Full Contact / Hap do Ko Fei (Hong Kong, 1992)

They don't make them like this anymore, that's for sure. Whether or not Full Contact is a "good" film might be open to contention, but it is a "great" one. 

A sleazy, multi-violent, blood-drenched B-film, the slim plot is there merely as an excuse to string together a series of brutal and bloody fight and robbery scenes and notably efficient practical-effects scenes, interspaced by rather pointless club dance-performance scenes (featuring the obligatory love interest, Mona [Ann Bridgewater], who is a dancer at a club) and a few kitschy character-development moments. Above all, however, Full Contact is the kind of crime thriller that shows the bullet come out of the back of someone's head, if not hand, throat, or wherever else the projectile enters. 

Trailer to

Full Contact:

Not only that, the narrative throws in a psychopathic nymphomaniac (Bonnie Fu of The Mystery of Big Boobs a.k.a. Ju ru de yi huo [1993]) into the pot, a dim-witted and muscular and choleric wingman psychopath (Frankie Chi-Leung Chan of The Mad Monk a.k.a. Chai Gung [1993 / trailer] and Riki-Oh a.k.a. Lik wong [1991 / trailer]), and a psychopathic suave and smooth and oh-so-not-coded gay alpha man named Judge (former model and Hong Kong star Simon Yam of Naked Killer [1992 / trailer], Bloody Friday / Huet sing Friday (1996), Sparrow [2008 / trailer — a good film with a great soundtrack], The Suspect / Gik do chung faan [1998], and so much more) as the main trio of bad guys. Mr. Muscles, who would definitely be more attractive naked and with a bag over his head, is usually (over)played for vicious laughs, the nymphomaniac is apt to do things like masturbate in the car on the way to the next big job, and all three are as ready to kill as to yawn. Interestingly, despite the year the movie was made, while Judge is basically a stereotype in regard to his sense of fashion and semi-feyness, his sexuality, even when he has a handsome, younger toy-boy in tow, is never a topic of discussion — though our hero, Gou Fei (Hong Kong institution Chow Yun-Fat of The Killer [1989 / trailer], A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon [1989], Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [2000 / trailer], Curse of the Golden Flower [2006 / trailer], and so much more) does show a streak of homophobia by tossing out an occasional politically incorrect verbal barb in Judge's direction ("Wash your ass and wait for me").

Used in the movie —

The World Has Gone Insane, by Alan Tam:

None of the protagonists are particularly likable, as even those who are not untrustworthy psychopaths are violent, trigger-happy gangsters, but some are less violent than others — as in: some are above simply tossing a grenade into a strange car full of passengers, as does Mr. Muscles at one point. But then, the opening scene of Full Contact pretty much identifies Judge, Nympho, and Mr Muscles as kill-happy: in the course of the opening robbery, the trio basically kill everybody just for the heck of it — as they do more than once during the course of the movie. They are indeed without any redeeming values, other than Judge, who does at least possess a sense of style and showmanship.

The figure of identification of Full Contact, and thus movie's nominal hero, is of course Chow Yun-Fat's Gou Fei, who only gets involved with the terrible trio due to financial need: his duplicitous friend Sam (the always good Anthony Wong of Time and Tide [2000], Black Mask [1996 / trailer], The Heroic Trio [1993 / trailer] and more) owes a loan shark a lot of money. Gou Fei is perhaps less blood-thirsty than the rest, likes cute dogs, and also has a sense of honor and family, but he's also not above killing any and all who stand in his way. (Too bad he doesn't have a better sense of style; Judge definitely dresses better than he.)

Used in the movie —

Extreme's Get the Funk Out:

Director Ringo Lam (8 Dec 1955 – 29 Dec 2018), the man behind movies as good as City on Fire / Lung foo fung wan (1987 / trailer) — which wethinks was inspired by White Heat (1949 / trailer) and itself inspired Reservoir Dogs (1992 / trailer) — and flicks as uninteresting as The Suspect / Gik do chung faan (1998), dumps any and all attempt of any sort of statement in Full Contact. Instead, he offers a frenzied and gritty trash masterpiece, full of tasteless scenes and hardcore violence, that often causes one to drop their jaw or burst out laughing.

Set in Bangkok and Hong Kong, Lam's world is one of invisible or ineffectual cops and powerful gangsters, many without loyalty, the latter of whom kill indiscriminately and without remorse, and apparently with impunity. The plot is trite, if not inconsequential, and serves only a framework for the continuous series of bloody and violent action scenes, not to mention a pretty decent car chase, the aforementioned dance scenes, and an oddly out-of-place love triangle that goes nowhere.

Fans of vintage Hong Kong multi-violent trash can't go wrong with Full Contact — indeed, fans of violent trash in general can't go wrong with Full Contact. This film definitely earns, and deserves: Two (Shot-off) Thumbs Up!