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Inspector Pink Dragon (1991)

Inspector Pink Dragon (1991)

Inspector Pink Dragon (1991) is a 1991 Hong Kong action-crime-comedy film produced by and starring Lawrence Cheng and directed by Gordon Chan. The film is also one of the earliest Hong Kong productions shot in sync sound.

Having more refined production values than will be expected from a Hong Kong film of its period, this piece, its title a by-product of the Peter Sellers Inspector Clouzot series, supplies an emporium for the rather slight comedic talent of its producer and featured player Lawrence Cheng, in addition to dreary romantic and action elements that are merely ancillary to Cheng's mugging.

He casts himself as Ma, a vainglorious and largely free of ability Hong Kong policeman who is quaintly mistaken by corrupt real estate developer Teng (Damian Lau) to be the head of the City's Urban Planning Bureau and, as a subsequence, assigned in an undercover capacity to implicate Teng for illicit dealings with Hong Kong officialdom, while at the same time attempting to court Julia (Rosamond Kwan), erstwhile lover of slain Yau, played by Tony Leung Ka-Fai, due to her possession of Yau's pay-off funds given to him by Teng.

While Ma pretends to be a high City official, following Julia as she leads him into a shoal of incongruous adventures, he has plainly become immune to affection accorded him by his fiancée/first cousin, acted in a sprightly manner by Nini Li, who frequently endeavours to extract him from tight spots, including a climactic action sequence choreographed by Deon Lam and Tony Leung Siu Hung.

The film benefits from capable direction from recurrent Cheng collaborator Gordon Chan, along with smoothly composed camera-work, all being shot in neatly accomplished sync-sound, and there are solid turns contributed by Lau, and Waise Lee as a police inspector, but a loosely focused screenplay tenders scant character or plot development, resulting in little intrinsic interest for a viewer in Ma's predicaments (not aided by his sporadic voice-over narration), and police tactics are embarrassingly inappropriate.

A DVD package is in letter box format, its dialogue Cantonese with above standard Mandarin and English language subtitles being available; despite the somewhat lower case acting of Cheng, and a fundamentally formless, poorly constructed script, the film did quite well at the box office during a brief run, and would have been better known but for these stated weaknesses.

Plot

Inspector Ma Yue-lung (Lawrence Cheng) bumps into his ex-classmate and longtime lover, Julia (Rosamund Kwan), while catching a thief.

They both later go to an alumni reunion and see another ex-classmate, Ma Yau-yau (Tony Leung Ka-fai), who is now Julia's superior.

When Yau returns home, he is murdered by Peter (Peter Lai).

Heavy Crime Bureau chief Pau Yu Chat (Kenneth Tsang) sends Lung to go undercover to take Yau's job.

After Lung goes undercover, he rises in rank and his paychecks increase.

Julia also begins to develop feelings for Lung.

Lung's girlfriend, Ching (Nina Li Chi), suspects that something is wrong with Lung.

Later, Julia brings Lung to meet a land developer, Tang Kwok-kiu (Damian Lau).

During that time, another murder case comes up.

Lung later finds out that Tang is the mastermind behind this, but he, Julia and Ching have become Tang's chests.

Another inspector, Shek Chun (Waise Lee), then gathers evidence and is determined to bring Tang to justice.

Review by Kozo

Geeky Lawrence Cheng produced and starred in this action-comedy that's surprisingly well-made, but amounts to little more than a fluffy time-waster.

He stars as police officer Ma, who's all bark and no bite.

An annoyingly whiny boaster, Ma gets his chance to solve a real case when he accidentally happens across a land-development bribery scheme involving former classmate Yau (Tony Leung Ka-Fai).

It seems Yau was taking money from evil developer Teng (Damian Lau), but his inability to get the job done earned him a bullet.

Thanks to movie-like circumstances, Teng believes that Ma is the real head honcho of urban development, and tries to arrange a new deal with him.

At the same time, Teng wants to get Yau's payoff back from Yau's mistress Julia (Rosamund Kwan), who Ma lusts after big time.

