Review of Millionaires` Express

Introduction

A period kung-fu genre bending comedy is just the ticket for those late nights when there`s nothing on television bar the latest reality contrivance, and you can feel your life ticking away as you stand in front of a DVD shelf trying to figure out what to watch next. Or is it just me? Historical accuracy has never been a strongpoint of Hong Kong cinema, but Millionaires` Express is set sometime early in the twentieth century, with an anachronistic mix of characters, including gangsters, floozies, cowboys, ninja samurai, kung-fu masters and a Sherlock Holmes devotee.

The Millionaires` Express is the regular train from Shanghai that is usually the exclusive transport of the wealthy and the well to do. At the best of times this would make it a prime target for banditry, but this time around the Japanese ambassador is travelling on board with a map to the Terracotta Army. It`s no surprise that interest in this particular train is high, most notably among a bunch of nefarious gangsters and their bandit sidekicks. The plan is to ambush the train just past the town of Han Shui. Han Shui has trouble of its own, the bank has just been robbed by the unscrupulous town security, and infamous son of the town, Ching Fong Tin has just returned with a bunch of prostitutes in tow, with a plan of his own. By blowing up the tracks before the train reaches the town, the train passengers will have to visit Han Shui, and spend some money at the brothel he intends to set up. He doesn`t count on the gangsters or the bandits showing up, or even the government agent that has been pursuing him.

Video

Hong Kong Legends provides a sterling transfer of a film that is nearly 20 years old. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is clear and sharp, with strong colours throughout. The detail is good and the contrast levels steady throughout. There is hardly any print damage to speak of, and I didn`t notice any artefacts. If only certain Hollywood films of this vintage could get similar treatment.

The splendid transfer does great justice to the cinematography. Everything from the production design, the costumes, the sets and the lighting comes across beautifully, and this film looks worth ten times the budget. The fight choreography comes from the old school of Hong Kong cinema, and is a joy to watch, as are the slapstick sight gags and the mind-blowing stunts.

Audio

In contrast the sound is something of a disappointment. Bowing to consumer demand, HKL have started putting the original Cantonese mono tracks on their discs, and Millionaires` Express has a perfectly serviceable mono track reflecting the original experience of watching the film in 1986. For those with multi-speaker set-ups, there is a DD 5.1 Cantonese track and a DD 5.1 English dub.

I chose the Cantonese surround track, but it`s a fairly front-focussed affair, with the speakers really only called into use for a touch of occasional ambience and action. As such it sounds a little forced, especially as the dynamic range isn`t all that dynamic, with the track sounding slightly muffled and wooden. The dialogue is clear throughout however.

The English dub is usually something I avoid, but I gave this one a try when I saw that in the original track, those characters of different nationalities, spoke their own languages, hence there is English, Russian, Japanese and Cantonese dialogue in this film. The English dub solves this by dubbing everyone into English, although it makes the scene where Sammo Hung`s character is translating between Japanese and Cantonese decidedly odd.

Subtitles are provided in the form of translated English and Dutch.

Features

Bey Logan.

The man who knows everything about everything provides yet another information packed commentary for a HKL release. I wish that he`d do the commentary for the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Maybe then we`ll learn exactly why the meaning of the Universe is 42. If anyone knows, he does. Here he provides detail regarding the all-star cast in Millionaires` Express, as well as the many different versions of the film, and much, much more.

There are a couple of featurettes on this disc. First there is On The Cutting Edge - An Interview With Yukari Oshima who made her screen debut as a ninja samurai in Millionaires` Express. She relates how she got into the industry, the difference between Japanese and Hong Kong cinema and working on the film, as well as overcoming the language barrier. This lasts 30 minutes and is presented anamorphically in Japanese with English subtitles.

A New Frontier - An Interview With Sammo Hung, is an 11-minute chat with the director and star of Millionaires` Express. He talks about the making of the film, as well as the history of Shanghai and how it relates to the period and characters of the film. This is in Cantonese with English subtitles.

The trailer gallery contains the original theatrical trailer, in which you can see part of the brothel scene that didn`t make the International Cut or this DVD, as well as the UK promotional trailer. Also on this disc are information and/or trailers for 6 further titles from Hong Kong Legends, and 6 films from Premier Asia.

Conclusion

Millionaires` Express is one of those films that have it all, except maybe a coherent plot. But this film is from that era where niceties like plot and depth of character were less of a concern, than having a rip-roaring time watching a film that wouldn`t fail to entertain. This film entertains in spades. It`s your classic mix of action and comedy, with plenty of slapstick, farce and death defying stunts thrown in for good measure. From the introduction of the hero, Sammo Hung`s Ching Fong Tin as he loots seemingly dead Russian soldiers, to the film`s action packed climax, the pace is relentless and the thrills and comedy laid on in generous measure.

There is a nice mix of oddball characters played by a veritable who`s who of Hong Kong cinema, from the rival masters travelling with their equally antagonistic sons, the adulterous Sherlock Holmes look-alike who keeps trying to find time away from his hefty wife to be with his mistress, the idiotic security guards turned bank robbers, and the samurai who are so adept with their swords that they are a menace to passing flies. Millionaires` Express pays homage to Spaghetti Westerns in its wonderful cinematography, as well as Indiana Jones in terms of its style and characters, but plays like nothing less than a live action cartoon.

I quickly found myself lost in its charms, and on a couple of occasions was startled into belly laughs that were actually painful. It`s nice to occasionally watch a film without pretensions, and Millionaires` Express was an unadulterated joy. Hong Kong Legends once again do sterling work with the image, and the disc has a nice selection of features. The sound is acceptable, and the addition of the original mono track is a nice touch for purists. Catch Millionaires` Express when it pulls into a DVD aisle near you.