Rating:
6.5
AKA: The Stone Age Warriors, Stoneage Warriors
Year of release: 1991
Genre: action/comedy
Director: Stanley Tong
Action directors: Stanley Tong, Sam Wong, Guk Hin-Chiu, Dion Lam
Producer: Stanley Tong
Writer: Stanley Tong
Stars: Fan Siu-Wong, Nina Li Chi, Elaine Lui, Chang Kuo-Chu, Dick Wei, Shum Wai, Devi Sabah, Henry Dantel, Advent Bangun, Eddy Combcoii, Anthony Mark Houn, Sam Wong
Not rated; contains IIB-level violence, nudity and drug use
DVD Information
Company: Bonzai Media
Format: widescreen
Languages: Cantonese
Subtitles: Chinese/English (burned-in)
Extras: trailers
Notes: The picture is horrible (faded and full of scratches) and the subtitles are hard to read. But it is still watchable, and the collection of dubbed-in old-school trailers is actually pretty cool.
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Stone Age Warriors
Stanley Tong is one of the most well-known directors in Hong Kong, having helmed most of of Jackie Chan's recent work produced in Asia -- and it all started with Stone Age Warriors, an ultra-low budget picture. While it falls into many of the traps of the genre, it still generates enough thrills during its' running time to warrant a viewing from fans of Hong Kong action films.
The story begins with an explorer named Nakamura heading deep into the jungle to find a hidden treasure. But the "treasure" is actually a drug cache guarded by a vicious tribe, and Nakamura is captured. His daughter, Eko (Elaine Lui) heads off to find him, with an insurance investigator (Nina Li) in tow. Along the way, they meet Lung Fei (Fan Siu-Wong), a missionary's son whose kung fu skills come in very handy as they head deeper into the jungle.
Stone Age Warriors starts off quite well, with a tight action sequence where Dick Wei tries to fend off the tribe going after Nakamura. There's severed limbs, spikes in heads, and faces splattered -- great, bloody stuff. Unfortunately, like most low-budget films from this era, the next forty-five minutes or so are alternated by dopey comedy and boring expostion scenes. Stanley Tong is a fine action director, but he can never seem to get good performances from his actors.
Thankfully, the pace picks up over the last half-hour, with a series of solid stunts and fights (some of which Tong would later re-use in Police Story 3 and Project S). It's not enough to totally negate the filler which preceeded it, but if you're in the mood for some brainless action, then Stone Age Warriors is probably right up your alley.