Soi Cheang Pou-Soi started with "Big Head Monster" (2001), and the following "New Blood" (2002) all showed his unique and weird tone, even in "Love Battlefield" (2004) is also different in style from other similar films. Since he cooperated with producer Sam Leong Tak-Sam and Japan's Art Port Inc., the strong stylization of "Dog Bite Dog" (2006) has become more prominent. The selfless and cruel description of human beasts has gradually formed his film style, this time adapted from Hashimoto Izo's eponymous name the comic "Shamo" is quite appropriate. The protagonist of the original comic, Ryo Narushima (played by Shawn Yue Man-Lok) is an underage boy who killed his parents with his own hands. In prison, he meets a karate master and trains him to become an adult weapon. After being released from prison, he embarks on the road of boxing.
Soi Cheang changed the background of the comic closer to reality and turned it into cartoon. In the era of the desolate future, the characters are generally retained, but the plot has been revised a lot, especially the scene where Natsumi Narushima (played by Pei Weiying) is mentally ill and kills her parents, become very clear. The prostitute Megumi played by Annie Liu Sum-Yau is only a small role in the comic, but the film makes her the protagonist's girlfriend. It can be seen that Soi Cheang encountered a lot of difficulties in the adaptation, including the scenes of practice and fighting. This is related to Soi Cheang's lack of understanding of fighting. The original author Hashimoto Izo has a considerable understanding of fighting and has a unique set of views, which are shown in the comic. The texture of fighting is full, so it has fascinated many comic fans.
However, the excessive stylization of the film makes this texture disappear, and the scene of practice is just an understatement. How hard the performance of several actors who are not from martial arts experience does not make up for their lack of actual combat sense of interpretation. Even the final scene where Ryo Narushima fights against Sugawara Naoto (played by Masato) is far inferior to similar scenes in other Hong Kong Cinema.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
Soi Cheang changed the background of the comic closer to reality and turned it into cartoon. In the era of the desolate future, the characters are generally retained, but the plot has been revised a lot, especially the scene where Natsumi Narushima (played by Pei Weiying) is mentally ill and kills her parents, become very clear. The prostitute Megumi played by Annie Liu Sum-Yau is only a small role in the comic, but the film makes her the protagonist's girlfriend. It can be seen that Soi Cheang encountered a lot of difficulties in the adaptation, including the scenes of practice and fighting. This is related to Soi Cheang's lack of understanding of fighting. The original author Hashimoto Izo has a considerable understanding of fighting and has a unique set of views, which are shown in the comic. The texture of fighting is full, so it has fascinated many comic fans.
However, the excessive stylization of the film makes this texture disappear, and the scene of practice is just an understatement. How hard the performance of several actors who are not from martial arts experience does not make up for their lack of actual combat sense of interpretation. Even the final scene where Ryo Narushima fights against Sugawara Naoto (played by Masato) is far inferior to similar scenes in other Hong Kong Cinema.
By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)
