[KFCC] Bullet In the Head Review

Story: Hong Kong, like many other places in the mid-to-late 1960's, is experiencing a period of transition: socially, economically and politically. Three friends, Ben (Tony Leung), Frank (Jacky Cheung) and Paul (Waise Lee), seem oblivious to this as they coast through life; drinking, acting the fool, dancing, romancing and involving themselves in petty fights over their turf. Despite their apparent lack of ambition and prospects, the three have not resigned themselves to a life where they struggle to make ends meet.

Things change when Ben decides to marry his sweetheart, Jane (Fennie Yuen); Frank funds the wedding banquet by visiting a loan shark, but is jumped by a local hood, Ringo (Yee Tin-Hung), on his way to join the party. He makes it to the banquet, along with the money, although he has sustained a nasty head wound. Whilst Paul talks of illegitimate business opportunities, Ben quizzes Frank on the origins of his injuries. When Frank reluctantly tells Ben of his run in with Ringo the two set out to take revenge, but events soon spiral out of control and Ringo ends up dead.

Wanted for murder, pursued by Ringo's gang and the loan shark, the three decide to flee Hong Kong for Vietnam. Ben, Frank and Paul take the opportunity to make some money as they go, smuggling medication that is to be sold on to the North Vietnamese. The journey to Vietnam goes smoothly, but the deceptive peace of Saigon is soon shattered when they get caught up in a bombing, which destroys their cargo and leaves them high and dry. When the three meet up with their middle-man, Luke (Simon Yam), they hatch a plot that starts by pitting them against Mr Leong (Lam Chung), the vicious gangster whom their cargo was to be sold to, and ends up testing their friendship's limits as they encounter gangsters, a box of gold, corrupt soldiers, a fallen pop idol from Hong Kong and the Viet-Cong.

Review: 'BULLET IN THE HEAD' is a film that its director, John Woo, describes as his equivalent to Francis Ford Coppola's 'APOCALYPSE NOW', both in terms of the film's scope and the toll that the project had on him personally. That may be a slight overstatement, but it is a film that was dogged with trouble throughout its pre-production, shooting and after its release. Initially, along with producer Tsui Hark, Woo envisioned the film as a prequel to 'A BETTER TOMORROW', but a falling out prevented this and resulted in Woo working on the project, and funding the majority of it, by himself. When Woo had finished editing the film, it ran to around three hours in length; Golden Princess insisted that Woo cut the film, to a more audience-friendly length, and a two hour cut is what eventually reached the screen. Even at this length, the film wasn't a hit; it was thought to be far too depressing and its referencing of the Tienanmen Square massacre didn't sit well with audiences.

Opinions on 'BULLET IN THE HEAD' are distinctly polarised; people seem to label it as Woo's masterpiece, a work of genius, or the epitome of his self-indulgence, messy and poor. Personally, I can agree with both sides of the argument as the film swings from the sublime to the ridiculous but, overall, it is a film that I really enjoy watching.

The opening of the film is where I believe its editing has caused the most damage; the establishing of the relationship between its three main protagonists seems to be dominated by twee montages, including a violent clash with Ringo's gang, up to the wedding banquet, when the tone of the film settles down. Still, in a strange way, this first twenty-five minutes does its job; establishing the three characters, whilst painting a picture of Hong Kong in the late sixties. It also works to disorientate the viewer as, when the tone settles, the gritty drama appears all the more hard-hitting as a result. Whether this is deliberate or not, I'm not sure. What is certain, though, is that when Ben, Frank and Paul arrive in Vietnam, the film really takes off; the characters develop, the narrative arc is in full flow and the gun-play, for which Woo is famed, comes thick and fast.

As you'd expect, Woo again looks to explore the nature of friendship, loyalty and the ethics of men who inhabit the fringes of society. Through his casting and writing, he has much success here. Tony Leung puts in the kind of performance that is expected of him, he makes Ben a model of integrity and honour, in the understated manner anyone who is familiar with his work would recognise. Jacky Cheung, in a role that won him a Hong Kong Film Awards : Best Actor nomination, is probably doing the best work he's ever done here; his portrayal of Frank, a simple, honest man, who undergoes more than his share of hardship, is delivered without the melodramatics that it would be so easy to fall in to. Waise Lee's Paul, a man blinded by a desire for wealth, is convincing in a role that requires him to fall from grace when intoxicated by the prospect of personal gain.

As well as the three main performers, Simon Yam and Yolinda Yan deserve a lot of credit. Simon Yam's Luke, a man who is seemingly lost; struggling to reconcile his inner desire to be a good man and his life as a gun for hire, powerless to change for the better, he drifts through life with a cosmopolitan swagger. I don't think he's ever been cooler, than he is in this role. Yolinda Yan is stunning as the film's fallen angel; a once innocent princess of Hong Kong pop, now trapped in a seedy world of drugs and prostitution, emits a glacial beauty from within her tragic existence.

Once the film finds its feet, the narrative moves smoothly and swiftly through the Vietnamese underworld, showing a country that is being torn apart by the waring factions and its seedy underbelly. As our three friends move from Hong Kong, they are faced with a series of encounters, obstacles and trials, each escalating in intensity and testing the bond that exists between them. Woo manages to sustain a pace that is almost unrelenting throughout the majority of the film, only replacing the action and drama with a more emotionally intense finale. Although, whether you agree with this statement may depend on which ending you watch; both are presented on most releases, usually as a bonus feature. The Joy Sales version gives you the option to select which ending you view the film with, though. Personally, I prefer the ending known as the "Boardroom" ending; it keeps with the pacing of the film and just feels right. The standard ending just seems to lose the plot, as far as I'm concerned; it's messy, it feels as if it was contrived to simply include a more action heavy finale and strays towards being a little silly.

As for the film's action, fans of Woo's frenetic, balletic shoot-outs will not be disappointed. The film opens with a rather uncharacteristic rumble between the main characters and some local hoods, although the cheesy rendition of The Monkees' 'I'm A Believer' behind a rather full-on street fight, is a little odd. The following encounters the escalate, to what you'd be expecting from Woo; from a bloodier, grittier fight with the local hoods, a confrontation in a Saigon nightclub (my favourite!), a riverside entanglement with the Vietnamese army and, almost, all out war with the Viet-Cong. All of which add to Woo's reputation: they are as stylish, inventive and have body counts to rival any of his previous, or subsequent, efforts.

It's not my favourite Woo film (that would be 'THE KILLER', very closely followed by 'HARD BOILED') but, all things considered, this film is a 'must see' for any fan of John Woo or Hong Kong cinema. Sure, it's uneven at times and you can say that its beginning, and to some degree its end, could be stronger, but what comes in between is almost all gold; be it the performances, the epic journey that the three friends undertake, a box of actual god, the action set-pieces or the pints of urine.