Review | Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In movie review – Kowloon Walled City reimagined in Soi Cheang martial arts spectacle
- Raymond Lam plays an illegal migrant from China to Hong Kong, who crosses one gangster and befriends others as he finds a second home in the Kowloon Walled City
- An exhilarating display of bone-crunching violence, Soi Cheang’s film recreates the lawless walled-city enclave to memorable effect. Yet narratively it is weak
3/5 stars
Soi Cheang Pou-soi’s 1980s-set film is one that he is perfectly equipped to make at this point of his highly versatile career.
From there, the film offers a fascinating glimpse of life inside the enclave, as Chan works multiple jobs to save up for a fake Hong Kong ID card under the benevolent eyes of the reigning mobster Cyclone (Louis Koo Tin-lok), while striking up friendships with his three assistants, played by Terrance Lau Chun-him, Tony Wu Tsz-tung and German Cheung Man-kit.
A technical masterpiece that should become a strong favourite for the best art direction, action choreography and visual effects prizes in next year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, Twilight of the Warriors nevertheless underwhelms on the narrative front – albeit it is adapted from a novel, Yu Yi’s City of Darkness.
It is disappointing that the requisite source of conflict, involving Richie Jen Hsien-chi’s vengeful landlord, should come courtesy of a most improbable coincidence.
On top of that, the themes of brotherhood and loyalty are rather unconvincingly presented, and the story’s comic-book logic ultimately takes over with the emergence of Philip Ng Wan-lung’s unhinged and literally indestructible villain.