The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region 1
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YesAsia Editorial Description
In their first big-screen pairing, Huang and Chow both play Cheng at different periods of his life – with Huang playing Daqi as the ambitious young gangster and Chow playing Daqi as the commanding crime lord. The powerful crime drama also co-stars Sammo Hung as Daqi's boss, Francis Ng as the conniving villain and Yolanda Yuan as Daqi's long-lost lover. In addition to the great screen chemistry between the star-studded cast, the film also features a beautiful recreation of 1930s Shanghai and explosive battle scenes that makes The Last Tycoon a grand gangland epic!
1913, Cheng Daqi (Huang Xiaoming) is a fruit seller who is framed for a crime he didn't commit. With the help of soldier Mao Zai (Francis Ng), Daqi escapes from jail and goes to Shanghai to start a new life. He eventually becomes a well-liked disciple of underworld tycoon Hong Shouting (Sammo Hung). Through Daqi's wits and courage, Hong comes to recognize him as a brother. In the late 1930s, Daqi (Chow Yun Fat) has become a respected figure in Shanghai. However, the invading Japanese army is looming on the city, while Mao Zai asks Daqi to investigate possible rebel spies working in Shanghai. In the process, he encounters Zhiqiu (Yolanda Yuan), a long-lost love from long ago.
Technical Information
Product Title: | The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version) |
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Artist Name(s): | Chow Yun Fat | Huang Xiao Ming | Sammo Hung | Francis Ng | Yuan Li | Yolanda Yuan | Mo Xiao Qi | Kimmy Tong Fei | Xin Bo Qing | Zheng Yi Tong | Gao Hu | Du Yi Heng 周潤發 | 黃曉明 | 洪金寶 | 吳鎮宇 | 袁莉 | 袁 泉 | 莫 小棋 | 童菲 | 辛柏青 | 鄭亦桐 | 高虎 | 杜 奕衡 周润发 | 黄 晓明 | 洪金宝 | 吴镇宇 | 袁莉 | 袁 泉 | 莫 小棋 | 童菲 | Xin Bo Qing | 郑亦桐 | 高虎 | 杜 奕衡 周潤發 (チョウ・ユンファ) | 黄暁明 (ホァン・シァオミン) | 洪金寶(サモ・ハン・キンポー) | 呉鎮宇 (フランシス・ン) | 袁莉(ユアン・リー) | 袁泉(ユアン・チュアン) | Mo Xiao Qi | Kimmy Tong Fei | 辛柏青(シン・バイチン) | Zheng Yi Tong | Kao Fu | Du Yi Heng 주윤발 | Huang Xiao Ming | Sammo Hung | Francis Ng | Yuan Li | Yolanda Yuan | Mo Xiao Qi | Kimmy Tong Fei | Xin Bo Qing | Zheng Yi Tong | Kao Fu | Du Yi Heng |
Director: | Wong Jing 王晶 王晶 王晶 (バリー・ウォン) Wong Jing |
Producer: | Andrew Lau 劉偉強 刘伟强 劉偉強(アンドリュー・ラウ) Andrew Lau |
Release Date: | 2013-09-17 |
UPC Code: | 812491014301 |
Language: | Cantonese |
Subtitles: | English |
Place of Origin: | Hong Kong, United States, China |
Disc Format(s): | DVD |
Region Code: | 1 - USA, Canada, U.S. Territories What is it? |
Package Weight: | 90 (g) |
Shipment Unit: | 1 What is it? |
YesAsia Catalog No.: | 1033940583 |
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Professional Review of "The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version)"
This professional review refers to The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (2-Disc Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
Golden Age Hong Kong Cinema fans, take note. The Last Tycoon brings Chow Yun-Fat back in the sort of role that once earned him a level of popularity rivaling the likes of Stephen Chow and Jackie Chan. Chow plays Cheng Daqi, a righteous gangster in 1930s Shanghai loosely based on real-life triad boss Du Yuesheng. Honorable criminals are common to this genre, but The Last Tycoon goes a step further by saying that Cheng Daqi does not trade in drugs, gambling or prostitution. He instead runs banks and nightclubs, which begs the question: how is this man a criminal? That SARFT-appeasing detail aside, The Last Tycoon offers Chow in a role rife with nostalgia. Not only is Chow playing a hero gangster, but he's returning to the Bund, home of one of his most iconic roles: Hui Man-Keung from The Bund a.k.a. Shanghai Beach. This concept is so attractive that it almost doesn't matter that Wong Jing writes and directs.
