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香港奇案之吸血貴利王 (1994)
The Underground Banker


Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 09/27/2005

Everything seems to be going good for Anthony Wong -- he's got a good job as a truck driver, has a pretty wife (Kitty) and a cute kid and (after a mysterious death) manages to find a choice apartment. However, things turn out to be not so rosy when the family moves in and they find out that their neighbor is none other than the infamous Dr. Lamb (a character from the Cat III movie of the same name, played here by Ng). It seems "the good Doctor" got rid of "the killing habit" in the loony bin and managed to get out. Even though Wong is apprehensive at first, Lamb turns out to be a pretty good guy, letting Wong's kid play video games and giving some sound marital advice. Everything seems to be going okay until Kitty meets up with her ex-boyfriend Stunner, who happens to be the local Big Brother. Stunner still wants to get into Kitty's pants, so he's only too willing to feed her Mah Jongg habit, even being so "good" as to let her borrow money from his boss, a big-time loanshark (the "underground banker" of the title). When Kitty can't pay back her gambling debt, Stunner takes his revenge. Wong resolves to curling up and dying until the good Doctor once again comes on the scene and helps Wong gain some payback.

Underground Banker is a sly parody of the HK "roughie" (ultra-violent) genre, and as such, viewers who have seen a lot of Cat III movies such as Dr. Lamb will get a lot more out of it than the average viewer. Wong himself is considered a "king" of the genre, most notably through his roles in such movies as The Untold Story, and it's really fun seeing him pull a 180 and be the wimpy victim this time out (especially towards the end when he reverts into his full-on psycho mode and goes around screaming that he's going to chop people into pork buns, a nod to Wong's award-winning work in Untold), and Ng turns in a satisfying performance as Dr. Lamb, delivering his lines with a dry wit that should please fans of Simon Yam's performance in Dr. Lamb.

However, Underground Banker jumps all over the map during its running time, alternating between horror, crime drama, softcore porn and comedy. Genre mixing is to be expected in HK films, but it gets ridiculous at times -- and those not used to seeing the seedier side of HK movies might be disgusted at the levels Underground Banker goes to. At any rate, I personally had a good time watching the movie -- I would liken it to something like Evil Dead 2 or Dead/Alive; a very, very black comedy that should please those tired of the slick MTV-like horror movies produced (both in HK and Hollywood) over the past few years.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 07/19/2001
Summary: Pretty good

A movie with a bit of everything and deserves the cat 3 it got for the ending!!

(SPOILERS)
A story about loan sharks, where a married woman is tricked by her ex boyfriend into investing in the stock market but loses it all but owes lots of money!! So the ex says goto his brother for help, but the interest they charge is just too much. To work off the debt, she becomes a prositute but all is revealed soon, especially since the husbands best friend sleeps with her by mistake!!

Anothony Wong trys to bargain with the loan sharks but to no avail and the end result is a lot of money is stolen, the wife is burnt to death and the son gets so burnt he looks like the rock creature from 'never ending story.'
So what install is revenge!!
(END SPOILERS)

Anthony Wong plays his part well but Lawerence Ng as the psycho killer who befriends Anthony's son. It's his best role in my mind. He is really creepy!!
Don't expect too much brain strain from this movie but to see Lawerence Ng play his part is worth watching!!

7/10


Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 05/29/2000
Summary: Highly recommended, and pretty gory.

Very good, if highly melodramatic, tale of an ordinary man pushed too far.
Although Anthony Wong is given star billing, and definitely earns it, this film is more an ensemble piece.
All the elements are here - sex scenes, luscious nudity (provided mostly by Ching Mai and Hui Pui) and lashings of revenge-motivated violence. And, of course, the wonderful super-baddie Ho Ka Kui playing the revolting title character.

Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Anthony Wong is a timid high rise resident whose wife falls heavily into debt and is forced into prostitution. An amazing, yet powerfully disturbing flick. With humour made the way only Hongkies know how, this is a great horror flick -- a lot like RUN & KILL. But see after THE UNTOLD STORY, for a tiny reason, but all the same, do it this way. And don't watch it with the easily-offended. Some of it might be a bit hard to handle.

[Reviewed by Anonymous]


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Trucker Anthony Wong is a good husband/father/provider to hisboobacious wife Kitty, his peppy son Tak, and spunky sister. His application for public housing is approved and just when you think this is a happy family movie, voila, Kitty's ex-boyfriend Canner is the local tough who gets her in high debt with a bad investment. She doesn't want her husband to find out so she tries to borrow money from an 'underground banker' who charges drastic interest rates. She turns to prostituting and even attempts to have her sister-in-law kidnapped by the triads. Eventually it's up to Anthony to try to right things with the help of his neighbor, the reformed taxi driver killer. This has a diverse mixture of comedy, horror, sex, drama, action that only Wong Jing can deliver. The scene of Tak in the hospital tends to be melodramatic but with the gruesome make-up effects, it becomes effective. The climax displays revenge at its sweetest, you'll wish you had your own psycho killer as a friend. And for those who are interested, you can see Anthony's naked butt in this one.

[Reviewed by Jennie Tam]