Directed by Wong Jing
Written by Wong Jing, Manfred Wong and Koon-nam Lui
China, 2012
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Donnie Yen’s Ip Man movies and Fist of Legend sequel, Jackie Chan’s 1911, and David Wu’s Cold Steel, which hit Fantasia last year, are all good examples of this.
Screening at Fantasia this year, Wong Jing’s period crime drama The Last Tycoon is a solid addition to that list, setting the story of a Shanghai crime boss against the Japanese attack and occupation of Shanghai in WW2.
After moving to Shanghai in the early 1900s, Chang Deqi, played by Chow Yun-Fat with Huang Xiaoming as his younger self, rises to prominence in the Shanghai underworld, soon sitting beside Sammo Hung’s portly kingpin, Hong Shouting.
But around the same time tensions begin to ratchet up and war breaks out, Deqi’s childhood flame Ye Zhiqiu, played by Yuan Quan, shows up in town with her husband, bringing chaos to Deqi’s life.
Right off the bat, viewers will notice that The Last Tycoon plays the melodrama card pretty hard. The soundtrack is rife with overwrought ballads, characters frequently break down into undignified sobs, the film is constantly teetering on the edge of high camp like an uncertain base jumper, and arguably takes the plunge with gusto in the grand finale.
While those familiar with recent trends in Hong Kong film making may think they’re prepared, The Last Tycoon is a new chapter in Hong Kong melodrama, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your disposition.
Either way, the upshot is it’s a hard film to take seriously, in spite of its intentions. But there is some good film making on display, underneath the layers of overwrought melodrama. The story hopscotches back and forth between the “present day”, with Yun-Fat playing the older Chang, while recounting his origin and the background of his relationship with Zhiqiu. This is something a lot of directors have tried to pull off and bungled, turning the film into an unintelligible mess, but Wong Jing manages to keep multiple plates spinning, at least until the third act or so when the main focus becomes Chang’s later life.
The production values are also pretty impressive, somewhat dated looking CGI fighter planes not withstanding. The costumes, sets and period cars and other assorted props have clearly gotten a lot of attention, not to mention the scenes of all of that lovely stuff getting blown sky high, which rival that of some Hollywood blockbusters.
Chow Yun-Fat, despite making a name in action roles, proves he can do more on screen than shoot tons of people in dramatic and dynamic ways, which isn’t to say he doesn’t do his fair share of that. Again, he hasn’t quite mastered the art of crying yet, but it’s still a good turn over all. The supporting cast all do fine, though Yuan Quan doesn’t get the most to work with as Zhiqui, mostly coming off fairly flat and uninteresting.
Overall, The Last Tycoon isn’t going to rock anyone out of their seat, and will probably find more of an audience for its melodramatic camp value than anything else, but unlike the somewhat painful Cold Steel, it can’t be accused of being bad, just decent. Decent and very, very schlocky.