Movie Review: Shamo/軍雞

Shamo/軍雞 is directed by Soi Cheang. It’s an adaptation of a Japanese manga about a young man who goes to prison, where he learns how to fight, and his adventures as a professional fighter.

The movie features a multicultural cast who speak different languages to each other and are portrayed as different nationalities:

It’s a Japanese story with Chinese actors who speak Cantonese and Mandarin. Shawn Yue fights with characters played by Japanese actors in a boxing match with an English name that also has white, English-speaking commentators.

A lot of the karate students are from Thailand. Gigolos get paid in American money.

My head hurts.

Shawn Yue worked really hard on this role, and he takes a lot of punishment.

This is one of those physically challenging roles, and it’s also a dramatic challenge as well. His character is often supposed to be over the top, so when it happens it is at least understandable.

Speaking of over the top, for much of the movie Shawn Yue wears the ugliest hoodie in Christendom.

Don’t believe me?

It has Ekin Cheng on it. And he’s right next to Biz Markie!

Annie Liu plays a… lady of the evening. Or the afternoon.

Or the ten minutes I got until they’re done washing my car…

She manages to be interesting, and not just because of that hairdo. She speaks Mandarin, but everyone seems to understand her just fine. Even though they’re Japanese.

In the story, I mean.

I can’t say this is a good movie, but it’s a lot of fun to look at, and while the chances it takes don’t always work out, I admire the fact that it takes those chances.

Movies adapted from static sources like manga often tend to try and recreate the static imagery, and it often drives me crazy.

But in Shamo/軍雞 , it works better, though I can’t say exactly why. I think it’s because it uses shorter cuts and doesn’t dwell on the visuals too long.

And I do really like the visuals of the movie.

Well, except for that hoodie.

And a tattoo that peels.

Yes, I can easily concede that there’s a lot more to look at in that photo than a tattoo.

And now that I mentioned it, I noticed something when I re-watched the movie on DVD.

In the cinema, some of the shots were low enough that I ended up seeing more of Annie Liu’s posterior charms than I think she would have wanted me to see.

I felt guilty about it. But I couldn’t look away.

Re-watching it on DVD, I didn’t notice it. And I was looking for it.

For research purposes, I assure you.

That’s what my eye looked like last week.