Rating: **
Review Date: 11/7/16
Director: Tsui Hark
Fight Choreography: Corey Yuen Kwei
Cast: Norman Chu (Tsui Siu Keung), Eddy Ko, Melvin Wong
This early film from Tsui Hark is inexplicably weird, even by Hong Kong standards. A dim-witted police officer named Agent 999 (Norman Chu) is chasing a notorious bandit called Rolex (Melvin Wong) and finds himself on an island full of deranged cannibals. Fortunately, he's very good at kung fu, so all attempts to butcher him fail. The ruler of the island is played by a psychotic Eddy Ko, who is also quite good at kung fu, which leads to the inevitable showdown at the end of the film. While it's definitely a low budget affair, the action scenes are quite good and Norman Chu is at the top of his game. The humor is quirky and unfunny (which is often the case with Hong Kong movies), but it helps lighten the tone of an otherwise horrific film. The gore isn't over the top like similar Hong Kong fare, but it's still unpleasant. From a historical viewpoint, it's very interesting to see how Tsui Hark began his career, and how he would single-handedly overturn the entire Hong Kong film industry within a few short years.