Invisible Target: Ultimate Edition

My knowledge of Hong Kong action cinema pretty much disappeared along with the much missed Hong Kong Legends label which did its best to bring you terrific movies with great action sequences and (usually) a commentary by Bey Logan. When HKL went under, there really wasn't a replacement so I didn't really seek out action movies filmed around Kowloon Bay but just watched more horror movies. Fortunately, Cine Asia has stepped up to the plate and, to an extent, taking over when HKL left off. Their latest release is the Benny Chan action extravaganza Invisible Target.

The film begins with a woman, video calling her fiancé, looking at various rings in the prestigious jewellery store Arte when an armoured car explodes, sending her flying to the floor and, with her boyfriend watching, dies. Her boyfriend, Chan Chun, was no ordinary citizen, but a detective in the Hong Kong police force and he now has more than just a professional motive to bring this lethal gang of robbers who, after blowing up the armoured car, made off with its contents of $10 million, to justice. Detective Chan Chun is one of the more notorious policemen on the force, such is his rather aggressive way of apprehending criminals, with a distinct lack of respect for people's property -- if he has to fight his way into a taxi cab and have a knife fight with a criminal, stabbing the innocent passenger in the process in order to arrest someone, so be it.

Another member of the force with a similar disregard for his own health is inspector Carson Fong Yik Wei who doesn't mind having a fight in a restaurant on destroying the place if it means bringing someone to book. The third of the main characters is a rookie cop Officer Wai King Ho who lives at home with his grandma and is desperate to live up to his brother's reputation as a great cop who went undercover and has disappeared and is missing.

It takes a while, but Benny Chan introduces all three very well and dovetails the narrative so that they all end up in the same place at the same time just when a brawl is going to break out. All three have different reasons to bring down this gang of cold-blooded criminals which is led by the immensely skilled and utterly ruthless Tien Yeng Seng, a man deadly with or without a gun in his hand. There are a few early exchanges between the police and the gang with the law enforcement officials always coming off second best due to the immense skill and brutality of their foes. Each of these introduces a new style of action, from cars to rooftop free running and close quarters kung fu action.


It is fairly obvious that Benny Chan has been influenced by a number of Western movies, such as Michael Mann's Heat, and you know it is only a matter of time before our trio of Hong Kong's finest work out what happened to the money from that initial heist, who were the brains behind it before initiating a showdown with all manner of mayhem and destruction.

I'm no expert on Hong Kong cinema, but I found has to be an extremely well written and directed film which introduces the characters, giving them a background and a motive (beyond upholding law and order) whilst establishing a criminal hierarchy for them to bring down. The film has also being cast extremely well with a couple of men known to Western audiences including Nicolas Tse from The Promise, Shawn Yue from Infernal Affairs, Jacky Wu (credited as Wu Jing) from The Mummy, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and, last but not least, Jaycee Chan, son of the living legend that is Jackie Chan.


This is one of those films where if a stunt is good, it is shown from at least two different angles and the amount of sugar glass they went through can only be measured in tonnes! There are a few occasions where a character will, in order to punch another, smash his hand through a window or table so that he finds his target. In one of the more comedic scenes, the three cops are all back at Ho's grandma's house, using his brother's pain relief oil so they are all stripped to the waist, rubbing each other's bruised limbs and torsos when Grandma walks in on them. I don't mind the odd action movie now and again and, when I want to see a good one, I know that you can't go far wrong if it comes from Hong Kong. Benny Chan is a director who well, 'hates' is the wrong word, but doesn't like to use stunt doubles so all of the actors did their own fight scenes and really did things like jumping into the way of a passing bus then bouncing onto a car onto the road, getting up, running over another car, jumping onto a second moving car then onto the road before and running off!

This isn't one of those dumb action films where can switch your brain off before pressing 'play' as you really need to follow who is who and what side of the line they are on. I don't think it in the same league as Heat, but it is an extremely watchable and very well constructed movie. There is even a little of 24 about this as Inspector Yik Wei's girlfriend works in the intelligence department and so is a little like Chloe O'Brian from the long-running Fox TV show.

