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Thread: Code of Honor

  1. #1
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    Code of Honor

    Chow Yun Fat is billed as the star on the Tai Seng DVD, but he is only in the movie for a few minutes. But that's okay, because legendary villain D!ck Wei is one of the stars of the movie!!




    David Lam Wai (Project A2), Ko Chun Hung, and D!ck Wei are the lead actors, and it is a rare oppurtunity for Lam Wai and D!ck Wei. Lam Wai usually just gets bit parts and D!ck Wei almost always plays the bad guy, and similiar to Billy Chow, he rarely speaks in any of his movies. I am a huge fan of both of these guys so I was overjoyed to see them as 2 of the lead actors. And Ko Chun Hung is the best actor in the movie. He gives a great performance. Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee, and Dennis Chan appear briefly, so that is just a bonus. Just to give you a little info on the director, Billy Chan directed All Men are Brothers: Blood of the Leopard (starring Elvis Tsui and Tony Leung Ka Fai) and Crazy Safari (a Lam Ching Ying Mr. Vampire type movie). He is best known for working with Sammo Hung as an action director on movies like Knockabout and Warriors Two, and also many other Sammo movies. This movie is completely different from all of those. It is probably Billy Chan's masterpiece as a director. The only reason I say probably is because I have not had a chance to see all of the movies he directed.

    First of all, I need to point out that this movie is pretty dark. People rarely smile, some sexual abuse against a woman, and the violence is very graphic. A guy gets stabbed in the back with blood running out everywhere, a kneecap is broken, good stuff like that. There are a couple of fight scenes, and they are brutal as can be. They are choreographed very well, but the best part about the fights is how brutal they are. I don't know if these guys are wearing padding or not, but it doesn't look like they are. There is some real contact, and you will probably be wondering like I was how they achieved this. The best way to describe this movie is that it feels like real life. Nothing feels fake. Even though I watched this with the English dub, the movie still felt extremely real to me. This was made in 1987 and in my opinion it is one of the best of its era. ALL of the actors are good and D!ck Wei is the worst actor in the movie, and even he gives a good performance. If this movie sounds interesting to you, then you don't even need to read the rest of this review. Just go and get it. It is a cheap DVD.

    The movie begins with a man named Hank (David Lam Wai) saving Uncle Ho's life. Uncle Ho (Ko Chun Hung) is a crime boss who controls 3 of the 5 major Triad gangs in Kaloon, and the other 2 gangs don't do anything without letting Uncle Ho know. Hank is a Vietnamese who was living in a refugee camp when he saved Ho's life. Hank and Ho become good friends and to show his appreciation Ho gives Hank a business to run. While all of this is going on, there is a cop (D!ck Wei) who has been after Uncle Ho for 10 years because Ho killed his father. Uncle Ho has changed and he is not the ruthless man he used to be, but he is still loyal to the gangs he controls. But he shouldn't have remained loyal. D!ck Wei manages to convince the leader of one of the gangs to rat out Uncle Ho and he may go to jail. So as you can imagine, his friend Hank is not too happy about this. This is like somebody ratting out The Godfather (Marlon Brando). So what happens next? Watch and find out. And I only described the first 40 minutes, so don't worry, I didn't give away too much.

    WARNING- spoiler alert. Recently I have been trying my best to break down all the fight scenes in movies. I try not to spoil anything, but only read below if you really want to know what the action is like. And at the very bottom of my reviews I always like to talk about the DVD quality, so you should at least read about that.


    There is not much action, but when it happens it is very good and very brutal. The first fight is not really a fight. Shing Fui On plays the leader of one of the 5 gangs. He finds out that there is an undercover cop working in his gang. After jamming a fork through the undercover's cheeks and cutting his fingers off, D!ck Wei shows up. Turns out the undercover is D!ck Wei's brother, and Wei is not too happy. He gives Shing Fui On a major beatdown and there may have been a couple of bones and a nose broken because this fight looks completely real.

    The next fight is only about 30 seconds long, but man is it amazing. D!ck Wei fights a Japanese guy and they go at it hard. It looks like a real fight. They are both throwing a bunch of wild punches extremely fast. Also some good legwork is mixed in.

    Next fight has the Japanese guy against Lam Wai. Its about 2 minutes long and just as good as the other fights. Amazing stuff!!!

    The last major action scene is a foot chase. I don't really want to describe it because that would probably be giving away too much, but I will tell you that it is a long and thrilling chase and there are some really cool lifelike stunts. One of the best chase scenes ever filmed.


