The Adventurers 1995

[Donahue Granados]

The Adventurers is a 1995 Hong Kong action film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Andy Lau, Rosamund Kwan and Jacklyn Wu. It was Ringo Lam's last Hong Kong film before going to Hollywood in 1996. The Adventurers film was filmed on location in Hong Kong, United States and Philippines, which shows Lam's ambition of going to the international routine.

In Cambodia in 1975, during the Khmer Rouge Era, the eight-year-old Wai Lok-yan witnessed the tragedy of his parents being killed by Ray Lui while hiding in the closet with his younger sister. Back then, Yan's father Wah, Seung and Ray were war comrades working for the CIA in Cambodia. Ray went rogue and worked for the Khmer Rouge and in order to take the information gathered by Wah, he killed Yan's parents, while Yan's younger sister also died in a fire. After this incident, Seung took the orphaned Yan to Thailand, where he became a Thai Air Force Pilot.

In 1995, Yan learned from the newspaper that Ray, who has become a billionaire from dealing arms for many years, is attending an event in a hotel in Thailand. Yan was determined to take this opportunity to avenge his parents, but Ray was wearing a bulletproof vest and the assassination hit failed. However, Yan's friend Mark, who is also Seung's son, was caught and killed. Yan managed to leave the scene with the help of Ray's mistress Mona, whom Ray only treats her as a doll.

In order to escape the mine on assassin searches form Ray since Ray has close ties with Thai Military officials, Seung arranges Yan to go to the United States. With help from the CIA, they decide to have Yan get close to Ray's daughter Crystal, who resides in San Francisco, and slowly get close to Ray and ultimately killing him.

At that time, Crystal was kidnapped by the Vietnamese Black Tiger Gang and the gang demanded Ray to return money that he owed. The CIA had close ties with another gang, Wah Fuk, and arranges Yan to be the temporary leader of the gang under the name Mandy Chan. Yan leads the Wah Fuk Gang to terrorize the Black Tiger Gang and rescues Crystal. Later, the Black Tiger gang leader is killed off-screen possibly by the Wak Fuk gang and Yan successfully develops a marital relationship with Crystal and Yan becomes his enemy Ray's son in-law.

In Yan and Crystal's wedding, a shootout occurs and General Buboei's son Major Bodar was shot and killed by the Hong Kong police. Ray decides to take Yan to Cambodia to see Buboei and use Yan as the scapegoat of Budar's death. During a pregnancy test at the hospital with Crystal, Yan gets a call from Mona telling him to meet in a hotel room. There, Mona informs Yan of Ray using him as a scapegoat. As Yan and Mona still love each other, they briefly make out in the room before being interrupted by Crystal's entrance. Mona pushes Crystal on a glass table and attempts to kill her until Yan stops her form doing so.

When Crystal is sent to the hospital, Yan explains to Ray of the incident by saying that Crystal caught him with a prostitute. Yan also sees Seung in the hospital who gives him a tracking device for him to take to Cambodia. Later, Yan reveals to the unconscious Crystal about his true identity and his intention to kill her father and stating either himself or his father will only return from Cambodia. Crystal awakes and asks him to promise her not to kill her father.

In Cambodia, Ray meets up with Bubeoi who show him pictures of Yan as a pilot and a photo of Ray with the CIA and he suspects Ray to be a traitor. Yan trigger the tracking device and the Thai Military arrive. Ray, who knew along that Mona injured her daughter, shoots and kills Mona while also attempts to kill Yan to prove he is not a traitor. A big action scene occurs where later Ray and his henchman Dog (Ben Ng) takes Bubeoi hostage and Yan chases them on a helicopter. Dog kills Bubeoi in the process, before he was killed by Yan with a firebomb. In the end, Yan finally confronts Ray at gunpoint, but he finally decides to not kill him and let him be taken by the military force instead.

In the end, Yan receives pictures of Crystal and their son from Seung. Seung also brings his son from Hong Kong and a letter written by Crystal to Yan. She states that Mandy is the past and she is not so familiar with the name Wai Lok-yan and wants to have some time to familiarize it, hinting that she might get together with Yan again in the future.

Derek Elley of Variety praised director Ringo Lam's handling of action sequences and character development in between and also singling out the performances of Andy Lau and Jacklyn Wu.[1] Joey O'Bryan of The Austin Chronicle gave the film a score of 2/5 stars, noting its "slightly schizophrenic tone" and pales in comparison to Lam's best works and describes it as "a less-than-perfect, but adequately entertaining action/melodrama."[2]

Andy Lau Wu Chien-Lien Rosamund Kwan Paul Chun Pui David Chiang Da-Wei Ben Ng Ngai-Cheung John Ching Tung Parkman Wong Wong Kam-Kong Phillip Ko Nam Yin Four Tse Liu-Shut So Wai-Nam George Cheung Van Darkholme Victor Wong Ron Yuan William Ho Ka-Kui Lee Siu-Kay

Before he heads to Hollywood, Ringo Lam gives us a film that takes his signature style of action filmmaking and gives it a slightly more epic quality. This is assisted along by the fact that the filmmaker and his crew are able to shoot in locations other than Hong Kong, such as the United States and the Philippines.

