Review for Invisible Target: Ultimate Edition (2 discs)

Introduction

How long has it been since you last saw some high quality nuttiness from Hong Kong cinema? There was a time, usually during the classic Jackie Chan era, that Hong Kong cinema delivered action on an unprecedented scale, awesome fight sequences, insane stunts, and a total ignorance of life insurance. But it wasn't just the stunts. These films would have something for everyone, there would be a fair to decent story, melodrama, comedy, and did I mention the action? These would be films like Police Story, Project A, and Millionaires' Express, with lavish (for Hong Kong) budgets and production values, and stars that could act and kick arse too. That age ended when Hong Kong cinema diversified, making films for specific audiences instead of packing everyone into one cinema. Also, the current generation of stars come from pop music and teen idol backgrounds, and haven't necessarily had the training to allow for insane kung fu antics as there once was. I have to admit that I miss those good old days of knockabout action comedy drama. And then Invisible Target belatedly turns up for review.


A simple armoured truck robbery gets out of hand when explosives wreak havoc in a busy shopping district, and a shootout with the police turns lethal. Six months later, the mercenary thieves return, looking for their money. They were double crossed, and now they won't stop at anything in their desire for vengeance, and the police don't faze them either. Yet it will be three, unconventional cops who are thrown together by fate and circumstance that will have to bring the gang down. Detective Chan Chun's life was perfect, until they day his fiancée was killed, during the armoured truck heist. Since then, he's become a burnt out maverick of a cop, and he's been looking for the robbers ever since. Now that they've turned up, he's not liable to let something as trivial as the law get in his way. Inspector Carson Fong Yik Wei had the world on a plate, leading a crack team that dealt with crime efficiently and stylishly. He was the definition of a playboy supercop, until the day that he ran into the robbers, and was duly humiliated, his team utterly beaten. Now he's looking for some payback. Then there is the rookie Wai King Ho, the epitome of an honest, hard working cop. Except for his brother, also a cop, who has been missing for years. Now his brother's picture has resurfaced, and he's apparently a member of the robbers' gang. Now his superiors are questioning Wai, he's suspended from duty, and he's torn between his loyalty towards his brother and his duty as a cop. The rookie, the playboy and the maverick, versus the most brutal, unrelenting, vicious gang that Hong Kong has ever seen; all hell is about to break loose!

Picture

Invisible Target gets a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, which as befits a recent film is more than acceptable at first glance. It's clear, it looks sharp, and the colours are represented faithfully, on top of which it is a native film to PAL transfer. There's no print damage, and compression artefacts are absent. It's only on closer examination that you may notice odd moments of softness, and conversely the sort of aliasing that comes from a smidgen of edge enhancement. It's never really enough to make a definitive judgement either way, but it is enough for this not to be one of the top-notch DVD transfers. But, you won't be bothered by the transfer when you watch the film, as the action comes across clearly enough, and the sight of just one nutty stunt is enough to put cares and worries about the transfer out of your mind. Invisible Target is also available on Blu-ray if you want extra definition.

Sound

You get the choice of DD 5.1 English and Cantonese (with a smidge of Mandarin thrown in), along with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is clear throughout, the surrounds are put to good use conveying the action and the subtitles are free of error and timed well. It's a film that delivers on the action when it comes to the audio. There are plenty of fight sequences, gunfights, car crashes and explosions, but I must say that the sound design was a little generic. There was a gunfight scene that certainly paid homage to Heat, with the robbers facing the police in an exchange of automatic weapons fire. But while Heat's gunfight was a scene that stuck with audiences in large part because of the sound design, Invisible Target's action sounds like just another gunfight. The best thing I can say about the English dub is that I tried it, and I lasted for more than five minutes.

Extras

This is another one of Cine Asia's Ultimate Editions, usually a misnomer given that they are the only editions. However, in this case the hyperbole may be justified, with 2 discs worth of content, and some choice extra features. Both discs come with the usual animated menus.

Disc 1 gets a Trailer Gallery with the teaser and theatrical trailer, as well as trailers for four other Cine Asia releases.

You'll also find, Orchestrated Mayhem: The Making of Invisible Target here. This lasts 25 minutes and is your usual EPK piece, with brief interviews with the cast and crew, clips from the film, and behind the scenes footage. It is an interesting watch though.