    Rating- 4.5/5

    The picture quality on the Tai Seng DVD is decent. It is one of the Ocean Shore prints so it is full screen, but it doesn't really affect the movie. There is an English, Mandarin, and Cantonese dub included, so that is nice. And there is a special feature on this DVD, a great commentary from Bobby Samuels, Frank Jane and Ric Meyers. Ric Meyers is one of the worst commentators around and he basically just reads stuff out of a book or off of the internet during the commentary. But the commentary is still worth listening to because Frank Jane and Bobby Samuels give tons of good information. And at least Ric Meyers is funny at times. Meyers- "What is this, Hung Gar?" Bobby Samuels (a Hung Gar man himself)- "Actually this is just a fight".
    Last edited by jethro; 10-24-2007 at 08:46 PM. Reason: I suck at typing so I had to edit this
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  2. #2
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    Hey Jimbo, this is the movie I was telling you about last night. Check it out if you can. I like my movies dark, so I loved this.
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  3. #3
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    Jethro:
    Thanks a lot for the heads up!
    I will try to check this one out when possible. It sounds like a good one. Well, the parts I read! I didn't want to spoil too much, so I'll admit I stopped myself from reading your review! But it sounds like it's definitely worth it to me.

    For years, I have heard that D!ck Wei had an ego problem, and liked to really hit/kick people on the set. He sent Cynthia Rothrock to hospital during filming of Yes, Madam when he kicked her in the side of head/ear, and kicked Mark Houghton in the throat filming another movie. But I doubt he tried that in his brief fight with Billy Chow in Pedicab Driver!

    However, Wei was a brutal screen fighter and was in some good movies in the '80s. Another good one he was in was as a villain in a Max Mok/Yukari Oshima movie, sorry, forgot the title on that one.

    Thanks again for the info!

  4. #4
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    Haha! Yeah I heard an interview with Houghton and Phillip Ko where they were talking tons of crap about D!ck Wei. I agree about Billy Chow, no way Wei would mess with him. Chow would literally pound him into the ground.


    AND READ THIS!!!- just so you know, this movie has possibly the most thrilling chase sequence ever filmed. SUCH AN AWESOME MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! I was VERY close to giving this movie a perfect 5/5, and I don't even remember the last time I gave a movie a perfect rating.
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  5. #5
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    have to disagree although the chase was good. it wasn't the best film french connection/the itialian job and casino royal are all tied in first place for what i think are the best chase scenes ever filmed.

  6. #6
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    Nah, I only remember the Casino Royale chase scene clearly, and in the chase in Code of Honor is so much more realistic, just like the entire movie is.
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  7. #7
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    why wasn't casino rolae not realistic, that **** was really done no cgi, yes there was a stunt man for daniel craig. but it was done in the french connection they drove on the ****ing train tracks and you can't beat that. but whatever to each his own

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by doug maverick View Post
    why wasn't casino rolae not realistic, that **** was really done no cgi, yes there was a stunt man for daniel craig. but it was done in the french connection they drove on the ****ing train tracks and you can't beat that. but whatever to each his own
    SPOILER ALERT- this message is only for people who have seen the movie. I really don't want to give anything away.

    Look at the acting doug, when LAm Wai is cutting his handcuffs off, look at his facial expression. You don't get that sense of desperation with the guy who Daniel Craig is chasing. And right before that when he makes a huge jump down and lands in some boxes, and because of the handcuffs he has some trouble getting up. Everything in that foot chase is so real. EVERYTHING. Casino Royale just gets more and more unbelievable as it goes on. The guy that Craig is chasing climbs up and up. How does he know where he is going? Does he climb up there often? Look at Code of Honor. Lam Wai knows the city and knows exactly where to go. And the stunts are more realistic because it is done in the city and nobody has any idea what is going on. You can see it in their faces. Those people walking in the street and other places are genuinely scared because they are not actors and obviously were not told that a chase scene would be being filmed there, so when LAm Wai goes running by them you get real reactions from those people. Casino Royale is obviously all set up and they had a lot of time to plan everything out. In Code of Honor they just go into the city and shoot it. And the camerawork is brilliant. how they managed to get that scene accomplished and make it flow together so well, I have no idea.


    And just so you know, I love the chase scene in Royale. It is my favorite scene in the movie by far. It is one of the best action scenes I have ever seen, I just didn't like it as much as as the chase scene in Code of Honor.
    Last edited by jethro; 10-24-2007 at 01:58 PM.
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  9. #9
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    no sence of desperation

    come on look at this guys face in the film. he's running like a slave running for freedom with master on his a$$. like i said i liked the chase seen not the best filmed thou not by far. and complicated stunt chase sequences is what film making is all about. and again french connection tops them all.

  10. #10
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    WARNING- SPOILER ALERT


    I didn't say "no sence of desperation", I said "Look at the acting doug, when Lam Wai is cutting his handcuffs off, look at his facial expression. You don't get that sense of desperation with the guy who Daniel Craig is chasing".
    Last edited by jethro; 10-24-2007 at 02:55 PM.
    "For someone who's a Shaolin monk, your kung fu's really lousy!"
    "What, you're dead? You die easy!"
    "Hold on now. I said I would forget your doings, but I didn't promise to spare your life. Take his head."
    “I don’t usually smoke this brand, but I’ll do it for you.”
    "When all this is over, Tan Hai Chi, I will kick your head off and put it on my brother's grave!
    "I regard hardships as part of my training. I don't need to relax."

  11. #11
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    watch it again and this time don't jsut look at the scene look at the acting.

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