Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)
Aka: The Defender
Chinese Title: 中南海保鑣
Translation: Central and South Sea Coast
Starring: Jet Li, Christy Chung, Kent Cheng, Collin Chou, Joey Leung Wing-Chung, Ng
Wai-Kwok, William Chu
Director: Corey Yuen Kwai
Action Directors: Corey Yuen Kwai, Yuen
Tak
Bodyguard
from Beijing is an
interesting film in Jet Li’s filmography, as it represents the first time he
did an action film set in the modern day after he hit it big with the first Once
Upon a Time in China film in 1991. From 1991 through 1994, Jet Li made 12
movies(!), 11 of which were period pieces. Those films account for most Li’s
most beloved efforts and biggest box office successes (at least in Hong Kong).
This film was an extreme departure from the formula of Jet Li portraying either
folk heroes or characters from successful wuxia novels and would set the stage
for a good portion of Li’s career during the next two decades.
Moreover,
it is also one of the most despised movies he has made, especially in Hong
Kong. The movie fared OK in the local box office, but a lot of Jet Li fans
simply don’t like this film. Most of the reasons for this hate are valid: a
lack of martial arts action, no romantic chemistry between Jet Li and lead
actress Christy Chung, a story that just sort of simmers until the big climax,
and several over-the-top moments that strain credibility in the relatively
realistic setting. Of course, as hard as it is to dispute those claims, there
are some reasons for them and, if you look at the film in the light at the
right angle (and maybe squint a little), there’s an unambitious action movie
waiting to be enjoyed here.
As
the story goes, a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, James Shong (Ng Wai-Kwok, The
Scoundrel and Sorrow of the Gentry), has a girlfriend, Michelle
(Christy Chung, Gen-Y Cops and The Medallion), who has witnessed
the murder of an accountant by a crime boss. The other two witnesses have
already been snuffed and Michelle narrowly escaped
death-by-electrified-bathtub, so James is anxious to keep her alive. Since
James’s dealings in Mainland China are rather important, the Communist
government is more than willing to send in one of their better cadets. That
cadet is Allan Hui, played by Jet Li.
Let
me take a moment here and state that you should NEVER act as a witness in a
Hong Kong movie. I swear, almost every HK film I’ve seen that deals with
someone agreeing to testify against the villains ends with the witnesses being
murdered because police protection is either scant or nonexistent. In Righting
Wrongs, nobody is around to keep the key witness from being shot to death
in front of his family (after which his apartment is dynamited). In Skinny
Tiger, Fatty Dragon, two cops turn out to be less a match for the kung fu
Thai transvestite killers hired to silence Carrie Ng. And then there are the
drug boss witnesses in Flash Point, who have absolutely no police
coverage when Xing Yu sets out to off them. I mean, if Hong Kong was a British
territory, why couldn’t they just fly the witness over to the Falklands or
something until the day of the trial?
By
this point, Michelle has bit more protection than those in the aforementioned
movies. Allan arrives to find the house being guarded Inspector Fat Po (Kent
Cheng, Once Upon a Time in China and Crime Story) and a bunch of
hired goons. After a brief misunderstanding leads Allan to beat them all up,
Allan dismisses Po’s cronies, much to the inspector’s chagrin. Within a day,
only Fat Po, and Po’s partner, Keung (Joey Leung, The Kung Fu Scholar),
Michelle, and her kid nephew, Billy (William Chu, The Story of the Gun
and To Live and Die in Tsimshatsui), are staying in the house.
From
there on out, Allan proceeds to make life a living hell for Michelle, all in
the name of security. He installs security cameras all over the house. He
requests several days’ leave for Michelle from her job as a P.E. teacher
without getting her consent. He even visits her room every so often to scan it
for bombs and other traps. He basically ends her social life on all counts
until the day of the trial. Michelle doesn’t take this sitting down, and
harasses and argues with Allan at every turn. Nonetheless, he maintains a
professional attitude about it until they receive a certain phone call.
The
night before the trial, it’s discovered that the murder suspect has become ill
and the judge allows him two weeks’ recovery before allowing the trial to
begin. Allan is given a choice by his superiors to stay on the case or go back
to China for an important mission that Hui had wanted to participate in. After
the expected bickering, Allan tells her to take a hike and apparently decides
to head back to China.
Michelle,
finally getting the freedom she had wanted for the past couple of days (what a
wuss), takes the first opportunity to go to the mall. Po, Keung, and Billy
accompany her, although they all end up in different places (which is to be
expected, since Po and Keung are police officers and not über-awesome
bodyguards like Hui was). Somehow, the assassins show up at the mall. How did
they know she was there? Was it Keung who told them, since he does spend
a lot of time looking a Michelle strangely and he puts his hand in his jacket a
lot? Actually, no. The movie makes a big deal out of Keung acting strange and
it amounts to absolutely NOTHING.
Anyway,
a murder attempt inside a dressing room is foiled by the sudden appearance of
Allan, who starts blowing away any and every assassin who crosses his path. He
never actually misses and is so wonderfully awesome in the heat of battle that
he can use a pistol clip as a throwing knife, if need be. After killing
more than a dozen people, including the head assassin, Allan and company flee
and head back to the mansion.
