Explosive
Summary
Undeclared War is Ringo Lam at his best with plenty of gritty action, a huge bodycount and a rapid pace. Vinegar Syndrome have done a nice job with the movie and have given us several hours of special features to enjoy too. Definitely worth picking up.
Plot: After a Polish diplomat and his family are murdered by a radical terrorist organization, CIA agent Gary Redner tracks the violent extremist group to Hong Kong on a personal mission of revenge. Once in Hong Kong, the “rough-and-ready” Gary is reluctantly partnered with “by the book” Special Branch Inspector Bong, in order to track down the terrorists before their next horrific attack. While the two men do not see eye to eye professionally nor culturally, they must put aside their personal differences and work together in order to take down the terrorist organization as well as the group’s mysterious and ruthless leader, known only as Hannibal.
Featuring the signature bloody violence that director Ringo Lam (City on Fire, Burning Paradise) has become known for, UNDECLARED WAR is a dark and uncompromising neo-noir that doesn’t pull its punches. One of the rare Hong Kong productions featuring a mix of international actors speaking multiple languages, UNDECLARED WAR stars American actor Peter Liapis (Ghoulies), Hong Kong actor Danny Lee (John Woo’s The Killer), renowned Australian character actor Vernon Wells (The Road Warrior), and acclaimed British actress Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas). Vinegar Syndrome Archive is proud to present this stylishly directed slice of Hong Kong action on Blu-ray for the first time in the United States, newly restored from studio supplied masters.
Review: I have to admit I had never seen Undeclared War before, but I blind bought it from the Vinegar Syndrome store as I saw it was directed by the late, great Ringo Lam. It did not disappoint and has some cracking action scenes including some fight scenes, shoot-outs and of course explosions.
The cast includes Peter Liapis as CIA Agent Gary Redner who comes to Hong Kong as terrorist Hannibal (Vernon Wells) has made that his next target. He crosses paths with Inspector Bong (Danny Lee) and at first the two dislike each other and even end up having a street fight; as with most action movies they reluctantly team up for the greater good in the end.
I love Vernon Wells in this as he is playing a master of disguise and always seems one step ahead of the police; he’s a nasty piece of work too and this is one of his best villain roles.
What’s interesting is that Redner isn’t an especially appealing character and he will stop at nothing to try and find Hannibal; this includes torturing people to death which has the audience questioning if he is any better than the villain.
Undeclared War is well paced and doesn’t go more than a few minutes without an action scene making it an easy watch. It’s been remastered as much as possible but at times the picture is still quite grainy; it’s to be expected though and looks good considering the film is from 1990.
In terms of special features, they include the following:
- Region Free Blu-ray
- Newly scanned & restored in 2K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Presented in its original Cantonese language soundtrack with newly translated English subtitles, along with a Mandarin language dub track
- Brand new commentary track with film historian and author Samm Deighan
- “The Business of Revolution” – a brand new interview with actor Vernon Wells
- “Undeclared Score” – a brand new interview with composer Noel Quinlan
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- Newly translated English subtitles
This will keep you entertained for several hours with informative interviews with Vernon Wells who never disappoints as well as a chat with the composer Noel Quinlan.
Overall, Undeclared War is a rollicking good time with impressive action scenes and a memorable villain in Vernon Wells. This is definitely worth adding to your collection.