Jumpin right into the action, we watch as a gang of baddies dressed in Red-Ex uniforms run through a village to evade the chasing cops. The gang includes Ken Lo, Hung Yan Yan, Andy On and Simon Yam to name but a few. As the gang breaks, and the feet fly, Yam breaks off with gang leader, Eddie Cheung, who just happens to have the copper-plates they stole, for their counterfeiting operation. As the rest escape, Cheung soon gets caught and is taken by the police to be executed in a sports field - complete with audience, one of which is his daughter, Bernice Liu.
The one and only Michael Chan Wai Man, from The Club and Project A 2, sports one of the worst wigs yet and plays the more, mature member of the triad gang. He calls for the voting of a new head of the family. Simon (known here as Funky), gets chosen and quickly starts putting his foot down which angers some of the contenders for the throne. Liu's brother (Chris Lai) soon returns home to sort the will, but with Cheung leaving everything to his children, the tempers of his triad peers soon rise and it isn't long before Chris gets killed in an explosion. Of course, Bernice Liu sets out for revenge!
Dennis Law has forever received nothing but bad criticism for his films - most of which I do enjoy. He's one of the few Hong Kong directors that actually tires hard to recreate the very-much-missed, golden days of Hong Kong action cinema, but often with flawed results. Although he studied film in LA, Law went on to work in real estate before Bad Blood presenter Charles Heung coaxed him back into film. He worked with Johnnie To as a producer for a bit before setting out on his own journey as writer and director. While both of these subjects have never been his strong point, he still gets the job done, often with a great cast and some pretty sweet moments. Here, he is aided by his old friend and ace-director, Herman Yau, as director of photography...
In Bad Blood, Law brings a great cast together along with some new faces, and works alongside JC Stunt Team member Nicky Li for some amazing martial arts action. Helping Li is Huang kai Sen who has worked on many great movies as an actor and action director, such as Invisible Target, Rob-B-Hood, Kiss Of The Dragon, and Black Mask. Its a great team-up as most of the action in Bad Blood is what saves it from becoming a pretty forgettable movie. Nicky Li had also choreographed the fantastic action in law's Fatal Contact, and does just as great a job here.
While the fight for the throne amongst the triad gang may be the main story of the film, the sub-plot with Andy On gets me a little more excited. Complete with large birthmark on his face, On has befriended a mute girl played by the super tiny yet highly impressive Jiang Liu Xia from Coweb and True Legend (of which she also co-starred with Andy in). Aside from enjoying kicking the hell out of each other, the pair like to ride around town at night on their motorcycle, picking out gangs for a fight to see how quickly Jiang can take them down in a bizarre training method. It makes for a lot of great action and is a close to the late 80's/early 90's Hong Kong style of film-making we all miss. With a hint of unspoken romance between them, I would like to have seen more about them in the film. But alas, this crime-thriller is also known as the King Of Triads for a reason, although more notably should have been named, Queen Of Triads due to Bernice Liu's role as the twisted, Audrey. I haven't seen a lot of Bernice, but her portrayal of Audrey is quite good, and she definitely impresses in the action department.
As well as being flawed in its writing, the film is void of any excitement during the dramatic scenes, offers some tired performances from its aged cast, and some silly directional choices here and there that has its audience asking 'why?'. But, as mentioned, Bad Blood is saved by its fight scenes offering some of the most exciting and brilliantly choreographed action of its time. And while the action is aplenty throughout, its just a shame that Dennis Law kills off most of his best fighters before the end, resulting in a fun-but-short-lived face off with Liu versus Jiang Lui Xia before going out with a bang!
Overall: Once you get past the flaws, Bad Blood features some fantastic martial arts action and stunts that will get any Hong Kong film fans excited!
