn is a gaster being trained and placed in a sub-urban place. When the news of eric is in danger, shawn and friends are being brought out to help protect the boss.
He waited a long time for opportunities to serve the boss.. but what happens in the end is not what he expect it to be.

The cleverly twist and turn of the plot is simply amazing.

Rating 7 out of 10

Reviewer Score: 7