Anthony Wong plays Inspector Hung, aka, the Rock n' Roll Cop in this high charged HK
action drama in the John Woo vein of violence and guns.
In the beginning of Rock n' Roll Cop, Inspector Hung is in Hong Kong outside at a
street market selling vinyl records to shoppers. While discussing Deep Purple with a
customer, a robbery is going on at a nearby bank. When things get out of hand and
the robbers open fire on bank customers, Hung must wheel his cart of vinyl out of
the street and chase the bad guys. During all the commotion, Hung's cart gets
overturned and his precious albums are no more.
Perturbed but not defeated, Hung gets in the action as a gangster's girlfriend is
singing karaoke in a bar. Hung borrows a camera from a bar patron and when the mob
boss demands pictures taken with his girlfriend, Hung snaps away. However luck is
not with the good inspector as gangsters advance on Hung with many guns sticking
right in his face. Managing to get away, he finds the boss's girlfriend in a nearby
apartment complex and slaps her senseless in front of her own mother. Then he takes
her to jail and gets in the cell with her for more face slapping. This is only one
side of Inspector Hung. Later in the movie he apologizes to the girl for being so
rough and even plays guitar while she sings. She is one of the few women in Rock
n'Roll Cop who is not a prostitute. She tells Inspector Hung, “I'm a singer not a
hooker.”
Inspector Hung is sent to Sichuan aka Szechuan (famous for Szechuan cuisine) to hunt
down the gang responsible for the bank robbery. There seems to be quite a lot of
prostitutes in Sichuan because in one scene one cop says that 60 have recently been
arrested. That beats out Nebraska Ave even after a sting.
As in every cop movie, Hung argues with his superiors, chases gangsters, and engages
in some serious gunfights. However, Hung has one thing that the others don't. He is
tough just like rock n'roll. I haven't really seen rock music worked into a tough
cop movie before. That is what makes Hung such an interesting character when
compared to one-dimensional tough guys that become boring all too quickly
Rock n'Roll Cop was made during the per-take over years, and director Kirk Wong
makes good use of the tension between Mainlanders and Hong Kong residents,
especially during the final scene. One of the main gangsters has just been captured.
He even shot and killed Captain Wong Kun's girlfriend. So to help out his boss,
Inspector Hung must take the gangster back into Hong Kong. Things go well at the
fenced in gate that divides HK from China, until the gangster's boys show up, hiding
under SUV's and rolling around in the street to jump into action. Hung gets taken
hostage and is repeatedly beaten by the gangster. At one point the gangster tells
Hung, “I don't want to kill you, I just want to torture you,” as Hung's face gets
slammed into thorn bushes while be dragged along.
During the ending there is a stylish gunfight that looks better than anything ever
done by John Woo. Cops rolling around in the dirt shooting at gangsters who are
trying to evade and shoot back, makes for a very effective and highly entertaining
action sequence.
The only problem I had was that sometimes the pacing was slow. After the characters
were developed, towards the middle of Rock n'Roll Cop, the movie really dragged
until the next action scene kicked into gear. Still, this is a entertaining action
drama cop movie with an interesting twist a la Chinese Rock music.
4 out of 5 Stars.
To comment on this or any other PCR article, please visit The Message Board. "The Asian Aperture" is ©2010 by Jason Fetters. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2010 by Nolan B. Canova.
