You are currently displaying Big5
三五成群 (1999)
Street Kids Violence


Reviewed by: ryan
Date: 11/21/1999
Summary: Street Kids Violence (1999)

When we talk a look at the poster of 'Street Kids Violence', you will find that there is a group of kids burning something. In fact, the main selling point of 'Street Kids Violence' is the factual description of teenage problem.

The story of 'Street Kids Violence' is partly adopted to the Body Burning Case among a group of kids in Sau Mau Ping. Emperor (SUNG Pun-chung) and his mate Beep (LAM Chi-shin) clean a dead body by burning the body. In fact, Emperor is the 'Emperor' of Block 28, Sau Mau Ping Estate. In fact, he tried to set up his small Kingdom in Sau Mau Ping by recruiting kids into their 'group'. With his power and fighting against others, finally he build up his Kingdom. However, the self power competition between the kids in the Group has made it into crisis while some guys are trying to be at the edge which turns the whole group is a crazy manner......

Wellson CHIN used to be famous in directing supernatural horror like 'July 14th' and 'The Date that Doesn't Exist'. This time he switched into a social movie to talk about teenage gangs through the case of burning bodies in Sau Mau Ping. Though the promotion is in a sudden, it does not mean the quality has any problem. In fact, the direction is really very good.

One of the good thing is that CHIN hasn't put much emphasize on violence For some scenes where gangs put one kid's head up and down the floor 20 times, he intends not to show audience how the head is turning into bloody but in a plain way. This makes the whole movie more factual, and more impressive. For dialogues, as it's a Category III movies, performers can be able to speak foul language which makes the movie realistic. Most of the actors can say foul languages in a very fluent way. Their performance is very natural.

Though 'Street Kids Violence' takes the news feature as the main issue, it describes how the gangs formed and how it runs. Having putting this as the focus, you will find that they put Beep as the main guy linking through the whole movie. In between, the movie is able to describe the characters of the main guys like Beep, Emporer, Rock and Dumbass.

The only thing that I would like to say it's not enough is that the movie seems to be a bit plain. Maybe it's due to the description of lots of characters or it's too factual. However, this is not a big problem to the movie when considering the overall performance.

This film seems to be a bit educational at the end of the movie when they put up how series that criminal offence towards teenagers can be. It may be a bit strange as probably teenagers are not legally allowed to see the movie. However, I think this may be the reminders for their parents, or make it easier to pass the censorship in South East Asia.

In short, 'Street Kids Violence' can really talk about its topic in a factual way without emphasizing on emotions and violence. Performance of actors are natural which makes it more realistic. With good description to the kids with their own character, it should be a good recommendation for these days. Come to see at theatres as it won't let you down!