TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN is the awkward title they ended up with for a movie that’s been in development for like 20 years (originally to be co-directed by John Woo and Johnnie To!) under the title KOWLOON WALLED CITY and DRAGON CITY and maybe some others. I’ve been waiting for it long enough that I already watched a movie called KOWLOON WALLED CITY on Hi-Yah! because I thought, “Oh shit – that finally came out!?” (That one was pretty fun too, I recommend it.)

This one is an event for many reasons, the main one for me being that it’s the latest from Soi Cheang, director of one of my favorite 21st century action movies, KILL ZONE 2, plus other movies I liked including SHAMO and MOTORWAY. The secondary reason is that he’s working with genius action director Kenji Tanigaki (RUROUNI KENSHIN, SAKRA), and the third is that one of the all time greats, Sammo Hung, plays a major character in it.

It’s the story of a refugee in Hong Kong named Lok (Raymond Lam, SAVING GENERAL YANG), who wins an underground fight trying to earn cash to buy a fake ID so he doesn’t get deported. The Triad boss running the fights, Mr. Big (Hung), is also the guy you go to for fake IDs, and when Lok turns down a job offer from him he gets screwed on that.

Now broke and even more desperate, Lok grabs a bag from the Triad operation and makes a run for it. Mr. Big’s goons, including right hand man King (Philip Ng, who played Bruce Lee in BIRTH OF THE DRAGON), chase him all the way to Kowloon Walled City, where they back down because “That’s Cyclone’s territory.” It started as a fortress, and that’s what it looks like from the outside, complete with sentries. Mr. Big’s guys back away and Cyclone’s second in command Shin (Terrance Lau, who played Leslie Cheung in ANITA) drives after Lok on a motorcycle.

This is our introduction to the fascinating setting of the Walled City. If you ever saw the movie BUYBUST, imagine a dozen copies of its favela-like slum stacked on top of each other. Also mix in a little Underground Seattle. It’s a labyrinth of narrow tunnels and alleys weaving between stacked, crumbling structures, clumps of wiring and pipes dangling between them, the sky only visible through narrow gaps that go dark when a jet flies over. And within that there are many businesses and homes and people doing their thing. I was glad I saw it in a theater, mostly for the immersive sound design – I was very aware of the faint voices, clanking, machines humming and radios playing from unseen, neighboring premises. The big screen also helps our eyes dig through the dense visual detail, a carryover from the garbage dump and littered streets of Cheang’s DOG BITE DOG, though not as overwhelming as the black and white hyper-detailed filth of LIMBO.

When Lok discovers that the bag he stole from Mr. Big is not full of cash, but cocaine, he tries to sell it to Cyclone’s men, and gets chased again. Running through a barbershop, he grabs an old barber and holds a blade to his throat. But it’s kind of like when a random airport hostage in YES, MADAM! is Cynthia Rothrock. Most of us can see that that’s Louis Koo (DRUG WAR, PARADOX), so he must be this Cyclone we keep hearing about. It’s not a surprise, but it is a delight, when Shin just raises his eyebrows and the old man kicks Lok’s ass. The best part is when he flicks his cigarette in the air, flips Lok, does an arm lock on him, then leaps back up and catches the cigarette between his two fingers. Cheang is not interested in making a realistic movie here. He would rather make a good one.

Cyclone later takes pity on the badly injured intruder and sends him to AV (German Cheung, KUNG FU KILLER), the gang’s doctor who wears a mask to cover scars and runs his medical practice out of his video store. As you can imagine he’s one of the best characters. Also there’s a guy with a kitana played by Tony Wu (RAGING FIRE) and his name is Twelfth Master, so he’s cool too.

Although Cyclone runs the city, he doesn’t live like a king. His apartment is basically ruins, shared with his cohorts who can all see into each others’ spaces through the huge hole between floors. They clear out the attic for Lok.

It’s set in 1984, which makes for some great fashion, a scene at a disco, and other imagery and music that evokes that era of Hong Kong cinema, but without seeming like a throwback. The action is definitely modern – fast, complex, lots of knives, lots of leaping and climbing. There are motorcycles, a fight on a moving bus, some actual fights for Sammo Hung. It’s generally shot in a slightly more close and wobbly style than is my preference, but it’s easy to read and makes sense for the subject matter and claustrophobic locations.

There’s a taste of the extravagant bleakness dripping through previous Cheang crime tales – one of Lok’s co-workers is a little girl maybe five years old who he calls Fishball (Wan Ching Wong). When he runs into her after work one day she’s waiting for a john to finish beating up her prostitute mother. And it gets worse. But mostly TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS is more of an entertainment-oriented experience. As great a location as the Walled City would be for gritty realism, this is closer to wuxia – they leap and fall through levels, punch people through walls, there’s a surprisingly late-in-the-game reveal of a villain with indestructible “spiritual armor” and other magical powers.

The trailer says it’s based on a graphic novel, but I believe the credits say it’s based on a novel. If I understand correctly, the novel is City of Darkness by Yuyi, who was inspired by a photo/essay book called City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City, and both inspired a manua (Chinese comic book) called City of Darkness by Andy Seto. They were adapted for the screen by Au Kin-yee (THROW DOWN), Tai-Lee Chan (IP MAN series including MASTER Z), Li Jun and Kwan-Sin Shum (LIMBO). There’s a slightly overwhelming exposition dump in the prologue, but it becomes more coherent through flashbacks, and more important as we realize Lok is central to a previous generation’s grudge, getting him caught between his new father figure Cyclone, another Kowloon Triad named Chau (Richie Jen, BREAKING NEWS), and Mr. Big (who tries to take over the Walled City).

Also Mr. Big’s guy King turns out to be kind of a Deacon Frost figure, the young guy trying to take over. We know he’s a handful because of his loud shirts, long hair and cool sunglasses.

TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN was a huge hit in Hong Kong and China – the second-highest-grossing domestic film of all time in Hong Kong – so they’re saying there will be a prequel (about the older generation in the ‘50s) and sequel (about what happens to the other guys after the Walled City is demolished in 1993). Whether or not it becomes a trilogy or franchise, it’s nice that it doesn’t end like it needs to be. There are scenes during the credits, but not cliffhangers or some shit – just a montage of ordinary life in the Walled City that we didn’t really have time for earlier. It’s nice.

In a straight up mathematical sense I don’t think TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS lives up to the Cheang + Tanigaki expectations. I don’t think it has the thematic depth of Cheang’s KILL ZONE 2 or LIMBO, or the action thrills of Tanigaki’s RUROUNI KENSHIN movies. But it is a distinct fusion of old and new, old school kung fu movie stuff within an ‘80s gang movie executed with modern flair and unusually high production value. And the Cheang-ness of it is clear, not just in the tremendous attention to the cinematic power of clutter and texture, but in the way it finds humanity in the darkest, dirtiest of places. Cheang was born in Macau, and he changed Lok from a Hong Konger to a foreigner to reflect how many refugees found homes in the real Walled City.

New censorship laws passed in 2021 have caused many worries about the future of the Hong Kong film industry, where Cheang has made more personal films as opposed to the big commercial ones he’s done in mainland China. I think there’s some not-so-subtle but pretty touching symbolism here with the warriors being the great Hong Kong filmmakers potentially facing their twilight. That they see such beauty in their crumbling city as they face its inevitable end makes it beautiful to us. They found not only shelter and work, but a brotherhood they agree will survive the buildings being knocked down. The spirit of Hong Kong cinema will live on in some form, whatever happens.