This “Limited Edition” Blu-ray is currently available from Eureka! Entertainment.
After the tragic passing of martial arts movie star Bruce Lee in 1973, there was a period in the following years that involved producers attempting to discover his replacement. Companies like Golden Harvest in Hong Kong were certainly taking part in the process, producing movies with fresh young performers hoping to make their big break. Sadly, no one was able to replicate Lee’s success during this era and a lot of these pictures vanished not long after their releases.
The Double Crossers was one such attempt, featuring a young South Korean talent named Shin Il-ryong. Truth be told, the picture itself is pretty fun. It is a revenge story that doesn’t focus on extended martial arts battles, instead detailing the lead’s overly elaborate attempt to scam and destroy the criminal boss responsible for the death of his father. One can see how the film may not have delivered what audiences at the time were expecting, thus causing it to quickly fade into obscurity. However, it is an interesting effort with some fun flourishes.
Eureka Entertainment have done an excellent job restoring both the Hong Kong and English-language export versions of the film in 2K for its worldwide Blu-ray debut. It will definitely entertain anyone looking for an Asian action movie with an unusual spin.
After his father is slain by a mysterious group of criminals, Detective Lung (Shin Il-ryong) returns home to investigate the scene (with his dad’s body outline right there on the floor in front of him). It turns out that the protagonist’s well-intentioned dad was a businessman who had tried to raise him after the passing of his mother. After some time apart, Lung’s pop and business partner Chang (Chan Sing) got in with the wrong crowd, specifically a deadly mobster named Wang (Chao Hsiung). Chang removed himself from the outfit and vanished, but the lead’s dad was ultimately murdered. Lung doesn’t have a lot of trouble locating Chang and convinces him to help locate the villainous Wang. They track the mobster through Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia and come up with a, well, absurdly elaborate oil drilling plot to get the better of him. But of course, the bad guy has a set of dangerous henchmen, including one familiar and flamboyantly dressed fighter (Sammo Hung).
The big plus with this project is its beautiful settings. This picture was shot on location and jumps around Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia, with much of the action occurring outdoors. For someone used to seeing most martial arts characters square-off on a soundstage, this is a nice contrast. The modern day setting also allows the film to try and take a more realistic approach to these confrontations. The fight scenes are quite brief, but well performed and nicely edited. There are some enjoyable camera angles, including POVs of characters swinging at the camera. And the benefit of not spending five minutes at a time throwing punches and kicks is that the pacing doesn’t really lag.
Il-ryong and, in particular Sing, are likable heroes of different backgrounds who play well off of each other. As for the oddball scheme, it is extremely amusing, if completely unbelievable. Lung and Chang literally spend a few days building an oil well refinery and dig into an existing pipeline to create a cover to lure Wang to meet with them for a business proposition. The final fight does make a strong impression as the heroes and several memorably eccentric bad guys do battle. There are some unexpected twists in the finale as well. In fact, the international version of the film has an entirely different and much more upbeat close.
This is not a great film, but it is an entertaining one with some novel and original elements that distinguishes it from others of its ilk. The picture quality is quite good. Naturally, this title was likely not taken care of as well as other, more famous features from Asia, but it is quite clean and the exteriors (of which there are many) look attractive on a big home theater screen. The camera lenses used are also very wide, lending a unique look when the camera pans and moves around. This is a good transfer of an obscurity and the image quality won’t disappoint viewers.
There are also two fun commentaries included. The first is from Frank Djeng and is an informative discussion on why and how the movie was made. He does note several interesting aspects of the production and pokes a bit of fun at some of the over-the-top aspects of the plot. There are some plants who help the heroes during business meetings with the mobster, but it is bizarre to see that they all remain in character with each other even when Wang isn’t present. Plenty of details about the cast and crew are also given. The speaker notes that this really is a crime picture and that the action scenes are shorter for the sake of authenticity (at least, when it comes to fighting). He also suggests that while no choreographer is credited for the fight scenes, Sammo Hung must have played a major role in staging them. There’s no way he didn’t plan out the moves in the climactic battle.
The second track is from historians Mile Leed and Arne Venema and it’s a looser and more informal track. They joke a lot and many of their little jabs at the story and its inconsistencies are amusing. The pair do grouse more about the film needing longer fight scenes and not being everything they personally would want from this type of picture. They also have some trouble with the Hong Kong ending, which to this reviewer is simply an acknowledgement of brotherhood between the heroes and that they have ultimately accomplished their main goal, even if things didn’t quite go according to plan.
A lengthy trailer for the movie is also included.
It is always wonderful to see a film get rescued and Eureka Entertainment should take some pride in having saved a picture that could easily have been lost. Sure, it’s a silly action film, but an enjoyable one that is briskly paced, features wonderful locations, has a few memorable moments, and an interesting cast (including that very early appearance by Hung). The image quality is generally strong and most fans of Asian cinema will definitely enjoy what they see. I’m glad to have been given the chance to view The Double Crossers for the first time and look forward to checking out more Blu-rays from this distributor.