再戰江湖 (1990)

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再戰江湖 (1990)

Return Engagement

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 09/18/2004
Summary: A little better than average

From the very beginning you know this is a non stop action movie, well almost!! There is plenty of action and a little melodramatics.

Unfortunately there is nothing to make this movie stand out from other movies but i did enjoy watching it, even know the DVD kept jumping at the end.

The 2 main leads were convincing, there relationship though strain at first blossoms into something more, thats drama for you!!It was a good filler for the action!!

6.5/10

Reviewed by: Inner Strength
Date: 05/26/2002
Summary: Average

Return Engagement is your average action movie, there is little more to this than gun fire being exchanged between characters. The story is nothing, but if you like action films you will certainly find this entertaining, but nothing that will go down in history.

[2.5/5]

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 05/01/2002
Summary: Not bad

Triad dai lo Alan Tang spends 15 years in a Canadian prison after revenge killing a mafia boss. When he gets out, he goes to Hong Kong to look for his daughter. He hooks up with a teenage girl that ran away from the same orphanage as his daughter, and the bar hostess that looks after her, and bonds with them in the search. This all leads (rather indirectly) up in an bullet ridden finale of insane proportions as insurgency in the HK Triad ranks put him in conflict with a deliciously bad Simon Yam.

I don't know why Universe chose a trio of Alan Tang movies to be their first anamorphic oldies - I'd never heard of him previously. I have to admit to having a soft spot for him (probably thanks to BLACK PANTHER WARRIORS). His suave but tough persona is totally unconvincing but quite endearing.

I can't really claim that Return Engagement is a "good movie", but I did enjoy it quite a lot. The basic plot of man out of prison and teenage girl on the wrong side of the tracks searching for a daughter has been done before, I'm pretty sure, and I can't say that the script offers any particularly profound or subtle insights into the set up. It does offer an absolute ton of melodrama though, and some times that's what you need.

Alan Tang's inexplicable charm and a storming performance from Elizabeth Lee carry about 75 of the 110 minute length (Andy Lau, despite second billing, has about 15 minutes screen time tops), and it's quite an engaging story with enough interesting and unexpected moments not to get boring at all. The movie could probably have ended there and been a pleasant but forgettable drama. But the final reel, where it goes into Heroic Bloodshed territory for no particular reason other than that it's what movies about gangsters do, elevates it out of the pack and shines a little spotlight on it. The bullet count and body count is crazy, as the revenge cycle escalates wildly and Andy's small band of Canadian triads take on an army of black suited goons with machine guns. Really OTT, and a lot of fun. Rather than rolling the credits when the last bullet falls, there's also quite a touching epilogue to tie things up.

Not a movie to get all excited about seeing, because you'll probably be disappointed, but certainly one you should have in your collection for when you're bored and in need of a melodrama and heroic bloodshed fix

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: leh
Date: 12/09/1999

Passable gangster drama; the final shoot-out is extremelyexcessive and quite fun.

Reviewed by: hokazak
Date: 12/09/1999

Alan Tang is an ex-Triad-Boss who gets out of prison and goes out in search of his daughter, whom he hasn't seen since she was a little girl. While searching for his daughter, he discovers that, while he wants nothing to do with his past life of crime, it won't leave him alone, and he ends up on a collision course with villain Simon Yam and his triad army. Most of this movie explores the relationship, across a major generation gap, of Alan Tang's character with a young woman who was a friend of his daughter's, but it ends up with a memorable, John Woo-style gun-battle finale. Very watchable fare, overall...