The Wicked City (1992 film)
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| The Wicked City | |
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| Directed by | Tai Kit Mak |
| Produced by | Hark Tsui |
| Starring | Jacky Cheung Roy Cheung Leon Lai |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Running time | 87 min. |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wicked City ("妖獸都市", Yao shou du shi) was released by Golden Princess Film Production Ltd of Hong Kong in 1992. The film was an adaptation of Japanese anime Wicked City. The film was directed by Tai Kit Mak, produced by Hark Tsui and starred Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Yuen Woo-ping, Roy Cheung, Tatsuya Nakadai, Michelle Reis, and Carman Lee. It tells fictional story of conflicts and relationship between demon-like creatures and humans in 1990s' Hong Kong.
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[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Shorter synopsis
The story took place in Hong Kong in a conflict between worlds of Humans and "Rapters". Special polices in the city are investigating on a mysterious drug named "Happiness". Taki, one of the polices, meets his old lover Windy, who is a rapter and now a mistress of a powerful old rapter named Daishu. Taki and other special polices track down and fight Daishu, but later find that he hoped to coexist with humans. The son of Daishu, Shudo, is the mastermind. In the end Shudo is defeated, but Daishu and Taki's friends die, too. Windy leaves alone.
[edit] Longer synopsis
Unknown to most people, there is the demonic "Rapter World" in conflict with human world. Rapters shift their shapes and infiltrate human world. Taki (Leon Lai) is a sales of a Hong Kong import/export company, but that is only his cover. He reveals his real occupation when he hunts down a seductive spider-like rapter in Tokyo. Taki belongs to the Anti-Rapter Special Police. One day he is transferred back to Hong Kong. The 1997 Transfer is near, Anti-Rapter Special Police Headquarter withdrew many agents from Hong Kong. This is a chaotic period when Hong Kong is vulnerable to rapters. That's why Taki is sent to Hong Kong to help.
Also in the unit is Taki's buddy Ken Kai (Jacky Cheung). Ken's father fall in love with a rapter, thus in the veins of Ken flows the black blood of rapter, which caused distrust on him every time. But he always hopes to prove his humanity. Besides Taki, Orchid (Carman Lee) is the only one in the unit on his side.
Once Taki is back in Hong Kong from Tokyo, the unit begins investigation on an addictive and harmful performance enhancing drug named "Happiness". The emotionless leader of the police unit Sergeant Kayama (Yuen Woo-ping) suspects that Happiness is imported from the Rapter World by a tycoon named Daishu (Tatsuya Nakadai). He orders Taki and Ken to slip into Daishu's mysterious 150th birthday party. There Taki meets his former lover Windy (Michelle Reis), who is a rapter and now a mistress of Daishu. On the other hand Daishu and his staffs are having a meeting. Daishu's corporation is led by a group of rapters. Daishu hopes to control humans' economy in order to bargin with humans. They don't know who is importing Happiness the drug either.
The meeting is attacked by two rapter killers. All other high ranking staffs are killed. Daishu is injured and Windy is injected with Happiness, however they escape from killers and police. Sergeant Kayama suspects a traitor in the unit. He suspends Ken from duty and says he has a suspicious origin. Knowing rapters would access energy to recover, Sergeant Kayama pays attention to electricity consumption over districts and locates the rapters in a power plant. Taki enters the plant, lets Windy escape but catches Daishu. Windy seeks help from Daishu's son Shudo (Roy Cheung). Shudo orders her loyalty to him. Windy is sent to hurt Taki and later she too is caught by police.
Daishu hopes to coexist with humans, since worlds of rapters and humans are together facing the energy crisis. Further more, he hopes to learn human emotions. His son Shudo is the mastermind who imports Happiness and attacks Daishu. Shudo also trades with Orchid, the real traitor in the police unit. Orchid doesn't care about either humans or rapters, she only wants to make money and leave the city to survive the energy crisis. With help of Windy, Taki and Ken find out the truth, but Windy falls into hands of Shudo. They rescue Daishu from the unit and join forces to fight Shudo and his two killers. On the other hand Sergeant Kayama's announcement to suspend Ken is a trap to lure out the real traitor. Orchid is caught when she sabotage the police unit's facility that generate an artificial megnetic field that protects Hong Kong. Sergeant Kayama terminates Orchid, and leads a team to go after Taki.
After night battles, Shudo's killers are eliminated by Daishu, but Ken under Shudo's influence turns into a rapter. Windy is dying for the effect of Happiness. The artificial megnetic field is turned off, thus Hong Kong is now at threat of Shudo's power. Ken who became a rapter is injured by Sergeant Kayama's team. Daishu returns to his rapter form to battle Shudo. Daishu says it is because only a rapter can kill his own son. Shudo is happy for his father finally turns back to a rapter. Later they jump on an airplane and fight above Hong Kong. Daishu's power is weakened by age, but he dives into Shudo's shadow and defeats him with the power of his shadow. Shudo takes Ken as hostage, as he knows human emotion is his father's weakness. At the same time Ken regains human consciousness. He gives his blood to Windy so that Windy is able to overcome Happiness and rescue Taki from Shudo.
In the end Shudo is killed. Sergeant Kayama's team put the airplane on the tip of Bank of China Tower. With remorse of failing to prove his humanity, Ken dies in arms of Sergeant Kayama. Weighting his duty and emotion, Taki hesitatingly frees Daishu and Windy from hands of police. Taki meets a sad Sergeant Kayama and says Kayama may have become too emotional to lead the unit. On a car, Daishu dies for depletion of energy, only Windy drives away from the city alone at dawn.
[edit] External links
- Yao shou du shi at the Internet Movie Database
- WICKED CITY (an introduction)
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