4 Star

For the Few, That Give So Much.

From writers Anastasia Tsang (A Light Never Goes Out) and Oliver Yip (Where the Wind Blows) who bring us the powerful story of belief and the age-old Hong Kong stuntman saying “Never Say No”, this was at the height of Hong Kong action films in the 1980s. Directors Albert Leung (Twins Mission) and Herbert Leung (Twins Mission) bring the raw passion of the 1980s and smashes it into the 2020s, and how the two don’t mix in the Gen-Z generation. With first-hand knowledge of the stunt business, (I also know) they bring out the dangers and the thrills of doing a great stunt to make that movie standout from the rest. Throw in that human element and you are onto a winner. Roll cameras. Action

Back in the day, Sam Li (Wei Tung, Hard Boiled, Kung Fu Killer (Stunts)) is the stunt coordinator on the latest Hong Kong action blockbuster. It’s a night shoot in a closed mall, as our hero fights off all the baddies, and in the final shot our (stuntman) hero Wai Goi (Philip Ng, New Police Story, Birth of the Dragon) has to jump off a bridge onto a moving lorry. But when action is called, he freezes and the shot is missed, reset the shot and he freezes again. Sam replaces him with another stuntman. Action is called, and the lorry and car start moving when it gets to its mark Sam calls action, but there is interference on the walkie-talkie, missing his mark, one of the others on set shouts “Don’t Jump!” Only hearing “jump”, he does, only to hit the back of the lorry and the bonnet of the chasing car.

That was Sam’s last movie, twenty odd years later he is more interested in earning a meagre existence and getting back into the good books of his estranged daughter Cherry (Cecilia Choi, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, A Light Never Goes Out) who is soon to be married.

I am a stunt performer, not an extra.

Meanwhile, aspiring stuntman Lung Jai (Chun-Him Lau, Beyond the Dream, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In) is trying to get noticed by the now famous stuntman/star actor Wai’s stunt team, which he fails, as they are a tight group that all worship Wai.

Everyone says Hong Kong film is dead, but I don’t want it to die before I do.

So Lung relies on his brother’s delivery service to earn money, which brings him into contact with Sam, who has been coaxed out of retirement by an old director friend of his. He is looking to put a team together to do the stunts Wai’s team don’t want to do.

You have to be an ass*ole once in a while.