Unbeatable

In the past five years, Dante Lam has come out with ever more spectacular and bombastic action films, but this time he has dispensed with all of the grandiose and sophisticatedly staged shootouts, chase scenes and explosions in favour of an intimate sports drama from the world of MMA in his best film (so far). As a trainer says to his student in the film, “you have to know why you are standing in the ring”, Lam built his fresh variation on the classic Rocky theme on that exact principle. Though he previously attempted to add a dramatic undercurrent to the spectacular attractions, his films’ narratives were ultimately afflicted with a serious case of kitsch (The Viral Factor) or overwrought would-be bleakness (Fire of Conscience). In Unbeatable, however, the genre formulas are well balanced with unforced sentimentality and, together with the great charisma of the two lead actors and the brilliantly shot fight scenes, comprise a coherent and maximally captivating whole. Furthermore, on all of the above-mentioned levels, Lam always presents viewers with something more than just the standard. Though the narrative faithfully retains the iconic elements of the genre established in Rocky, it also brings forth its own enriching elements and twists. The characters are likable if only because their reasons for getting in the ring are more pragmatic and personal than merely the motivation to win and to prove something to the world. That alone would be enough for the fights to have a great dramatic edge, but thanks to Lam’s directing, they are also supremely intense spectacles that are so compelling that they cause the viewer’s muscles to tense up. The fights and training sequences work superbly thanks to the excellent actors, who are not only able to convey all of the dramatic aspects of their respective roles, but were also willing to physically transform themselves into athletes as they prepared for the film over the course of nine months. In this and other respects, the film’s brightest light is Nick Cheung, who at the age of forty-five underwent a complete physical transformation and, furthermore, reached a whole new level as a dramatic actor. After Dante Lam seemed to have become a stone-cold specialist in increasingly ambitious yet essentially empty attractions, with Unbeatable he found it in himself to deliver a gripping performance as a director. As was the case with The Beast Stalker, he is again deservedly   reaping nominations for annual awards and high box-office revenues, and we can again look forward with great expectations to what he will come up with next. (01/12/2013)

It is good to know that the classic form of films about contact sports has become outdated, and those decades of immutable ills are a thing of the past. On the contrary, what is fashionable in this genre is a strong human drama about non-clear-cut characters, in which the sporting component is (seemingly) secondary and performs the role of the icing on the cake. It must bond the viewer with the characters without resorting to embarrassing scenes with bad guys and similar atrocities. It must give the impression that the creators do not cheat with a merciful cut, and that the actors on set (on the mat) sweated it hard. At the same time it has to deal with avoiding, turning on its head, or at least skating away with honor from any inevitable genre clichés. And few movies have done it better than this masterpiece of Lam’s, which comes across as an Asian, more social and naturalistic "remake" of Warrior. Of course, the movie is not without its faults. It's quite affected at times, but that's kind of part of it. The fundamental twist is so obvious throughout the movie that it doesn't come as much of a surprise. The Hong Kong acoustic version of Sound of Silence is excellent, but the later version with female vocals is feeble compared to the original and, more importantly, it goes a long way to destroying the scene it accompanies. And the worst thing is that the story is completed in the form of photos during the closing credits. As nice as it is, it somewhat unfairly undermines what the movie (successfully up to that point) was trying to do for the preceding two hours. (15/12/2013)