House Of Fury (2005) (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region All

Anthony Wong is Siu-Bo, a widower who owns a Chinese medical clinic, and is also an ex-bodyguard for retired spies. He has two kids, Nicky (Fung) and Natalie (Gillian Chung of Twins), who he's instructed in martial arts. It was all for self-defense, but the kids have a deep sibling rivalry; they would rather use their fighting skills on each other than on anyone else. Meanwhile, Siu-Bo finds that the only way to relive his spy days is to tell exaggerated tales of his escapades to everyone, including Natalie's best friend Ella (Charlene Choi, the other half of Twins). The kids are obviously embarrassed by dad, and he knows it. Then one day, American ex-operative Rocco (Michael Wong), shows up at the clinic searching for a spy who paralyzed him years ago. When Siu-Bo refuses to talk, Rocco sends his henchmen (Josie Ho and others) to capture Siu-Bo. The kids, finally realizing their father's tales might be true, are now forced to use their martial arts to rescue their father - with a little help from Natalie's too-perfect-to-be-true boyfriend Jason (Daniel Wu).

Fung has said that he wanted to put family values into a martial arts film and make something that people haven't seen before; the problem here is that we have seen this all before. The storyline - of a devoted single parent raising ungrateful teenage kids who finally learn the error of their ways - is nothing new in family films, and Fung relies far too much on dialogue, exposing the extremely thin story. Every character motivation and lesson learned is expressed through dialogue, removing any subtlety from the proceedings. Whenever Fung puts a sugary lesson on family values into the film, it simply falls flat dramatically.

The younger actors aren't given much to do acting-wise. Neither Stephen Fung nor Daniel Wu makes a strong impression, though fans of Twins will love Gillian Chung as a young martial arts heroine. Michael Wong, speaking completely in his native English, fails to elicit neither tension nor fear as the villain. Ultimately, the film belongs to the older generation; Wu Ma gives a fun supporting performance as a frequent visitor of Siu-Bo's clinic, while Anthony Wong owns the film with a funny, appropriately awkward performance as a Chinese James Bond facing a midlife crisis.

Besides Wong, there's also the action. With Yuen Woo-Ping as the "martial arts advisor", the film's action scenes turn out to be definitely fun to watch. Yuen's moves aren't as genre-breaking as his previous works, but Fung's direction is quite impressive for a director making only his second film. The problem here lies in the script. In House of Fury, the fights become redundant. The same evil henchmen who just fought Siu-Bo turn up only moments later to fight the children at a different locale. Repeat cycle. Ultimately, that redundancy takes away from the excitement of the finale.

Still, despite the above issues and minor complaints about filmmaking technique, House of Fury is a fine way to pass the time on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's a big-budget, well-paced movie with enough laughs for the kids (one cameo ranks as one of the funniest moments in HK film this year), enough action for the adults, and enough idols to please the teens. When it's all over, House of Fury feels like a Lunar New Year movie in disguise: it may not be great filmmaking, but for big-budget entertainment, it's not a bad way to go.

By Kevin Ma