“I want to...be the next Jet Li” says Kong (Wu Jing) with a smile in this Dennis Law directed actioner. It’s an obvious nod to Wu Jing’s growing popularity and physical similarity to the Jetster. However, Wu Jing should learn from Li’s mistakes and be very careful about the projects he chooses to take on.

That’s not to say FATAL CONTACT is a poor film; it is, however, a very mixed bag. Wu plays a travelling circus performer with his eye on young Tin (Miki Yeung) and gets caught up in the shady world of illegal boxing. Actually, he gets persuaded into it by Tin, who along with trainer/friend/scrounger Captain (Ronald Cheng) hones the fighter into a fantastic fighting machine.

When Wu dismantles his first opponent in a few seconds, you know things are going to be good. Sure enough, the action scenes throughout the entire movie are brilliantly executed, and for once Wu takes centre stage and is not some seething psychotic villain. Not since the 80s has there been such a spectacle as Wu Jing, and the showcase he puts on in FATAL CONTACT is as good, if not better, than anything else he’s done in the past. A frantic fight in an underpass at night is shot in a style similar to that of Jackie Chan at his peak and will further endear him to the heart of action film fans worldwide.

However, the glue holding the action scenes together isn’t quite so strong. Ronald Cheng is great as the tight but friendly Captain, and the sight of Ken Lo as a kind of sci-fi pimp will raise a few smiles, I’m sure. There has been some attempt to add depth to the script, but there’s only so much you can do with the concept of a fighter moving from fight to increasingly difficult fight, and most of it disappoints.

His girlfriend is another source of concern. She actually persuades Kong to start fighting for money and eggs him on to take greater and greater risks, which is a complete turnaround from the archetype. While this could be seen as refreshing, in the end it just seems strange. She comes across as a cynical manipulative bitch, even giving a former friend who has fallen upon hard times some tips on how to be a better prostitute. Without giving anything away, this point is addressed, but we as the audience are obviously supposed to get behind her as the unwavering girlfriend of the hero and this just doesn’t feel right from the very start.

Despite his obvious and undeniable skills, Wu Jing is middling as a leading man. It’s not that he’s bad at acting (he’s not), it’s just that he doesn’t yet have much of a screen persona to exploit the way, say, Jackie Chan did with his clowning underdog. Maybe this will develop in time, but in the meantime his scenes of a less active nature are quite forgettable.

Despite the rather long running time, this movie flies by, which is always a good sign. But the film winds up with a very unconvincing climax that feels like Law ran out of time. As it stands, the ending of Fatal Contact is the most disappointing I’ve seen in an action movie for a very long time.

Still, the fight scenes are fantastic, and for many that will be good enough. Personally, I hoped for something a little bit more substantial. Maybe next time...