The cream of the extras on this disc has to be the audio commentary. It's Bey Logan as ever, this being a Dragon Dynasty release brought over to the UK, but this time he's joined by the film's stars, Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, and Andy On. Admittedly with Bey such a voluble and knowledgeable speaker, he does lead the commentary, with plenty to talk about. It does seem at first as if he overwhelms the other speakers, who struggle to get a word in, but as the commentary progresses, it evens out, and there are some choice anecdotes about the making of the film to listen to. I do think that subtitles for the commentary track would have been helpful though, if only to note who was speaking at that particular moment.


The second disc is also laden with extras, with much to appreciate if you are a fan of interviews. The interview gallery has seven to choose from, with contributions from director Benny Chan, and stars Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Wu Jing, Philip Ng, Vincent Sze, and Andy On. They talk about the film, their careers, working with their co-stars and the director, and much more. In total, the interviews run to 2 hours and 33 minutes.

There are 14 minutes worth of Deleted and Extended Scenes with a commentary from director Benny Chan. Although it's a shame that you can't switch off the commentary and see the scenes as they would have appeared in the film.

There are two featurettes on the disc, Fight For Glory: Constructing the Action Sequences of Invisible Target, which lasts 19 minutes, and 18 minutes of storyboard comparisons with director's commentary.

Finally we get to see the Gala Premiere. This lasts 10 minutes, and sees the director and the stars on stage to introduce the film.

Conclusion

Invisible Target is a whole heap of fun, more fun than it has any right to be really, aping as it does those modern classic kung-fu action dramas of the late eighties and early nineties. In the extra features it becomes clear that the creators wanted to pay homage, as well as recreate the buzz that surrounded films like Police Story or Armour of God. It was a genre that Jackie Chan made his own, the modern action movie, kung fu action in a modern milieu with a healthy dose of comedy and drama. It seems that sort of action has passed from Hong Kong cinema. But Invisible Target not only revives that genre, showing that the current generation of stars can handle such outrageous action as well, but it also rejuvenates it, giving it a modern twist that actually sets it apart from the earlier films. Invisible Target is in some ways better than those old films that I still cherish.


The acting is stronger for one. These are actors from a dramatic background first, rather than an action background, and as such they can bring more nuance to the characters, make them more rounded and interesting. It also means that the director can spend more time on the story, and the back-stories, which in turn means that this film isn't just a good guys versus bad guys knockabout. These are characters with shade and dimension to them. The antagonists demand audience sympathy even when they commit the vilest of crimes, and there is some chance for redemption even as they pursue their vengeance and schemes. The good guys on the other hand aren't all whiter than white. Chan Chun has forgotten that he is a cop in the midst of his grief, and his own need for revenge makes him more of a danger to his allies than his foes at times. At the same time Fong Yik Wei has been blinded to the possibility of error or failure by his own pride and arrogance in his infallibility, so that when the fall comes it's harder than most. The only beacon of innocence is Wai King Ho, and that's because he's the naïve rookie. Yet he's about to learn a hard lesson about the realities of the world beyond his simple black and white perceptions of right and wrong. And the rest of the police are worse.


But then there is that absolutely insane action, made all the more breathtaking as the director asked the stars to perform their own stunts, as was the way of things in years past. So when you see Nicholas Tse jumping off tall buildings, being hit by a bus, Shawn Yue laying the smackdown to a restaurant full of bad guys, or Jaycee Chan being kicked off a balcony… twice, it's hard not to keep the jaw from dropping. Also, for a modern film, there is a whole lot less CGI than you would expect, and scenes that you would assume would be effects enhanced, are actually done for real. Apparently it is cheaper to set fire to your actors than it is to mock it up in a computer. It's Hong Kong action movie recklessness of the sort I thought was a thing of the past, and yes, the end credits sequence does have a blooper reel.


Edge of the seat? Check. Silly grin in place? Check. Heart Pounding? Check. Pausing the film and skipping back to replay an action sequence? Very check! Invisible Target was an utter blast, a Hong Kong action epic updated for modern audiences, and working in every respect. With films of this quality possible, I hope that this signals a renaissance for the Hong Kong action movie industry. It's long overdue.