Explosive
Summary
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In lives up to the hype with breakneck fight scenes and a great cast at their best. It does get a bit overly silly towards the end and the overuse of wirework may put some off, but this is still one of the year’s best action movies.
Plot: Set in British colonial Hong Kong in the 1980’s, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In follows a troubled youth as he accidentally enters the infamous Kowloon Walled City – a dangerous Chinese enclave ripe with gang crime and corruption. He soon discovers order amidst the chaos, and gains life lessons from the inhabitants as they resist a villainous invasion.
Review: Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a bit of a mouthful of a title and I think City of Darkness is a better name (it’s also the name of the Manga it’s based on). That doesn’t stop this from being a cracking fight film.
The cast includes Raymond Lam (Detective vs Sleuths), Terrance Lau (Anita), Tony Wu (The Lyricist Wannabe), German Cheung (Raging Fire), Louis Koo (Paradox), Philip Ng (Birth of the Dragon), Aaron Kwok (Port of Call) and Sammo Hung (Ip Man 2), with action design by stunt coordinator Kenji Tanigaki (Raging Fire, Sakra).
Walled in (as I’ll call it from this point) manages to have a heartfelt story in between the carnage as our lead Chan Lok Kwan (Raymond Lam) takes refuge in Kowloon Walled City after stealing a bag of drugs from Mr. Big (Sammo Hung). He befriends friendly gang boss Cyclone (Louis Koo) who allows him to stay and he slowly makes a life for himself. He gets a job and makes friends, but his idyllic life is shattered when a secret comes out.
There is a frenetic energy to the action and the fights are impressive even if there is a lot of wirework; I know that’s the Hong Kong style, but just a heads up if you thought this was going to be set in the real world. It also gets a bit too silly with the final showdown which is a shame as this could have rivalled The Raid in terms of intensity. I still had a good time with the film and the cast alone makes this worth watching with Louis Koo at his charismatic best and Raymond Lam making for a sympathetic lead. Sammo Hung makes for a truly hateful villain and at 72 years old he still has the moves, getting involved in the action for the finale.
I can’t believe that’s actually Philip Ng as Wong Gau as he’s unrecognizable with the long hair and shades; he is the real antagonist of the movie and I haven’t hated a character so much for some time. Ng does a fantastic job of making Wong Gau arrogant with his constant mocking laughter; I‘m literally getting angry even thinking about him.
Overall, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In mostly lives up to the hype with memorable characters and some jaw dropping action; it does go on a little too long for the final showdown and some may not like the wirework, but this is still a hugely entertaining fight film.