Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon

老男孩  猛龙过江

China, 2014, colour, 2.35:1, 112 mins.

Director: Xiao Yang 肖央.

Rating: 6/10.

Likeable comedy of two ageing rockers in New York gets by on its lead chemistry.

STORY

Beijing, the present day. Xiao Dabao (Xiao Yang), the “King of North China Folk Rock”, remembers the days when he and high-school friend Wang Xiaoshuai (Wang Taili), also from Shandong province, dreamed of becoming a singing group as famous as Hong Kong’s Beyond. Five years ago, calling themselves Chopsticks Brothers, they were still struggling and dreaming. After meeting the glamorous cellist Ma Lu (Qu Jingjing), they expanded into a trio, with Ma Lu performing vocals and violin, but the threesome broke up when Wang Xiaoshuai resented her getting the limelight. Now working in a small club, Xiao Dabao is approached by a mysterious American, Chris, who proposes taking him and Wang Xiaoshuai to New York and launching them on the talent show The Voice of an Angel. At the airport, however, they are mistaken for two ruthless Korean hitmen – Bak Yeong-ho and Bak Yeong-jun, known as The White Tiger Brothers – who have been hired by New York mafioso Freddo to kill a judge on the TV show who said his contestant mistress (Kerry Berry Brogan) had a voice like a sheep. Meeting Freddo, Xiao Dabao and Wang Xiaoshuai discover that the judge who’s been targeted is none other than Ma Lu, who went off to pursue her own career after their group broke up and is actually Freddo’s wife. Freddo and his sidekick Tony realise they’ve made a mistake when they discover the Koreans have actually been arrested and put in jail; to save their own skins, they give Xiao Dabao and Wang Xiaoshuai a second chance, training them to become hitmen.

REVIEW

Comic/singing duo Xiao Yang 肖央 and Wang Taili 王太利, known collectively as Chopsticks Brothers 筷子兄弟, hit the big screen in their first starring feature, Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon 老男孩  猛龙过江, a spin-off of their very popular internet short The Bright Eleven – Old Boys 11度青春 – 老男孩 (2010). Apart from its main characters – two ageing rockers still dreaming of hitting the big time – the movie doesn’t have a lot in common with the short, which described their first meeting at high school in the 1980s and present-day reunion to appear on a TV talent show. Much more broadly played on a comic level and, as is hinted by the use of the Li Xiaolong 李小龙 [Bruce Lee] film as a handle, largely set overseas, it’s a likeable but not laugh-out-loud satire on the “China Dream”, following the pair to New York where they get mistaken for two ruthless Korean hitmen.

Humorously ignoring Xiao and Wang’s real ages (34 and 45), the film rapidly recaps their past at high school where they dreamed of becoming a better group than Hong Kong’s Beyond – in the original short, their hero was Michael Jackson – before showing them still dreaming only five years ago, with Wang’s character stuck in a marriage to a fattie he met at school. The movie properly spins off when they accept a shady deal from a mysterious American to appear on a New York talent show and find themselves hired to kill one of the judges (Qu Jingjing 屈菁菁) with whom they once shared their act. Much of the knockabout humour stems from Xiao and Wang playing the two hitmen they’ve been mistaken for, mercilessly sending up Korean never-say-die relentlessness, fooling around with cod-Korean dialogue, and having an excuse for plenty of martial-arts action (staged okay, though in a Chinese way).

The plot is all over the place, with comic Italian mafiosi and Ennio Morricone-style music in the mix as well as lots of local jokes. What makes it all watchable on a general level is the chemistry between the two leads, which develops into a surprisingly touching ending, and some memorable songs (especially No Regrets 不后悔 and the rousing, Schlager-like I Want to Go to New York 我想去纽约) that deepen the film’s emotional texture beyond simple goofiness. As a whole, however, this splashy, feature-length spin-off lacks the depth and characterisation of the original short, which was shot like a condensed mini-feature and just perfect at 42 minutes.

Written and directed by Xiao, who made the original short as well as others starring the pair like The Ultimate Winner 赢家 (2011), the film is professionally packaged at all levels, with saturated widescreen photography by Hong Kong’s Zhang Dongliang 张东亮 [Tony Cheung] and sharp cutting by editor Xu Tai 徐泰. [Though financed by Mainland companies, many key crew are Hong Kongers and the creative producer is Hong Kong veteran Li Rengang 李仁港 (Daniel Lee).]

CREDITS

Presented by Ruyi Films (CN), Le Vision Pictures (CN), Youku Original (CN). Produced by Visualiser (CN).

Script: Xiao Yang. Photography: Zhang Dongliang [Tony Cheung]. Editing: Xu Tai. Music: Li Yunwen [Henry Lai]. Art direction: Zhuang Zhiliang [Thomas Chong]. Action: Liang Xiaoxiong. Artistic direction: Li Rengang [Daniel Lee].

Cast: Xiao Yang (Xiao Dabao; Bak Yeong-ho), Wang Taili (Wang Xiaoshuai; Bak Yeong-jun), Qu Jingjing (Ma Lu/Maria), Kerry Berry Brogan (Jennifer, mafioso’s mistress), Qu Wanting (woman in bar), Chen Jiajun, Ma Chongyuan.

Premiere: Shanghai Film Festival (Focus China: China Movie Channel Media Award), 16 Jun 2014.

Release: China, 10 Jul 2014.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 19 Jul 2014.)