And, Nina Li shows up as Ma's cousin/fiancee, who's insanely jealous but still very submissive.

Given Ma's all-talk character, the common plotline here would be for him to become an actual hero, thereby making good on all his big talk.

Ma certainly gets his chance, but he surprisingly stays exactly the same for the entire film.

The beginning of the film has him coveting Julia and dissing his doting girlfriend.

By the end of the film, he's still coveting Julia and dissing his girlfriend.

He does get to do some law enforcement stuff along the way, but he never seems to overcome any personal barriers.

As such, the film becomes a ninety-minute showcase for the comedy talents of Lawrence Cheng, which really isn't something that I would normally pay to see.

His delivery can be sometimes amusing, but more often than not he's simply annoying and worthy of audience disdain.

At least some of the supporting actors fare better.

Damian Lau turns in a fine performance as the charming heavy, and Nina Li is amusingly animated as the jilted girlfriend.

Rosamund Kwan gets to do more than her usual "flower vase" thing, but her character is annoyingly rudderless.

She appears to dislike Ma at first, but later comes to appreciate him - though it's really questionable as to why.

Her inexplicable character is a microcosm of the whole film, which simply plods along with no real tension or driving narrative.

Basically, we just follow Ma as he happens into situation after situation.

And if we're lucky, we get to laugh at the same time.

Director Gordon Chan turns in his usual solid work, and the film is technically superior for an early nineties HK flick.

Sync-sound dialogue and solid cinematography highlight the film, but it's all in the service of a sloppy and unaccomplished script.

That anyone could take Ma seriously is a joke, as is the fact that the cops allow Julia to run free and clear.

As a civilian and potential criminal accessory, you'd think that they'd prevent her from tagging along on armed police raids, but they conveniently ignore that.

Heck, they even let her grab an M-16 to get in on the action!

Given that, the Royal Hong Kong Police Force deserves Ma as a member of their corps.

The audience deserves a better movie.

(Kozo 2002)

Cast

  • Lawrence Cheng Tan-Shui	...	
    
  • Sgt Ma Ju-Lung/Pink Dragon

  • Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam	...	Julia
    
  • Waise Lee Chi-Hung	...	Insp Shih Ching
    
  • Damian Lau Chung-Yan	...	Teng Kuo-Chiao
    
  • Nina Li (actress)	...	Tan Lan-Ching
    
  • Vindy Chan Wai-Yee	...	
    
  • Ma Ju-Feng

  • Tony Leung Ka-fai	...	Ma Yu-Yu
    
  • Kenneth Tsang Kong	...	Chief Insp Pao
    
  • Kingdom Yuen King-Tan	...	Emmanuelle
    
  • Lawrence Lau Sek-Yin	...	Fatty Lan
    
  • Brenda Lo Yip-Mei	...	
    
  • Fatty Grandma

  • Angela Fong Hiu-Hung	...	Mrs Ma Yu-Yu
    
  • Peter Lai Bei-Dak	...	
    
  • Peter

  • Fruit Chan Goh	...	
    
  • Popsicle seller

  • Lily Lee Lee-Lee	...	CID
    
  • Teddy Chen Tak-Sum	...	
    
  • Teddy, CID

  • Chan Wing-Chiu	...	Hi Fi Teach, CID
    
  • Paul Cheng Chun-Bong	...	CID
    
  • Allan Fung Yi-Ching	...	K.C. 
    
  • Fung

  • Shirley Lau Yim-Ngo	 	 
    
  • Lau Yin-Tak	 	 
    
  • Simon Leung Chi-Wa	 	 
    
  • Dion Lam Dik-On	...	
    
  • Guard at Chiao's mansion

  • Chung Wing (1)	...	
    
  • Chiao's thug

  • Kent Chow Shu-Gei	...	
    
  • Anti-Corruption Officer

  • Unknown 80s Police Actor (2)	...	
    
  • Police sgt

Box Office

The film grossed HK$8,179,321 at the Hong Kong Box office..

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