The Man from Hong Kong

"The Man From Hong Kong is a wildly entertaining Australian B movie was aptly described by its director as "...a veritable smörgåsbord of martial-arts mayhem, James Bond spoofery and general thud and blunder". This early oz-sploitation movie was a co-production with Golden Harvest. That relationship not only brought in Jimmy Wang Yu as the lead (as a member of the Hong Kong police’s “Special Branch” who gets entangled with an Aussie crime boss) but also included the legendary Sammo Hung to do the fight choreography. The Australian side of the production also contributed. In a questionable decision, Australia’s own Bond, George Lazenby, plays the villian but he is much more fun here than in his wooden turn as 007. However, many of his henchmen are played by much of the stunt team that would later bring the early Mad Max movies to life (even the film’s director even gets his ass kicked by Yu on top of an elevator). This allows for the film’s many action sequences to be pretty seamless. The film’s DP, who would go on to shoot award winning Peter Weir films like Master and Commander and Gallipoli, gives the film a bigger feel than its budget would generally allow. I’m probably overselling it, this isn’t Shakespeare. Yu’s English dub is bad and the rest of the acting is passable, at best, but the action scenes (most of which were shot without permits or proper safety equipment) have a chaotic energy that I really responded to. If you like classic Hong Kong action films or just dumb, fun action movies in general, give it a shot. 4 out of 5 Stars "