Bodyguard: A New Beginning

Directed by: Chee Keong Cheung

Starring: Vincent Sze, Carl Ng, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Stephanie Langton, Mark Strange, Nathan Lewis

Synopsis: Hong Kong Triad leader Wong’s empire is under threat from Kai, a Japanese druglord looking to carve out his own territory in Canton. The promise of easy money tests the loyalty of many of Wong’s colleagues, leading to an act of betrayal. Wong sends his most trusted man, his loyal bodyguard Leung, to London. There he must protect an English woman called Chloe, if possible without revealing his presence to her. Although only Wong knows her true identity, Kai realises that she is an important asset and sends his own men to find her.

Chee Keong Cheung’s previous movie, Underground , was an innovative take on the “Secret Martial Arts Tournament” movie, using a “reality contest tv” concept to help it stand out from the myriad of other tournament movies. I’m glad to see though that for his follow-up, Cheung has gone for a much more complex story with deeper characters.

Filmed on location both in London and Hong Kong, the film benefits from a larger budget and evokes the sort of action/triad movies coming out of HK in the early to mid-90s. Whilst the story then isn’t particularly original, it is handled well and manages to juggle a number of plot arcs.

What the film ultimately lacks is a bona fide leading actor. Vincent Sze does have some good scenes, including an on-the-run fight in a shopping mall, but he fails to convince as leading material. Thankfully there are a number of other actors who help carry the film, not least Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa who plays the villainous Kai. Carl Ng, who plays Wong’s hot-headed and wayward son Yuen, is also impressive. Stephanie Langton, from BBC’s Holby Blue, does a good job as Chloe – when we first see her she’s a put-upon waitress and has to portray a whole number of emotions as she tries to grasp what is suddenly happening around her. Her best scene for me was when she arrives in Hong Kong with Leung. Her face is just full of wonder as she looks around while being almost dragged through the busy streets.

One of the aspects of the movie I liked was the fact that it doesn’t try to hide the fact that at the end of the day, it’s about one set of badguys beset by another set of badguys. For all his pontificating about tradition and having a moral code, Boss Wong sets in motion the most heinous act of the movie, and whilst Yuen’s character arc culminates in reconciliation and redemption, there’s the little matter of him raping and murdering a young woman who told him to get lost when he hit on her. It reminds me of the Godfather – yes, we’re rooting for the family opposed to the drug trade, but the Corleones will stick the head of your favourite horse in your bed if you don’t co-operate...

Except for one scene, the action flows with the story. However at the mid-point the film stops to showcase the skills of Mark Strange and Nathan Lewis (last seen as the final opponents in Underground). The scene, in which Kai has his men “test” the skills of two brother assassins he’s contemplating hiring, is completely gratuitous but having said that it looks great and is exciting to watch. Mark Strange is given the worst pair of sunglasses to wear though...

As with Underground, the fight choreography refreshingly remains grounded in reality, with zero CGI or wire-fu on display (or at least, none that is apparent) – and why should there be, when you have such skilled performers available?

Verdict:

A definite step-up from the enjoyable Underground, Bodyguard: A New Beginning provides a good story with multi-faceted characters and plenty of action throughout, although it needs a more charismatic lead and tighter editing. With the likes of independent companies such as Radius and Modern Life producing martial arts movies of this quality, it won’t be long before the UK Action Movie enjoys the same resurgence as the UK Horror Movie.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)