Apparently
getting your life saved has a drastic effect on one’s hormones, as Michelle
spends the next 30 minutes doing everything she can to get Allan into her
knickers. This being a Jet Li-produced film, that’s not actually going to
happen. The second consequence to Allan’s heroics is a little less positive. We
wouldn’t have much of a movie if the film’s main villain were offed at the
50-minute mark now, would we? Of course not! So the lead assassin happens to
have a brother, Wong (Collin Chou, Kung Fu Cult Master and No Problem
2), who’s none too happy about watching his brother get shot to death by
some hot sh*t Mainland bodyguard. Wong, who was obviously a violent person to
begin with, completely blows his wig. It isn’t long before he storms the house
with a couple of dozen men in tow and tries to shoot the living hell out of
everyone present.
When
you get right down to it, Bodyguard from Beijing is a typical Corey Yuen
movie which bears all of the hallmarks of a Corey Yuen movie. Let’s see:
Explosive beginning? Check. Padded middle section? Check. Overwrought death
scene of an important supporting character? Check. Well-choreographed action
finale? Check. Questionable physics? Check. Yup, looks like a Corey Yuen movie
alright.
Of
course, since this is supposed to be a remake (of sorts) of The Bodyguard
with Kevin Costner and the late Whitney Houston, I assume people were expecting
more from the relationship between Christy Chung and Jet Li. I think it ends up
being kind of the point that there is no real chemistry between them, because
they were really supposed to come together in the first place, not even
temporarily. It would’ve been far too out of character for Jet to do something
like that. However, never fear! Christy’s attempts to seduce Jet at least give
us a chance to see her in some white, almost see-through pajamas, so it’s not a
total loss.
One
of the common criticisms directed at the movie is that Jet Li is portrayed in
stoic killer mode, much like he was in the same year’s New Legend of Shaolin.
Corey Yuen had worked with Jet on the two Fong Sai Yuk movies the year
before, which showcased Jet’s acting range a lot more, allowing him to be both
funny and dramatic. The criticism is valid, although whether or not it clouds
your judgment is a question of taste. Jet Li does give a mostly one-note
performance, but he’s never unlikable. He’s just really serious. I can think of
stoic, killing machine performances that were a lot harder to get behind than
Jet Li here (Ultraviolet, I’m looking in your direction).
There’s
the complaint about the over-the-top, unbelievable moments that cheapen an
otherwise realistic film. For example, there’s the opening training sequence,
in which some politician guy is hanging in a swimming pool with another VIP.
Shots ring out and suddenly a dozen bodyguards jump into the pool and start escorting
the politician to safety. While the bodyguards trying to hustle the man out of
the building, über-bodyguard-supreme Allan appears out of nowhere and starts
gunning down assassins that the others somehow failed to notice. He then takes
his client by the hand and leads him into a public square, where offs more
would-be killers before saving the politician from getting into a car that’s
been rigged to explode…wait, what? Where did all the blood come from? Do
Chinese bodyguards (and those playing the villains) do these sorts of games
with bulletproofs and those little blood packets that sometimes show up in
movies when people fake assassinations? Second, what’s with the exploding car?
What happened to the poor suckers who got into the car? Did they die?
Nonetheless,
the action keeps the film watchable, as unbelievable as it may be. There’s not
a whole lot in it, but what’s in it is pretty solid. There are three major set
pieces and a brief skirmish early on. The three main action sequences revolve
around gunplay, since Jet Li is playing a bodyguard. By 1994, John Woo
was already wasting his talents in Hollywood, so it appeared that Corey Yuen
and Yuen Tak were trying to make up for the void Woo left in the wake of his
defection to Tinseltown. People will complain about Jet Li using guns and not
his fists, and they have every right to. That said, I didn’t have much of a
problem, since most of the gunplay is well mounted.
The
finale is something of a classic. Set in the living room of the mansion, Jet Li
gets to use a number of strategies to come out on top against numerous armed
foes. The use of flashlights and a television are rather ingenious. I always
wince at the scene where Jet sees a foot sticking out from behind a couch,
shoots it, and then blows the guy away when he falls forward. I must also note
that there is an acrobatic quality to the gunplay at the end that Corey Yuen
also used in the 1995 Jet Li film High Risk, which gives it a little
extra verve. The final gunfight is also notable for the filmmakers’ being
willing to not only put a young child in danger, but to have him get shot as
well.
After
killing a most of the bad guys, Jet turns on the gas and everybody forced to
fight with fisticuffs. Jet Li has commented in interviews that he always tries
to use a different onscreen fighting style for his movies and I believe him. In
Bodyguard from Beijing, he uses a lot of short open-handed attacks that
look a little like wing chun, complemented with chin na joint locks.
That may disappoint some who were hoping for some more flashy kicks—I know I
was disappointed when I first watched the film. Today I can bask in creativity
of Jet Li’s duel with Collin Chou, which features cloth-fu, window blinds-fu,
sink-fu, deadly slap boxing, and Collin Chou attempting to imitate Ken Low’s
kicking from that year’s Drunken Master 2. There’s even a wire-assisted
no-shadow kick that looks a lot better executed here than it would six years
later in Romeo Must Die.
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