There's another Bund connection present in The Last Tycoon. Co-star Huang Xiaoming also played Hui Man-Keung in a mainland television adaptation of The Bund -- and the filmmakers push the "Huang Xiaoming is the new Chow Yun-Fat" idea even further by having the two play the same character here. The Last Tycoon opens in 1937 Shanghai with the older Cheng Daqi attending a Peking Opera performance, before flashing back to rural Chuansha in 1913 where the younger Cheng Daqi (Huang Xiaoming) receives his initiation into the criminal world. Jailed for a crime he didn't commit, Daqi meets and makes a potential ally in Maozai (Francis Ng), a Nationalist military officer whose moral ambiguity contrasts with Daqi's righteousness. With Maozai's help, Daqi escapes imprisonment and heads to Shanghai, where he works under triad boss Hong Shouting (Sammo Hung). Meanwhile, Daqi's sweetheart Ye Zhiqiu (Feng Wenjuan) pursues her dream of being a Peking Opera performer. The Last Tycoon jumps back and forth between Da Qi's earlier and later days, with the past segments explaining how Daqi climbed the ranks to become a powerful gang boss who unfortunately didn't marry his sweetheart. Yolanda Yuan plays Zhiqiu as an older woman, after she got married and become a big Peking Opera star, and frequent flashbacks explain her fallout with Daqi. The flashbacks also detail Daqi's courtship and marriage to Bao (played by Kimmy Tong as a young woman, and by Monica Mok when older), and introduces his right-hand enforcer Lin Huai (Hu Gao, in the scene-stealing badass role). Maozai is also a frequent presence but his deepening corruption turns him from a potential ally into an obvious antagonist. The super big bad: the Japanese military (led by Yasuaki Kurata), which occupies Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War and uses nefarious ways to control Daqi. But this is Chow Yun-Fat, so naturally Daqi don't play that game. Eventually the past and present threads merge and we catch up with Cheng Daqi in 1937 at a crucial moment where all the film's plot threads are set to explode. The ensuing climax is solid, but the buildup moves in fits and starts. The Last Tycoon has strong iconography and character types, but the story development is unimaginative and occasionally dull. The script is flabby, pausing for long moments where characters stroke their chins and contemplate things that the audience is already aware of. Daqi and Zhiqiu get strong focus but other characters are given short shrift, in particular Hong's wife (Yuan Li), who's treated with an importance that's never really explained. Exposition is a problem; key plot turns are revealed in dialogue during static scenes usually involving people sitting around a table. A faster pace, more movement and greater urgency would help but Wong Jing seems content to guide the film in competent but unremarkable fashion. Chow Yun-Fat possesses solid charisma as Cheng Daqi and even gets a chance to cut loose with some minor overacting reminiscent of his emotional eighties work. Unfortunately, he has fewer opportunities to apply his trademark intense cool. This may be a consequence of his character's age as those moments go instead to Huang Xiaoming, who mimics some of Chow's mannerisms while offering his own trademark steely gazes. Casting Huang and Chow is a fine gimmick, but it seems unnecessary. Chow Yun-Fat is about 15 years too old for his role, and it's a bit discomfiting that the film requires two actors to play Cheng Daqi, Ye Zhiqiu and Bao but not Maozai, Lin Huai or anyone else. This is an uneasy detail that may have gone unnoticed had the film been more impactful. Unfortunately, The Last Tycoon is an average product and the seams are easier to notice. The set pieces and epic scope compensate. The action isn't nineties-style bullet ballet but gunplay is present and accounted for, and Andrew Lau and Jason Kwan's cinematography gives everything a good-looking, professional sheen. Both Huang Xiaoming and Chow Yun-Fat get action moments, and the image of Chow wearing a white suit and brandishing a gun is enough to make any old-time Hong Kong Cinema fan geek out. The action climax also offers plenty, including massive explosions, a standoff between Chow Yun-Fat and Francis Ng, plus one of best kills-via-Peking Opera ever put to film. Enlarged expectations may lead to some disappointment, but Wong Jing and company deliver enough entertainment to ride out the somewhat overlong running time. There's even bonus nostalgia: the final montage features a new Jacky Cheung song! Shoot me, it's like I'm back in the nineties. Well, not really, but enjoying The Last Tycoon for what it resembles will have to be good enough. by Kozo - LoveHKFilm.com |
Customer Review of "The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (US Version)"
See all my reviews
August 8, 2014
This customer review refers to The Last Tycoon (2012) (DVD) (2-Disc Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
It's a Wong Jing movie. 'Nuff said.
I wanted to like "The Last Tycoon". I really did. What could go wrong with Chow Yun Fat returning to the kind of role that made him an international star? Alas, a lot could (and did) go wrong. You already know the story; we've seen it many times before: Small-town kid must leave his small-town sweetie to make his way in the big city. Upon arriving in the big city, through moxie, ruthlessness, and charisma, the kid becomes a man by rising to the top of the heap of the local crime world. Both he and his former sweetie marry others, but remain in undying love to each other. Along comes a power which seems much bigger than our hero can handle, etc., etc. As I said, we've seen it before, only here it is made ponderous by too much explication and a soggy film score.
There is no quarreling with the performances of the cast. From Chow Yun Fat on down the list, all manage to create believable characters. Several of the scenes provide thrilling action, especially the splendid culminating sequence set at a production of "Lady General Mu Takes Command". On the other hand, I marveled at the audacity of including a scene which apes the famous gunfight in a church from "The Killer". I then gaped at the sheer insanity of including a scene which copies perhaps the most iconic film scene of all time -- the airport scene from "Casablanca". This is, after all, a Wong Jing movie and, being a Wong Jing movie, I shouldn't have let my hopes get so high. Indeed, if the film were 25 or 30 minutes shorter and the story moved at a crisper pace, without all the switching back and forth in time, I actually might have enjoyed "The Last Tycoon". Perhaps we can persuade Ringo Lam to recut this thing into something good. |
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