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龍騰四海 (1992)
Gun n' Rose


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 04/25/2002
Summary: Pretty decent fluff

From much of the same cast & crew that brought us Black Panther Warriors a year later, but sadly not quite so derange and manic a movie. Still a fast paced ride with some excellent action sequences though. After internal conflict in his powerful Taiwanese Triad family, Alan Tang leaves for Hong Kong to try and escape the Jiang Hu and live a simple life. He befriends small time hood Andy Lau, who has no idea this humble taxi driver once had dominion over thousands... until Alan's past catches up with him.

Fairly complex plot that darts around a little too fast to follow all the time, but features quite a few good moments, and some very OTT gunplay. Quite an all star cast including Alan Tang (who is so handsome, as it is often observed), Andy Lau, Loletta Lee, Carrie Ng, Simon Yam, Leon Lai and others.

Not one of Clarence Fok's better movies, but not one of his worst either.


Reviewed by: danton
Date: 03/13/2002

Good to see Megastar releasing older titles on DVD (and they're even anamorphic!). However, I just wish they had spent some additional effort on redoing the subtitles. This release features some of the most atrocious subs I've seen in a while. For starters, they didn't even bother giving characters proper names, and simply used the actors' first names instead! Watching this disc reminded me how much HK films have improved in that regard over the last few years.

But what about the movie itself? Well, it's a star-studded triad action movie that offers both thrilling, well-choreographed action sequences and a script that feels as if it was written during a lunchbreak on the back of a napkin! It's cobbled together, with little or no structure and really serves only 2 purposes: Give the stars (and Andy Lau in particular) as many opportunities to look cool as possible, and provide some filler between the action. There is the semblance of a story (the usual triad revenge stuff), but none of that matters much, as long as you keep track on who's meant to be a good guy, and who's a bad guy. Kind of like watching WWF wrestling: cheer for the babyface, heartily boo Simon Yam doing his usual heel routine, throw logic and motivation out the window and just enjoy all those bodies flying through the air.

Director Clarence Ford gets lucky sometimes and this formula accidentally results in a truly enjoyable movie such as Naked Killer, but most of the time what he ends up with is a mixed bag -- fun action, watered down by poor scripts and over the top acting.

Marginal recommendation.


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 12/28/1999
Summary: Most of the actors use their real English names

... so I guess they had no trouble remembering their parts ;)

This is actually two intertwining stories. Don't doze off if you want to stay ahead of the plot.
A great slam-bang actioner.

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: jfierro
Date: 12/21/1999

Some extremely well-shot action sequences highlight this standard triad power-struggle movie. Supposedly based on a true story. Clarence Fok proves why he may be the best action director in Hong Kong.


Reviewed by: Brad.Daniels
Date: 12/09/1999

There is a similarly titled film, Guns and Roses, which is reported to be truly awful. Don't get the wrong one by mistake.


Reviewed by: hokazak
Date: 12/09/1999

Fast-paced, stylish HK gangster action / triad drama - with a more comically-inclined middle section centered around the encounters between noble triad-boss-in-hiding Alan Tang and local notables Andy Lau and Carrie Ng.


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Taiwanese gang boss Jeff appoints his adopted son Alan as hissuccessor over his two biological sons, Simon and Bowie. But greed takes precedence over family loyalty as Bowie turns police informant in an attempt to put Alan in jail. Jeff asks Simon to kill Bowie. Simon tries to kill Alan as well. Alan escapes to Hong Kong, where he happily begins a new, peaceful life. But fate intervenes. He befriends an uprighteous gang leader and in doing so, alienates two drug dealers, Chuck and Bee. Alan dispatches of Chuck and Bee, but discovers that Simon has joined forces with them. Convinced to reclaim his rightful place atop his father's gang, Alan sails home to Taiwan to meet Simon in one final battle.

[Reviewed by Rim Films Catalog]