Ma Yongzhen: The Boxer in Zhabei

马永贞之闸北决

China, 2020, colour, 2.35:1, 96 mins.

Director: Xu Jun 徐俊.

Rating: 4/10.

Modestly budgeted Republican martial-arts drama just about gets by thanks to some smooth technique.

STORY

Shanghai, 1920s. Vowing to free the people of the northern district of Zhabei from gang rule, Ma Yongzhen (Bai Narisu) takes on over 100 members of the Five Lakes gang in a fight on Waibaidu bridge across Suzhou creek. He ends up challenging the group’s leader, Xiaohuadao (Liu Guang), to a life-or-death boxing match before he’s swept away by on a horse by Bai Xiaodie (Liu Yitong) on the orders of her father, rival gang leader Bai Laili (Zhu Ruixiang). Five Lakes leader Xue Changchun (Ni Xuezeng) punishes the failure of Xiaohuadao by chopping off one of his fingers, and then goes on the rampage looking for Ma Yongzhen, whom he finds staying with Liu Juchi (Xu Xiaoqin), one of Xue Changchun’s mistresses. Ma Yongzhen flees and is arrested for his own safety by a friend, Zhabei police chief Jiang Shiguang (Zhu Xiang). Later, Ma Yongzhen is allowed to “escape” as he has a plan to compete in a local equestrian competition and attract the attention of Pierre (Xu Shaoqiang), head of the powerful French consulate, who will be the guest of honour. Originally a horse-breeder from Shandong, Ma Yongzhen wins against equestrienne Bai Xiaodie; he asks Pierre to witness the fact that he will compete in a life-or-death boxing match against Xiaohuadao to free the people of Zhabei from the Five Lakes gang’s rule. Pierre invites Ma Yongzhen to an official reception, where Liu Juchi performs a song and Ma Yongzhen beats Pierre’s bodyguard, Peter (Cui Xiangmeng), in an invitational fight. Pierre later frames Ma Yongzhen for stealing his watch but Ma Yongzhen escapes with the help of Liu Juchi. Pierre alerts Xue Changchun that Ma Yongzhen is on the loose. And finally the day of the life-or-death boxing match arrives, in which Ma Yongzhen faces multiple opponents.

REVIEW

Champion of the people Ma Yongzhen, a favourite hero of numerous films and TV dramas, brawls again in the modestly budgeted Ma Yongzhen: The Boxer in Zhabei 马永贞之闸北决, fighting corrupt gangs in 1920s Shanghai. This latest saga, directed by Jiangxi-born Xu Jun 徐俊, 32, a prolific independent film-maker of the past half-dozen years who’s mostly specialised in costume martial arts and online movies, doesn’t come close to the two main Ma Yongzhen movies, the bloody Shaw Brothers classic The Boxer from Shantung 马永贞 (1972, dirs. Zhang Che 张彻, Bao Xueli 鲍学礼, see left), starring Chen Guantai 陈观泰 and Jiang Dawei 姜大卫 [David Chiang], and its later remake Hero 马永贞 (1997, dir. Yuan Kui 元奎 [Corey Yuen], see below), starring Kaneshiro Takeshi 金城武 and Yuan Biao 元彪. Solid for a budget production, it took a tiny-but-could-be-worse RMB5.7 million on release late last year.

Like Hero, it consciously evokes 1970s martial-arts films – plenty of fights, simple good vs bad plot – but without the same budget – extras and props seem in short supply, with the whole of Zhabei represented by one street and about 50 people, and some costumes and hairstyles have a modern edge. (Like other Ma Yongzhen films, it also ignores the fact that the real-life man, a Hui Muslim, actually lived in the late Qing dynasty, not the Republican 1920s, and was a hardly heroic character.) Technically, Xu turns in a surprisingly smooth product, with widescreen photography (Shen Dongwei 沈冬伟, Wang Jin 王进), editing and postproduction (both Tu Chenjun 涂陈军) all smooth, and the whole thing wrapped in a superior symphonic score (credited to Yixin Music 异新音乐) that’s alert to the story’s various moods. The fight sequences by He Xiaogang 何晓刚 and Wang Xinyue 王鑫月 are okay without being waah! in anyway. Xu himself trained in martial arts from a young age.

Performances are standard, dominated by Hong Kong veteran Xu Shaoqiang 徐少强 (who gets top billing) as the villainous head of the French consulate. Inner Mongolia-born martial artist Bainarisu 白那日苏, 32, is okay but colourless as the title character. Xu previously worked with several of the cast in online films: Bainarisu on the hour-long action drama Die in Darkness 夺命街头 (2016), Xu on the costume martial arts drama Lone Shadow Swordsman 刀震江湖 (2018), and actress Xu Xiaoqin 徐小琴 on contemporary romance Love and the Rest of Life 如果爱有来生 (2020) and swordsman drama Gai Shi Hao Xia 盖世豪侠 (2020).

CREDITS

Presented by Zhejiang Tiezhu Film Media (CN).

Script: Mu Nianxiao. Photography: Shen Dongwei, Wang Jin. Editing: Tu Chenjun. Music: Yixin Music. Art direction: Zhang Zhiyue. Costume design: Dong Yangjie. Styling: Xu Yangying. Sound: Lu Qinhua, Wang Jue. Action staging: He Xiaogang, Wang Xinyue. Action direction: Song Shuxin. Executive direction: Li Xiaobo.

Cast: Xu Shaoqiang (Pierre), Bainarisu (Ma Yongzhen), Xu Xiaoqin (Liu Juchi), Ni Xuezeng (Xue Changchun), Liu Guang (Xiaohuadao), Li Chichi (You Gui), Hu Jianwei (Ge Kun), Gao Borui (Ge Bao), Zhu Xiang (Jiang Shiguang, police chief), Cui Xiangmeng (Peter), Zhu Ruixiang (Bai Laili), Liu Yitong (Bai Xiaodie), Zhang Junzhu (Xiaozhu), Wu Xia (Ge’s wife), Zhou Lixia (Auntie Wang), Liu Ying (Ma Xue), Huohuo Gege (Ma’s aunt), Pan Hongqin (Hongmeng).

Release: China, 13 Nov 2020.