Movie Review: Rebellion/同門

, which is Category III, is written and directed by Herman Yau.

This movie took a while to see the light of day.

It was finally released in 2009, having been completed some time before.

As far as I’m concerned, it was worth the wait.

Herman Yau has a knack for making movies better than they should be.

He can get performances out of people I would never believe were capable of acting.

I’m glad he’s crying.

I don’t necessarily love all of Herman Yau’s movies, but I will go see his movies just because he’s the one who made them.

takes place over the course of a single night as the attempted murder of a triad boss named Jimmy  (played by Calvin Poon) threatens to send simmering frictions within the gang over the edge.

I always eat frictions at hot pot. 

Riding herd on this gaggle of maniacs is Jimmy’s bodyguard, Po, played by Shawn Yue Man Lok.

He’s been chosen as the interim leader by Jimmy’s wife, played by Ada Choi.

She’s in Taiwan, trying to get back to Hong Kong before a gang war breaks out.

Her choice of leader angers Blackie, Jimmy’s #2, who justifiably feels that he should have gotten the nod.

Ella Koon overacts in a small role. But so does Elanne Kong.

I do like her nose, though.

The film is Category III, most likely for the language and the gangster topic.

There’s not a whole lot of violence in the film, but there is a whole lot of f@#$ing profanity.

One thing I like about Herman Yau is the interesting little details he brings to his films.

In the beginning of the film, Shawn Yue’s character is extremely drunk.

I don’t know how they did it, but Shawn Yue actually has the Asian Flush.

You can see it!

The best part of this movie is the supporting cast.

The rival leaders, played by Paul Wong, Jun Kung, Conroy Chan and Anson  Leung, are chronically entertaining.

“Shut up and play mahjong!”

Each of them has something to make them unique, whether it’s dress sense, tone of voice, or hobbies.

They’re the kind of characters that prequels are made for.

Rebellion will remind you of older HK gangster movies, and it’s a shame they didn’t make spin-offs from Rebellion/同門 .

Not everything about the movie is perfect.

The worst part of the film is the obviously forced and stilted romantic sub-plot between Shawn Yue and Elanne Kong.

The only reason it makes any sense whatsoever is because there’s always a romantic subplot in these kinds of movies.

Their scenes together that aren’t part of the main plot are stiff, unconvincing, and extraneous.

They also ‘feature’ one of Elanne’s Cantopop songs that is so saccharine it makes Celine Dion seem like GG Allin.

Speaking of bad parts, the ending is a little too twisty for my tastes, especially since it’s presented without any of the drama or tension that the rest of the film displays.

It seems either tacked on or grudgingly included.

It’s likely that this epilogue makes the film more amenable to certain other markets.

This would also require either removing the Cantonese profanity or just dubbing the whole movie (sans profanity) into, say… Mandarin?

But overall, I really enjoyed this movie, and I bet you will too.