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HONG KONG PHOOEY: THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 1&2, HARD TARGET

© Sean Gallagher

While American action films have been mired in bludgeoning its audience, Hong Kong films have excited a growing number of people not only for their exhilerating action sequences, but also their storytelling. Even shot on a comparitively low budget, and on a quicker schedule, they normally achieve a power that most American action films don't even dream about. Ronny Yu's THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR is a perfect example of this, and even though the sequel is a pale shadow of the original, it's still better than most American action films. And as John Woo learned with his first American movie, HARD TARGET, it's not easy transplanting his style to America.

Another genre that suffers in American movies is fantasy. If studio heads are to be believed, what makes a fantasy work is lots of special effects, but what really makes it work is imagination and the ability to tell a story (which is why E.T. is such a compelling fantasy, while HOOK is not). Yu's film has both in spades.

We start out with a group of soldiers trying to obtain a flower that, so legend has it, can cure the dying or the wicked, and only blooms every 20 years. They are beaten back, however, by Zhuo Yi Hang (Leslie Cheung), who needs the flower for his own purposes. After the brief battle, he tells them his story. When he was a boy, he was raised by the Wu Tang Clan (the rap group took their name from this film), and expected to be the leader when he grew up. However, he was tenderhearted rather than ruthless. For example, as a boy, he stole a goat to keep it from being slaughtered. While on the run, he was chased by wolves, and was about to be set upon when a beautiful young girl soothed them with her flute. Zhuo passed out, however, before he could thank her, and was taken back to the Clan. When he was a grown man, he became a top warrior for the clan, and the leaders always saw him as leader to their cause. Again, however, Zhuo felt he was destined for other things.

The Wu Tang Clan were the sworn enemies of the Supreme Cult, a clan that used witchcraft, which was anathema to the Wu Tan Clan. Their leaders were Siamese twins, one male (Francis Ng), one female (Elaine Lui). The two clans went to battle, and Zhuo saw a witch attacking people with her hair. This was Lien Ni Chang (Brigitte Lin), the girl who had rescued him as a boy. She had been raised by wolves, until the twins had taken her to fight for them, since the male lusted after her. The two were thrown together when they rescued a man caught between the crossfire trying to escape with his wife. Later, Zhuo saved Lien's life in battle, and the two fell deeply in love. He promised her the flower of the beginning, and never to betray her. However, his clan was attacked by the Supreme Cult, and when it looked like Lien did it, tragedy struck.

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