LEGACY OF RAGE
1986, Ronny Yu
Before Ronny Yu went to Hollywood and directed the popular horror films, Bride of Chucky (1998) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003), he was making some super-stylish action flicks in Hong Kong. The Chow Yun Fat kung fu epic, The Postman Fights Back (1982), and his critically praised The Bride with White Hair (1993) were amongst his earlier output. Also among them is the slick-as-hell guns, honour and gangsters actioner, Legacy of Rage.
Brandon Lee, in his first leading role stars here as Brandon Ma. Brandon Ma is an all-round good guy who loves motorcycles, his girlfriend and working hard (possibly in that order). Brandon has two jobs, by day a construction worker and by night a waiter. But his busy schedule doesn’t stop him from taking time out to do good deeds such as reuniting a small child with her family (after accidentally being left at the bus stop) or chasing gangsters wanting protection money out of his place of work with the use of his awesome kung fu skills. Brandon also takes the time to have quality moments with his girlfriend, May, and his best friend, Michael.
Unbeknownst to Brandon, his pal Michael (played by the goofy looking Michael Wong) has designs on May. Michael also happens to have some serious mob ties. So Michael does what any best friend with mob ties would do if he wanted to steal his mate’s girl. Michael frames Brandon for the murder of a policeman, then attempts to rape May while Brandon is in prison. Michael is a dick and Brandon will make Michael pay.
Ronny Yu’s slick visual style makes for a fun ride as we watch the action play out and the two friends go up against each other. Insane stunts abound and thousands of blank rounds get fired off as squibs explode all over the place in Legacy of Rage‘s exciting shoot-out finale. I would love to see Ronny Yu make more action films like this, though I feel with the current popularity of CGI gore, and, well, CGI everything, in actioners made these days, it would probably lack the punch that Legacy of Rage hits with. But you never know. There are still a few purists out there making movies that know that CGI gunshot wounds look rubbish and squibs are still awesome and maybe Yu is one of them.
Legacy ranks among some of my favourite action movies along with Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) and The Crow (1994), and it still makes me sad to think that we will never see Brandon Lee making any more stellar action pictures. I guess I think the same about his father whenever I watch The Big Boss (1971) or Enter the Dragon (1973). Hmmm…. well that was a downer. Here is the trailer for Legacy of Rage to get you all pumped up again…
