Full Contact
Encyclopedia
Full Contact is a 1992
Hong Kong
action film
produced and directed by Ringo Lam
. The film stars Chow Yun-fat
, Simon Yam
, Anthony Wong
, and Ann Bridgewater
. It was based upon Donald Westlake's novel The Hunter, with Chow Yun-Fat's character, Gou Fei, analogous to the novel's main character, Parker
.
, Thailand
. Gou Fei's (Chow Yun-fat
) friend Sam Sei (Anthony Wong
) borrows money from a loan shark
to give Gou Fei's departed mother a proper burial. The loan shark kidnaps Sam and Gao Fei rescues him by confronting the loan shark and persuade him to give more time for Sam to re-pay the loan. The loan shark does not comply and orders his cohorts to kill Sam but Gou Fei punches two of them before he engages a knife fight with the remaining gang members. After doing so, the loan shark attempts to shoot Gou Fei but he wrestles the gun out of the shark's grasp, frees a trapped Sam Sei and escapes. Not wanting to lose face, the loan shark promises to kill them, so Gou Fei and Sam Sei flee the city.
To earn money, they team up with Sam's cousin Judge (Simon Yam
) for a heist. The group meets up, although a fight between Gou Fei's and Judge's friend (Chung and Psycho respectively) breaks out which is triggered off by Gou Fei making remarks about Lau Ngang. After the initial group meeting, Judge, meanwhile, is offered money from the loan shark to kill Gao Fei and Sam during the heist. The heist begins with Gou Fei blocking traffic while Lau Ngang tosses a grenade into an irate driver's car, which explodes. The intended target is a lorry and the group shoots and kills the passengers. Psycho gets in the truck but kicks Chung out and prevents him from boarding. The heist is successful but Judge betrays Gou Fei by attempting to kill him only to kill Chung instead. A car chase ensues between the two. The scene ends when Gou Fei flips his car up-side down. Judge examines the wreckage only to be ambushed by Gou Fei. Another fight ensues, Judge slices Gou Fei's right finger and thumb but is interrupted by a resident who shoots in the air telling them to leave. The stolen truck, now occupied by Lau Ngang and Psycho shoot at the house killing everyone but a girl. Gou Fei takes shelter but Sam Sei appears with a gun intending to kill Gou Fei (at the behest of Judge) but shoots him once in the chest and the rest at the floor. Sam Sei walks out with a pair of bloody eyes to prove that he has "killed" Gou Fei (Judge made remarks about Gou Fei's "mesmerising eyes" earlier). Convinced, he shoots the pressure cooker, causing it to explode, burning alive the previously shot resident and the girl, leaving her with 3rd degree burns.
Gou Fei, assumed to be dead, returns to the city, finding Sam now a competent gangster. Seemingly seeking revenge, he steals the shipment of guns Judge was hoping to sell and ransoms them back. The money is for the hospital bed stricken girl burned in the fire fight. The pair meet again but not before Gou Fei guns down all of Judge's cohorts including Psycho. Judge gives Gou Fei the money and asks for the goods but Gou Fei simply detonates the goods in the end, much to Judge's chagrin. The two shoot at each other but it's Gou Fei who gains the upper hand when he throws his butterfly knife at Judge. Gou Fei finally kills Judge before quipping "Go masturbate in hell!"
referred to the film as "Fast, fierce and gleefully tasteless" while noting that it lacked the "transcendent style" of the John Woo
films starring Chow Yun Fat. The Austin Chronicle referred to the story of the film as the "more or less the same old thing" while stating that "Despite the obvious comparisons to Woo's films, Full Contact survives on its own gritty merits. It's a down-and-dirty little actioneer that leaves you squirming, breathless in your seat."
In Time Out, it was described as "Super-slick, making opportune use of Bangkok locations, and relishing every violent episode, the film's unquestionably good of its type, but also sleazy and soulless." Film 4 gave a negative review of the film, opining it was a "dated and discomforting B-movie" noting weakness in the characterization and plot.
Hong Kong films of 1992
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1992:.-1992:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1992 at...
Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
action film
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
produced and directed by Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
. The film stars Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
, Simon Yam
Simon Yam
Simon Yam Tat-Wah , born March 19, 1955, is a Hong Kong actor and film producer.-Background:The son of a former police officer of Shangdong heritage, his father was a Hong Kong Royal Police ship captain who was murdered by his colleague....
, Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong Chau Sang
Anthony Wong Chau-sang is a Hong Kong Film Award-winning Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. He is regarded as one of the most notable actors in Hong Kong.-Biography:...
