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Against All
1990
Director: Andrew Lau
Action director: Stephen Tung
Stars: Danny Lee, Nick Cheung, Lam King-Kong, Ng Suet-Man, Parkman Wong, Shing Fui-On, Wu Ma
Against All was the directorial debut of Andrew Lau, who of course would go on to find great success with the Young and Dangerous and Infernal Affairs series of films. Lau's first effort is a bit rough around the edges while trying to follow the Triad movie playbook letter for letter.
The movie concerns a young man named Steve (Nick Cheung), who runs a small racing team along with his pals. After a night of drinking, Steve finally works up the nerve to talk to Cherry (Ng Suet-Man), but it turns out the local dai lo also has his eye on her, and the dispute turns into a brawl. The Triads eventually come and wreck Steve's shop, which causes him to enlist the aid of his uncle (Danny Lee), a policeman with a particular distaste for gangsters, so that they can get revenge.
Frankly, Against All is so god-awful for the first half-hour or so that I felt like just shutting my DVD player off. It's extremely slow and melodramatic, and even goes so far as to pad out its' running time with a montage and two musical numbers -- all during the initial twenty minutes. Thankfully, things begin to pick up once the bloodshed starts, and there is a nice finale courtesy of action director Stephen Tung.
At the end of the day, Against All is just an average Triad picture. Slow motion shots of people carrying large knives? Check. A star-crossed love story? Check. Danny Lee acting like a tough guy? Check. If you've seen any of this kind of movie before, you know what to expect here. It doesn't do anything all that great, but it doesn't mess matters up, either.
RATING: 5