by Sebastian Kluth
Par kluseba
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, originally released under the title Jiu Long Cheng Zhai: Wei Cheng, is an action thriller from Hong Kong that should please fans of Hong Kong action cinema from the eighties and nineties in particular. The movie has been directed by Cheang Puo Soi who is known for directing great recent action thrillers such as The Brink, Limbo and Cyber Heist. The cast features legendary actors such as Hung Kam Bo of Come Drink with Me and Koo Tin Lok of the Troublesome Night movie series as well as younger actors like Lam Wui Man of Saving General Yang and Wu Yun Long of Chasing the Dragon.
The story revolves around illegal refugee Chan Lok Kwan whose origins and identity are unknown. He comes to Hong Kong and gets double-crossed by syndicate boss Mister Big when trying to purchase a fake identity card. Chan Lok Kwan steals drugs from the criminal in retaliation and flees to Kowloon Walled City. He encounters aging local crime lord Cyclone who controversially decides to take care of him. When Chan Lok Kwan's mysterious identity is finally revealed, a gruesome battle for Kowloon Walled City takes place.
This martial arts movie convinces for numerous reasons. First and foremost, it manages to recapture the magic of Hong Kong action cinema of the late eighties and early nineties thanks to its experienced cast, wonderful settings and gripping story. The reconstruction of parts of Kowloon Walled City deserves much acclaim. The acting performances are convincing throughout and the supporting cast is particularly outstanding. Antagonists and protagonists have much depth and have been fleshed out intelligently in an entertaining script. The brutal martial arts sequences are entertaining throughout for dedicated genre fans. The movie's first half focuses on developing characters while the second half offers action sequences of rapid pace. Despite an ambitious length of one hundred twenty-six minutes for a martial arts movie, this film doesn't include any boring, repetitive or redundant scenes.
Few things deserve to be criticized regarding this wonderful action thriller. The story of a mysterious outsider challenging powerful opponents is obviously very predictable. Lead actor Lam Wui Man simply doesn't have the same charisma as the rest of the lead cast and is thus not the ideal choice in my humble opinion.
Still, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is an excellent action thriller convincing with outstanding settings, exciting martial arts sequences, fluid pace without any lengths, a respectful homage to Hong kong action cinema of the eighties and nineties and overall great casting choices. The predictable story and rather average lead actor won't keep genre fans from enjoying this movie to the fullest. I would highly recommend it to old and young martial arts fans alike and would also watch it again myself on multiple occasions in the future.
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