A Well Hung Badguy

Sha Po Lang aka SPL is the best action movie to come out of Hong Kong for what seems like an eternity. It's a real throwback to the Good/Bad Cops vs the Bad Gangster films of the late 80's and early 90's. It's no coincidence that Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Donnie Yen, three of the main stars of that era, share the billing.


SPL is slickly directed by Wilson Yip and is a great improvement over one of his earlier efforts, Bio Zombie. It has glossy production values, well rounded characters and of course it rocks in the fight scenes. Donnie Yen's action choreography blends Kung Fu, knife fights and American Wrestling into a fresh mix. It's a real thrill for me to see Donnie square off against Sammo after all these years.

At times, like most HK movies, it gets a little too sentimental but it's not long before someone gets brutally stabbed, shot or kicked in the face! It flies by at around 90 minutes and is just begging for a sequel (assuming any of the characters can still walk).

Simon Yam is cool as the hardboiled cop who will do anything to put the villainous Sammo away. Sammo, now in his mid 50's, still looks good fighting against the more athletic Yen. The feeling of nostalgia brought about by this meeting of these old stars will be felt again later this year when the 'three brothers' Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao appear together in the highly anticipated Project BB.

[Update 28th Jan: It looks like Yuen and Sammo are no longer attached to Project BB which is a shame. Hopefully one day they'll all get back together]