Review for The Royal Tramp Collection

6 / 10

Introduction

I must be a sucker for punishment. Quite recently, and off the back of some fond memories of Shaolin Soccer, I requested the Stephen Chow comedy, From Beijing with Love for review, hoping that a James Bond pastiche might hit the spot in a way that Kung Fu Hustle didn’t. That turned out not to be the case but the damage was done; or the review disc allocation algorithm had its switches flicked so that the next two Stephen Chow comedies to come from Eureka Entertainment wound up on my review pile. Things get all wuxia wire-fu for Royal Tramp, and its sequel Royal Tramp II.

Introduction: Royal Tramp

It’s a time during the Qing dynasty that the Emperor is yet to come of age, and the nation is ruled by his four ministers, four men who vie for power, and of which Obai is the most ruthless and malevolent. But there is also a secret rebellion that plots to restore the Ming to power. Wei Xiabao is a storyteller who plies his skills in the brothel where his sister works. He’s there when Obai’s army shows up looking for the rebel leader hiding there (coincidentally while the young Emperor is there holding a secret meeting plotting against Obai). Helping the rebel escape, Wei is recruited, and assigned a mission to go undercover in the palace to find and steal a sacred document, defeat Obai, and topple the Emperor. The only problem is that he has to go undercover as a eunuch.

Extras: Royal Tramp

The disc boots to a static menu page that lists the audio options and the following extras.

Audio commentary with Mike Leeder & Arne Venema
Audio commentary with Frank Djeng & F. J. DiSanto
An Interview with Wong Jing [Part 1] (9:17)
Hong Kong Trailer (4:40)

Conclusion: Royal Tramp

My experience of Stephen Chow movies has been so cemented at this point, that it’s unlikely that any new example of his work will change my mind. In fact, Royal Tramp was in many ways the most tiresome of his brand of no sense comedies that I have seen thus far, albeit with one caveat. His sense of humour turns on his deadpan visage, and constant flow of absurdities and innuendo. If it isn’t clear at this juncture, these aren’t stories that you take at all seriously, even if the wire-fu and action in this film is up there with the more serious entrants in the wuxia genre. But it took me four hours to watch a two hour film last night, so often did I fall asleep during its runtime. It does say this much for the film though; I was motivated enough to skip back and watch what I had missed, on five separate occasions. For any lesser film, I would have given up, preferring not to waste my time.

What happened was that I opted after a couple of unwanted snoozes, to try the English dub, something I never do for Hong Kong live action movies, so wary am I of miscasting, bad acting, and non-existent lip sync. I think the languages are different enough that lip sync will never happen with Cantonese or Mandarin cinema in English, but Royal Tramp actually has a decent English language voice cast, who deliver good performances. More impressive is the script, which is witty, fast paced, and does enough with the translation to feel natural, flow well, and it does a better job of tickling the funny bone than the subtitle translation. I still didn’t laugh, but it held my attention a sight better than the original language version. And it had an Abba reference that almost got me smirking.

The story is pretty simple, Wei Xiabao is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time, and gets drafted into a mission to infiltrate the palace for a simple theft. That he has to pretend to be a eunuch unleashes all the innuendo this film will ever need. But he gets pulled into a whole lot of palace intrigue as well. The situations are daft, the characters are overblown and ridiculous, and random surrealism is the order of the day, with the odd anachronism thrown in for good measure. Royal Tramp is up there with all the other Stephen Chow movies, so if you know what to expect, you’ll be satisfied where I was not. This is not my kind of humour. But having said that, I was surprised at just how good the English dub for this film is.

6/10

Introduction: Royal Tramp II

Wei Xiabao was recruited by a rebel group to go undercover in the palace to work for the overthrow of the Qing Emperor. But he wound up uncovering another plot, with the Empress Dowager replaced by a secret agent called Long-Er. When Wei unmasked her, she swore revenge. But having ascended to the priesthood of the Divine Dragon Sect, she’s gained in power, with the caveat that she’d lose that power to the man who takes her virginity. Meanwhile, there are further plots against the Emperor, with one family trying to get their foot in the door by arranging a marriage with the Emperor’s sister, the same sister who’s Wei Xiabao’s girlfriend, and who is carrying his child.

Extras: Royal Tramp II

Conclusion: Royal Tramp II

I could cut and paste the review for the first film here. In some ways, that’s the best possible thing, if you’re expecting a sequel to maintain the quality of the original, build on the story, and throw in something fresh as well. From my perspective, it only means that I fell asleep watching the original language version, wound up skipping back, and appreciating the quality and flow of the English dub more, even if it’s still a comedy that refuses to make me laugh.

In one respect, this is a rehash of the first film, in that there is a powerful antagonist who’s looking to overthrow the Emperor, by whatever means, sneaky or otherwise. By this point, Wei is riding the success he attained by saving the Emperor in the first film, and he’s now a loyal confidante; which makes things difficult when the Emperor finds a new advisor, who happens to be part of the plot against him. There’s wire-fu in their future once more, and some dismemberment action.

Yet this time there is the added dimension of Long-Er, the head of the Divine Dragon Sect, who is also plotting against the Emperor, and since the previous film, has sworn vengeance against Wei. But with the notion that she loses her powers if she ever has sex, it gives the relationship a certain tone. With many female assassins abroad as well, and the byplay between Wei and the Emperor’s sister, if this were an anime, it would be a harem comedy.

Stephen Chow is very much not my cup of tea, but I can intellectually recognise the humour in the film, and objectively, I’d say it was an improvement on the original. That’s about as back-handed a compliment as I can give. Funny is something you feel, not something you recognise. But once again, if Stephen Chow is up your alley, then this film will deliver.

6/10

The Discs

Both films get 1.85:1 widescreen 1080p transfers with the choice between PCM 2.0 Mono Cantonese and DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround English with optional translated English subtitles. There’s not a lot between them when it comes to transfer quality. The films come from that period where film stock tended towards more grain, subdued colours, and a degree of softness, but given the usual restoration, still look really good on Blu-ray. The image is clear, detail levels are good, and colours are consistent. There is no sign of compression or the like, and the wire-fu action comes across a treat. The Cantonese audio is clear enough, if a tad distorted at higher volumes. The subtitles are accurately timed and are free of typos. The dub is nice and immersive, the surround more than the usual simple upmix, although lip-sync isn’t a priority here... Yes, I watched a kung-fu movie dub.

In Summary

I think this as about as positive as I can be about two films I really don’t like. They are well made, interesting stories, with some impressively choreographed wuxia action. And I can recognise that a specific audience will find them hilarious. I’m just not a member of that audience. What shocked me however, was just how much I appreciated the dub translation. It flows well, the translation works naturally, and the voice actors do an excellent job. I’ve never had that experience before with a live action Hong Kong movie. For that reason alone, Royal Tramp and its sequel are worth a look.

The Royal Tramp Collection is available from Eureka Entertainment, from Terracotta, and from mainstream retailers.