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絕橋智多星 (1990)
The Big Score


Reviewed by: Inner Strength
Date: 03/02/2003

1.5/5

Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 04/11/2002
Summary: Good Wong Jing movie

Take a bit of gambling movies, some cop drama, and a dollop of James Bond, throw it into Wong Jing's frazzled brain and the results come out as this enjoyable -- if schizophrenic -- film. The plot revolves around Danny Lee who plays his usual hot-headed cop who is on the trail of a drug dealer named Panther (Lung Fong). Things seem to be going well for the case after undercover cop Anthony Wong gets the goods, but Panther bribes his way out of the charges. He then takes his revenge on Anthony in typical Wong Jing fashion by raping his pregnant wife, killing his child, throwing acid down his throat, shooting him in the kneecaps, and then blinding him by punching his eyeballs with spiked brass knuckles. And you thought you had a bad day at work. Anyhow, Danny is understandably pissed, so he goes and beats up his superior. After being thrown off the force, Danny hooks up with Anthony's old partner (Wong Jing). They hatch a scheme for revenge that involves taking Panther's girlfriend (Joey Wong) and then bankrupting him in a gambling match.

Like many Wong Jing films, the results here are uneven in parts, but overall The Big Score manages to gel together in a fun romp. It was nice seeing Danny Lee playing off his usual hardass image. Wong also manages to reign in his usual penchant for toilet humor, and the result is some actual "smart" comedy, including dead-on parodies of The Killer and Terminator 2. Even Wong's performance is reigned in a bit from his other on-screen work. He plays a wolf, but he's not so much of a dirty old man here. Action-wise, The Big Score doesn't disappoint. As per Wong Jing's usual operation, the action is well-shot, over-the-top and quite violent. And, as you might expect, the climatic gambling scene is done well. Even though I still don't really know the rules of these games (even though I have watched a good number of gambling-oriented movies) they are still exciting to watch, due to good performances and excellent editing.

If there is fault to be found with The Big Score, it goes to the pacing. The movie really grinds down in certain parts as Wong tries a bit to hard to inject "real" dramatics into the film. Thankfully, Wong seems to know his strengths, and drops the more serious aspects, and quickly switches back to the more mindless fun which he is better known for.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]


Reviewed by: bastardswordsman
Date: 01/16/2002

Well, they, erm.... certainly don't make 'em like this anymore. I was after something easy going to watch after a knackering day at work - this was just the ticket...

It's certainly a Wong Jing feature, that's for sure. Wonderfully inappropriate violence, laced with Wong Jing madcap humour and gambling antics thrown in for good measure. It's a whole film made out of absolutely nothing. This 1990 feature also has one scenario where an arms dealer sells Danny Lee bullets that "were used on June 4th 1989"!! Rape and child murder scenes cut to the usual Wong Jing (who is surprisingly good in his large support part) slapstick fare, without a tongue or a cheek in sight. Oh, and Joey Wong is in it, for absolutely no discernable reason whatsoever (watch out for the incredibly bizarre male-stripper scene)!

Absolute mindless trash. Highly entertaining.


Reviewed by: hkfilmjunkie
Date: 08/01/2001
Summary: Not one of Danny Lee's best films

An awkward cop/action flick starring Danny Lee.This film seems to be trying to mix many elements into it, and not all of them work well together.There is some mild violent scenes in it and when the action scenes come at you they're enjoyable, but the buddy buddy routine between Danny and the other guy (I forget his name at the moment) just doesn't make it on any grounds.I think this film would have fared much better without the unnecessary comedy and concentrated more on being a straight cop actioner.One memorable scene has one half of the hit squad of a man/woman couple of killers is when she blasts a cowering child point blank in the face without the slightest hint of remorse and then casually walks away.I certainly didn't expect something like that in this film.If you're a fan of Danny Lee you might want to hunt this down, otherwise it's nothing special.


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 01/15/2000
Summary: Disappointing and meandering action-comedy

The action wanders all over the place, and is very hard to make sense of. Ching and Soft try to teach each other shooting (Soft is hopeless) and being tricky at cards and mahjong (at which Ching is a dead loss). Ching tries to snare Panther's snooty girlfriend Penny, then invents a new identity for himself : "Sam, from the Chicago Triad".
We also meet Ching's beautiful blind sister Ling, of whom Ching is hilariously protective, and of course Soft tries to chat her up. Ching and Soft manage to win Panther's trust, and he invites them to his private casino, where card sharp Soft takes over.......
The story is sort-of a take on The Sting, with more than a few references to The Killer thrown in. Some bits are quite funny, and the finale is action-packed, but much of the film falls flat, and I kept wondering "what on earth has this to do with anything ?".
For those who can read Chinese, the main actors are credited as they appear. And there's some groovy sub-titles, like "I know you've awared us already". And the subtitles are mostly very hard to read.
Overall : Contains only a few of the ingredients Jing normally uses, and is a mixture which is less than half-baked.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to see it.

Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/21/1999

A disillusioned cop and a swindler with a heart team up to destroy an evil triad boss.

[Reviewed by Tai Seng Catalog]


Reviewed by: jfierro
Date: 12/21/1999

A distinctly Wong Jing creation. When a crime lord viciously tortures an undercover cop for betraying him, it is up the cop's hot-tempered superior (Danny Lee) and master-gambler best friend (Wong Jing) to get revenge. Under this premise, Wong Jing can combine a Danny Lee burnt-out cop movie with the gambling genre. And as usual, Wong Jing manages to pull it off. Somehow, unsettling scenes of torture mesh well with goofy humor. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Danny Lee seems to have good chemistry with just about anybody. Even Wong Jing is fun to watch alongside Danny.


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Danny Lee goes after the guy who disfigured his friend in thisaction comedy.

[Reviewed by Rim Films Catalog]


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Have I ever seen a bad Danny Lee film? I think not. But have I ever seen a bad Wong Jing movie? Yes I have, and on several occasions! But this one is not one of them. "THE BIG SCORE" is no classic, but from the few Wong Jing films that I saw, this might be my favourite one yet. I must say that I am not familiar with his earlier works, the ones that I saw were quite recent and the range of quality went from -not very good- ("THE SAINT OF GAMBLERS") to -really bad- ("FUTURE COPS"). This film does have some humour, as a matter of fact it has plenty of it, but it seem that he (Wong Jing) was inspired for once.

[Reviewed by Martin Sauvageau]