The Disc

Extra Features
I'm so used to switching on a Bey Logan commentary and listening to 'Mr Hong Kong Cinema' wax lyrical for the entire running time about the actors, crew members, locations, other films be referenced and generally bombarded with Logan's encyclopaedic knowledge of HK cinema. It was therefore slightly weird to have him sharing the airtime with three of the actors: Shawn Yue, Andy On and Jaycee Chan. Logan is clearly delighted to be sitting in the same room as the three guys and they all have a great time watching the film as Logan tries to dominate the commentary, throw in as much information as he possibly can whilst prompting the actors for their memories of the shoot, other films they have worked on and what it was like doing various stunts. Predictably enough, there are some occasions when you know that Logan is just dying to ask one question but is interrupted at every turn and there were many occasions when I couldn't figure out who was speaking as, aside from Jaycee Chan, the two older actors sounded fairly similar. They have a good laugh at Nicholas Tse's expense, with Logan laughing at him flexing his muscles in the scene when he has his shirt off.

The main special feature is Orchestrated Mayhem: The Making of Invisible Target (SD, 24:59) which begins talking about the film as a whole before moving on to concentrating on each main character in turn from Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan to the slightly more minor female roles along with the actor, what their particular look and 'skill set' is and how they are shot differently from the others. When they have covered the lighting and wardrobe decisions, then go on to the stunt work and, even when you see how it was done, it is still astonishing that these actors put their lives on the line for the sake of cinema -- is one of them says, 'it is 30 percent skill and 70 percent luck'.

Along with trailers for other Cine Asia releases, there is a trailer gallery of trailers for Invisible Target, an interview gallery, a series of deleted and extended scenes and three featurettes looking at the stunt work, premiere and storyboards.

All in all, though it's probably nearly 2 hours of supplementary material to go with the commentary, all of it well worth watching.


The Picture
An outstanding 1080p picture which showcases the dazzling cinematography and quite outrageous stunt work from the opening explosion to the myriad fight scenes (culminating in a series in fire) which all occur without a hint of blurring, compression artefacts or detritus; I thought the films that HKL put out on DVD looked good but this HD picture is really something else. There is the odd slight fleck of dirt but, then again, I was actually looking for faults at that point whilst listening to the commentary rather than enjoyed the film.

For something shot all over Hong Kong, it really uses the locations and extremely well from a fairground to an abandoned building to the more exclusive areas of HK such as Queens Road, even shooting in the Arte jewellery store.

Benny Chan clearly has a keen visual sense as there are several scenes that illustrate the change in colour palette which can be quite vibrant and bright but often changes to something cooler and muted with some smoke and dust around and almost blue light shining into the deserted building.


The Sound
You have the choice of watching the film with English or Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and I went with the native language track for the duration which, slightly unusually for HK film, doesn't use a great deal of dubbing so there are no synchronisation problems and you are hearing the real actors speak their lines.

I did have a go with the English dub but it reminded me so much that great scene in Wayne's World 2 in which way and Cassandra's father are conversing with really cheesy American dubbing that I couldn't take the film seriously.

The soundtrack uses every speaker to its full capacity, wringing the most out of the surrounds in the more action packed sequences with gunfights, explosions and people yelling from all around.

It is extremely well subtitled with clear and easy to read captions which are error free.


Final Thoughts
Invisible Target is a terrific Hong Kong action movie with some brains behind the brawn, well developed characters and situations and enough to satisfy you on both the action and crime thriller fronts. If, like me, you haven't seen one of these films for a while and are looking for a way back into Hong Kong cinema, then be thankful for Cine Asia and the sterling work they are doing in releasing these films in the UK. Although this isn't a classic to rank alongside the best that John Woo has done, it is an extremely accomplished and well acted movie which, if nothing else, proves that Jaycee Chan has more than a little of his father in him.