I also liked The Brink even though it wasn’t perfect. I think it’s better to watch the movie in Mandarin to hear Max’s and Yue’s real voices.

Max was great and not just in the action scenes. He has a real presence about himself and can play any kind of role it seems. He’s been doing well for himself, and I’m excited that Invincible Dragon is at dddhouse on August 30!

That said, it was almost refreshing how much this feels distinctly like a Hong Kong action flick of yesteryear and not a Mainland co-production. For the most part, the action choreography was solid, but I thought the first two big setpieces (the apartment beatdown and the alleyway fight) were the highlights, trumping any of the water-based combat in the back half. The cutting during the action was also a little too frequent for my taste. In some ways, this felt quite similar to ‘Paradox,’ but I have to give the edge to that movie, perhaps because of Sammo Hung’s choreography.

Still, if you dig Max Zhang’s output, you’ll definitely want to make an appointment with this film. Just don’t expect it to reach the heights of ‘Master Z.’

Sigh. I just had to buy the HK Blu Ray when it was first released.

It took a little over a year, but the Well Go USA DVD & Blu-ray will be hitting the shelves on 12th March.

I believe the reason why they’re dubbed is because they don’t speak Cantonese, the same way that almost all (I think with the exception of ‘Hitman’) of Jet Li’s HK movies have someone dubbing him in Cantonese.

If it’s a locally flavored HK movie they’ll definitely dub the Mandarin speakers into Cantonese, the same way many Mainland movies dub the Cantonese speakers into Mandarin.

Thabks a lot for clearing some of this up.

So Zhang and Wu didn’t even dub themselves in post production? I hate that. And I though HK was finally ok with having casts speak Mandarin.

Without going into too much detail, HK’s film output still has to get past the government’s SARFT censorship board if it’s to be shown in China (no nudity/sex, no extreme violence, no supernatural elements etc.).

There are some movies that voluntarily only play in Hong Kong. For example, in 2008 Dennis Law refused to trim any of the violence out of ‘Fatal Move’ to be approved for Mainland screening, and was happy for it to only be shown in HK. Likewise for the 2015 socio-political omnibus movie ‘Ten Years’.

However it also works the other way around, with many Mainland movies not being screened (or receiving very limited theatrical runs) in HK, mainly due to local tastes being different from a lot of the output. Even a popular local director like Tsui Hark failed to resonate with HK audiences, when he adapted a play from China’s Cultural Revolution period into ‘The Taking of Tiger Mountain’. Its HK run brought in a total box office of $60,000, an amount considered so embarrassing it was never officially published anywhere.

Perhaps one of the biggest differences though is the language. A HK movie will be shot in Cantonese (in ‘The Brink’ both Max Zhang and Wu Yue are dubbed), while Mainland productions are shot in Mandarin. Of course, with so many co-productions in recent years, it’s becoming increasingly common to hear a mix of both in the same movie.

I loved Once Upon also. Phillip Ng wasn’t a skilled thespian, but I thought he played his role about at well as Tony’s jaa did with his Thai films. (For better or worse)

I keep forgetting that a lot of action packed films from China lately are mainland productions. I’m still foggy on HK’s restrictions.