Reviewed by: Hyomil Date: 04/07/2011 Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 03/18/2011 Low-budget director Aman Cheng crafts his own take on the popular racing drama genre with Roaring Wheels, a picture that doesn't actually feature that much racing, instead choosing to spew out a miasma of melodrama towards the audience, which quickly makes them lose any interest they might have had in the proceedings. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 02/28/2006 Summary: Throttle Down This entry in the Year of the Dog film program demonstrates that success can be an elusive trophy. Roaring Wheels became a turning point in director Aman Chang's career. He was a protege of Wong Jing's in the early 90's, working as an assistant director on films like City Hunter and Chinese Torture Chamber Story. In 1998, Chang got the director's credit on seven films that Wong produced and scripted while spending afternoons at the famous Jockey Club. Later, he had even more success with the films Body Weapon and Fist Power. Roaring Wheels showed that musician Dave Wong Kit can't carry a motion picture as the lead actor. He's not awful here but he just doesn't have the screen charisma to carry a movie. Maggie Shaw is the movie star here. Her performance keeps the viewer mildly interested in the proceedings. The always delightful Karen Mok Man-Wai manages to shine through the murky cinematography and, despite the banality of the scenario, Moses Chan goes over the top again, standing out as he did in Andrew Lau Wai-Keung's Legend of Speed. The screenplay by Ching Tau is a pathetic, very weak rehash of the excellent Full Throttle and the aforementioned dismal Legend of Speed. Seaside locations guarantee good times for the film crew, but funds get used up quickly off screen resulting in poor production quality on screen. Aman Chang almost directed himself out of the film business with this effort and his next project, the legendary box office failure Twilight Garden. happyfortune.org Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 05/05/2002 Summary: Poor Pretty poor. Look at Paul Fonoroffs review, that sums it up perfectly. Rating: 2/5

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 02/28/2001 Summary: ok Not a lot of racing in this film believe it or not!! All motor bike racing movies goto be compared to “Full throttle” and this is no where near as good. It is a drama about a Legendary God of Racing, who you rare see race!! So the idea that he is that good does not come to the audience. And because of this, you are not really sure how good he is because you don’t’ see it with your own eyes!! Performances are good all around, but the plot doesn’t make you all that interested in the characters!! Nice twists here and there but not enough to make this a good movie. 6/10

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 02/05/2001 Summary: Aman Chang's name is a good hint... I'm fairly forgiving about plot holes and budget problems; I have to be to watch Hong Kong movies, which are often shot with tiny budgets and incomplete scripts in ridiculously short amounts of time. Enough effort and creativity can make these problems easy to ignore, or overlook entirely. Roaring Wheels, unfortunately, has a million odd or annoying moments without much to redeem them. Pick a worst moment, any worst moment... -Fred Wang's embarrassingly acted and dubbed crying for his dead girlfriend. -Moses Chan's punch into the camera that's so powerful it knocks TWO people on their backs. -Moses Chan's strangely-shot and totally unnecessary sex scene. -The "destruction" of Fred and Maggie's seaside cafe; that is, the burning of the umbrellas over the tables. Even when the flames have almost gone out, it still sounds like a raging inferno. Not to mention Aman Chang's mostly clumsy direction, the many scenes that seem to go nowhere, and a simple plot that STILL has holes in it. To top it all off, the character motivations are preposterous: "I can drive a motorcycle faster than you can." Speaking of fast motorcycles, the racing scenes, as expected, are the highlight of the film; they are coordinated by Bruce Law, and are surprisingly well-photographed. They feel faster and more dangerous than those in "The Legend of Speed" and even the car-racing scenes in Jackie Chan's vastly more expensive but embarrassingly undercranked "Thunderbolt." Unfortunatley, as I said, there's little reason to care about the winner, or even the safety of the participants. As should be obvious, I didn't get much out of "Roaring Wheels." It does, on the other hand, at least have more camp value than a lot of other bottom-rung movies; the scenes outlined above as well as numerous others make "Roaring Wheels" more amusing than many comedies.

Reviewed by: ICU Date: 11/30/2000 Summary: Just a cheap rip off Just a cheap rip off, of the amazing 'The Legend of Speed', starring Ekin Cheng, and another thing do you people thing the Wong Git is trying to be like Ekin Cheng, you know first it was very very fucking shit 'The Legend of the Flying Swordsman' a total copy of the following {The Storm Riders}, {A Man Called Hero} and {The Duel} and now his doing this, also a total copy of{The Legend of Speed} which will no douth be fucking shit.

Reviewed by: Paul Fonoroff Date: 10/28/2000 Even motorbike enthusiasts will have a hard time getting revved up about Roaring Wheels. Director Aman Chang has fashioned a low-octane action-drama from a melodramatic script (by Chau Ting) that is virtually running on empty. Despite the presence of racing scenes choreographed by Bruce Law, the picture is less exciting than a jaunt on the MTR. It is yet another attempt to transform singer Dave Wang Chieh into a big screen sensation. As the "racing god" Wong Fei, Wang broods, snarls, and limps (due to a rather contrived plot complication), but fails to display anything approaching the magic that has made him a recording star. Whether it is the fault of the director, script, or his own thespian talents, Wang demonstrates a singular lack of screen charisma. The story doesn’t help. Through an expository first reel, we learn of Wong’s vow to never race again, and the death of his first wife—in childbirth, no less—when Wong breaks this vow. Three years later, he is a single father, raising his cute little boy in the obscurity of a seaside resort. He is an unsmiling wretch, his life brightened by the tiny tot and the unspoken love of his sister-in-law, Kelly (Maggie Siu). The tranquil if dull existence is intruded upon by Fung (Moses Chan), a racing fanatic intent on wresting the title "God of Racers" from Wong. A mystery girl, Suki (Karen Mok), also shows up on the beach, in love with Wong and making Kelly green with envy. Suki has a puzzling relationship with Fung, though few viewers will care enough to solve the puzzle. This is certainly one of Mok’s less interesting characters. The only actor to manage to inject some humanity into a role is Maggie Siu, who captures both the world-weariness and passion of the surrogate mother and lover. A racing scene on Nathan Road was most certainly not easy to shoot, but the underlying motivation—Fung’s quest to become God of Racers—is so juvenile that one doesn’t really give a hoot. Two songs by Dave Wang are interpolated, proving that as far as Roaring Wheels is concerned, his talent behind the microphone is superior to that before the camera. 2 stars This review is copyright (c) 2000 by Paul Fonoroff. All rights reserved. No part of the review may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Reviewer Score: 4