Gordon Chan is definitely on the commercial side of Hong Kong cinema, but he has a firm grip on Hong Kong's movie machine and knows how to turn these vehicles into highly amusing filler. Solid oeuvre if you're in the mood for something lighter.
Movies
Tales From The Dark 2 turned out to be a neat surprise.
Undercover Hidden Dragon
Like many of his compatriots, Gordon Chan moved to China to make films for sizable budgets, but with only a sliver of their former appeal. Faces in the Crowd is a very generic crime/war flick that has a few decent action scenes but otherwise fails to stand out in any meaningful way. There are some solid action scenes and the setting is aptly recreated, but that's about the gist of it. The crime elements are poorly realized, the performances aren't that great and there's too much dialogue, which messes up the pacing. It's not bad, but this type of film has been done so much better in the past.Read all
1:99 Shorts
Commissioned anthology that was made to lift the spirit of Hong Kong during the SARS epidemic. The who's who of Hong Kong cinema participated, but the result is a little uneven. Not too surprising considering the exterior motives behind this anthology, and there are a couple of worthwhile entries, but overall it's probably best to lower your expectations when watching this.
Fight Back to School II
Game Boy Kids
One of Gordon Chan's earliest films. It's a pretty basic comedy, like so many in the Hong Kong film industry Chan learned the chops by producing generic genre films and mimicking others. The blend of drama and comedy doesn't work too well, but at least there are some moments that show potential. Fans only.