A weird mess of a film, with Andy Lau as a Cambodian who works with David Chiang and the CIA to take over a San Francisco Tong in order to get close to the gang leader/international arms smuggler/ex-CIA agent who murdered his family 20 years earlier. Also Andy marries his arch-enemy's daughter and has a weird romance with an unhinged Rosamund Kwan. The plot skips around like a scratched record and even the action scenes are lackluster, all explosion no art. Even the car chase, usually a Ringo Lam specialty is just bizarre: at the climactic moment, Andy flips the bad guys car over and goes careening off the road - except we don't see Andy's car crash, we just cut to it a couple minutes later in a smoking wreck at the bottom of a steep hill. Like the camera wasn't rolling during the stunt or something.

Whrend Ringo Lam "The Adventurers" drehte, bereitete er bereits ein zweites Standbein in Hollywood vor - dass er der Rckgabe Hongkongs an China skeptisch gegenber stand, bezeugt sein vorheriger Film "Burning Paradise" (1994). Diesmal leidet der Film zwar etwas an einem zu langen Mittelteil, groartige Kameraeinstellungen, intensives, gefhlvolles Schauspiel und ein exzessives, blei- und blutgetrnktes Finale heben den Film dennoch weit ber Standardactionkost.

Wow. The decisions behind the title and the poster of Ringo Lam's 1995 action crime film would be an interesting exploration, because they're about 'three blocks north, take a left at the light, and then the first right turn' from the essence of THE ADVENTURERS. But aside from that, this is a first-rate, under-discussed action film from the Hong Kong action director.

It might seem too cheesy or sentimental when placed within the context of this actioner, but it definitely has my favourite symbolism about rice paddy farm cows in cinematic history. The satisfying ending in the Cambodian countryside felt like a gentle breeze, breathing out a huge sigh of relief. This end credits soundtrack performed by Andy Lau has always been my vibe (listen here)!

The Adventurers? So richtig abenteuerlich an dem Streifen ist nur der Titel. Eingebettet zwischen Brgerkriegsaction erzhlt Ringo Lam eine Rachestory im Gangstermilieu. hnlich wie Cover Hard 2, der berhaupt nix mit diesem hier zu tun hat, wird ein ber weite Strecken solides Drama prsentiert, welches im letzten Drittel komplett eskaliert.

Irgendwie dachte sich die Crew, dass es eine gute Idee wre die Bomberstaffel aus Apocalypse Now auf den Cast zu hetzen. Regieanweisung: Rette sich wer kann! Anschlieend darf sich Andy Lau in den Helikopter setzen und ein bisschen real life Shoot 'em up zocken. Natrlich nur mit Cheat fr unendliches Dauerfeuer. Der absolut asoziale Wahnsinn!

As a child in Cambodia Andy Lau witnesses his parents being killed by an associate named Ray who betrays them. 20 years later Ray is a major crime boss in Hong Kong, whilst Andy is a pilot in the Thai airforce. When he learns Ray is in town he is compelled to attempt an assassination, but fails and gets shot. Ray's kept woman (Rosamund Kwan) helps him escape, and the two have a short and steamy fling.

When the police come knocking Andy's uncle (David Chiang) sends him off to the USA,. revealing that his parents were CIA assets and they'll surely help him get his revenge. Ray's daughter Crystal is studying in San Francisco, and when a Triad gang kidnap her the CIA set Andy up as a new Triad boss and arrange for him to counter-kidnap Crystal to get close to her dad. Romance blossoms.

To say that THE ADVENTURERS (1995) is all over the place would be an understatement. I've just finished watching it and I'm already struggling to figure out how all the pieces fit together. There's certainly no shortage of plot, though it feels like it was probably the result of a brainstorm session fuelled by amphetamines - or perhaps just retrofitted from a desire to go to Thailand and the Philippines and blow stuff up, and to the US because 1997 was approaching and Ringo Lam had his eye on a ticket to Hollywood.

The film is all over the place tonally as well as geographically, with a particularly awkward shift from violent revenge tale to whirlwind romance being especially jarring. It's not the first Hong Kong film where kidnapping somebody and threatening them with violence proves to be the path to a woman's heart, but I'm hard pressed to think of one where the leads seem quite so obviously unconvinced about it.

It's hard to believe now but in 1995 people didn't generally rate Andy Lau as an actor, and films like this are a reminder why. He is unquestionably handsome, undoubtedly cool, nobody would deny his charisma - but the actual acting part of the job was still a work in progress.

3a8082e126