, and Ann Bridgewater
Ann Bridgewater
Ann Bridgewater , who is sometimes also known as Pak On Lei, is a former Hong Kong actress.Bridgewater was born in Hong Kong of mixed British, Chinese and Malay parentage...
. It was based upon Donald Westlake's novel The Hunter, with Chow Yun-Fat's character, Gou Fei, analogous to the novel's main character, Parker
Parker (fictional criminal)
Parker is a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. He is the main protagonist of 24 of the 28 novels Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark.-Character overview:...
.
Synopsis
The first part of the movie takes place in BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Gou Fei's (Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
) friend Sam Sei (Anthony Wong
Anthony Wong Chau Sang
Anthony Wong Chau-sang is a Hong Kong Film Award-winning Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. He is regarded as one of the most notable actors in Hong Kong.-Biography:...
) borrows money from a loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
to give Gou Fei's departed mother a proper burial. The loan shark kidnaps Sam and Gao Fei rescues him by confronting the loan shark and persuade him to give more time for Sam to re-pay the loan. The loan shark does not comply and orders his cohorts to kill Sam but Gou Fei punches two of them before he engages a knife fight with the remaining gang members. After doing so, the loan shark attempts to shoot Gou Fei but he wrestles the gun out of the shark's grasp, frees a trapped Sam Sei and escapes. Not wanting to lose face, the loan shark promises to kill them, so Gou Fei and Sam Sei flee the city.
To earn money, they team up with Sam's cousin Judge (Simon Yam
Simon Yam
Simon Yam Tat-Wah , born March 19, 1955, is a Hong Kong actor and film producer.-Background:The son of a former police officer of Shangdong heritage, his father was a Hong Kong Royal Police ship captain who was murdered by his colleague....
) for a heist. The group meets up, although a fight between Gou Fei's and Judge's friend (Chung and Psycho respectively) breaks out which is triggered off by Gou Fei making remarks about Lau Ngang. After the initial group meeting, Judge, meanwhile, is offered money from the loan shark to kill Gao Fei and Sam during the heist. The heist begins with Gou Fei blocking traffic while Lau Ngang tosses a grenade into an irate driver's car, which explodes. The intended target is a lorry and the group shoots and kills the passengers. Psycho gets in the truck but kicks Chung out and prevents him from boarding. The heist is successful but Judge betrays Gou Fei by attempting to kill him only to kill Chung instead. A car chase ensues between the two. The scene ends when Gou Fei flips his car up-side down. Judge examines the wreckage only to be ambushed by Gou Fei. Another fight ensues, Judge slices Gou Fei's right finger and thumb but is interrupted by a resident who shoots in the air telling them to leave. The stolen truck, now occupied by Lau Ngang and Psycho shoot at the house killing everyone but a girl. Gou Fei takes shelter but Sam Sei appears with a gun intending to kill Gou Fei (at the behest of Judge) but shoots him once in the chest and the rest at the floor. Sam Sei walks out with a pair of bloody eyes to prove that he has "killed" Gou Fei (Judge made remarks about Gou Fei's "mesmerising eyes" earlier). Convinced, he shoots the pressure cooker, causing it to explode, burning alive the previously shot resident and the girl, leaving her with 3rd degree burns.
Gou Fei, assumed to be dead, returns to the city, finding Sam now a competent gangster. Seemingly seeking revenge, he steals the shipment of guns Judge was hoping to sell and ransoms them back. The money is for the hospital bed stricken girl burned in the fire fight. The pair meet again but not before Gou Fei guns down all of Judge's cohorts including Psycho. Judge gives Gou Fei the money and asks for the goods but Gou Fei simply detonates the goods in the end, much to Judge's chagrin. The two shoot at each other but it's Gou Fei who gains the upper hand when he throws his butterfly knife at Judge. Gou Fei finally kills Judge before quipping "Go masturbate in hell!"
Release
Full Contact was released in Hong Kong on July 23, 1992. It grossed a total of HK$ 16,793,011.Reception
VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
referred to the film as "Fast, fierce and gleefully tasteless" while noting that it lacked the "transcendent style" of the John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
films starring Chow Yun Fat. The Austin Chronicle referred to the story of the film as the "more or less the same old thing" while stating that "Despite the obvious comparisons to Woo's films, Full Contact survives on its own gritty merits. It's a down-and-dirty little actioneer that leaves you squirming, breathless in your seat."
In Time Out, it was described as "Super-slick, making opportune use of Bangkok locations, and relishing every violent episode, the film's unquestionably good of its type, but also sleazy and soulless." Film 4 gave a negative review of the film, opining it was a "dated and discomforting B-movie" noting weakness in the characterization and plot.