Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

This highly anticipated love letter to the golden era of Hong Kong action cinema has been generating a lot of buzz for some time. The early 1980's setting in the legendary Kowloon Walled city, birthplace of myths and legends, harkens back to the days when Hong Kong was truly top of the world when it came to action films - punching way above its weight thanks to the dedication, innovation and determination of a generation of film-makers who evolved their craft from a sheer love of the genre.

Times have changed and Hong Kong's film industry is a shadow of its former self, releasing maybe a couple of films a year that generate a buzz when they used to drop a banger every other week. Obviously much has changed socially, culturally and economically in the intervening years as well.

This is, by and large, the theme of TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS, in which the legendary status of an older generation cast a long shadow on the present day, their almost mythical antics still provide the narrative framework by which people understand their world. But nothing lasts forever... especially in Hong Kong.

"Look while you still can. Hong Kong changes in the blink of an eye"

The film acknowledges that the past is gone, those days are never coming back - but maybe something new can rise in its place.

With that in mind the film doesn't try to recreate the action of 1980's Hong Kong cinema but tries to do something new that captures the same spirit. The action is over the top, extravagant and hyper-kinetic but it embraces modern technology and cinematic techniques. There's a lot of digital enhancement and the style incorporates anime-esque exaggerations and MMA-style grappling rather than the acrobatics and traditonal martial arts forms some might have expected.

The result is a mixed bag with some shots that are spectacular and some that fall flat, lacking physical plausibility. Overall it is pretty thrilling and exciting though.

It's great to see Sammo on screen again even if he is not able to participate in the action much, and I have no complaints about the younger cast members. I guess I've accepted that Louis Koo has to be in everything for some reason, but what on earth is Richie Jen doing here? That role should have gone to an actual action star from the glory days - there are still quite a few around. Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan or Donnie Yen would have been great, or perhaps Kara Hui as a twist. He is not actually bad, to be fair.

Maybe this is just me being stuck in the past though, which - as the film tried to tell me - is not going to bring it back. Let's focus instead on the potential new stars the film showcases, and look forward to seeing where life takes them.