A little more than a decade and half ago, the quintet of actors who made it big as TV stars in the 1980s and came to be collectively known as the Five TVB Tigers appeared together in
The Tigers (1991). Now, Andy Lau, Miu Kiu Wai, Felix Wong and Ken Tong are back together again in Brothers, another made-for-cinema crime drama that makes much of the bonds
of brotherhood.
This time around, however, they are minus the fifth Tiger: Tony Leung Chiu Wai. To compensate, the filmmakers have added a host of other stars – younger, older, and from Mainland China and Taiwan as well as Hong Kong – into the mix. If only they had also engaged a really good scriptwriter with ideas that felt truly innovative to make this big budget work live up to its billing. Instead, as things stand, Brothers may literally start with a bang and also possess an interesting set-up along with evocative early scene (that – once more literally – drips blood) but it all sadly goes into too familiar territory and downhill soon after.
Two other things that fans of the Five TVB Tigers should know prior to their viewing of the film are that: firstly, Andy Lau is not the star of this show – in that he doesn’t have the movie’s meatiest role; and secondly, neither is Felix Wong who, to add insult to injury, is obliged to do what Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia did in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express (1994) – that is, act without the use of his eyes (on account of their being behind dark sunglasses) for the most part. And while the Taiwanese screen legend was able to come across as intriguingly mysterious while doing so, Wong’s right-hand-man character unfortunately just comes across as rather silly for persisting in wearing his shades even in not particularly bright situations that don’t require them (as well as generally less interesting than he could and should have been, given his lineage and “Ghostie” moniker).
Rather, the brothers who this Derek Chiu helmed offering’s title refers to are portrayed by Miu Kiu Wai and Eason Chan as adults (and for the bulk of the movie). The sons of a Triad boss named Tam Tin (Wang Zhiwen) and his loving wife (Elaine Jin), they were physically separated as children – with the younger boy being packed off to the USA – on account of a prophecy that one would die at the hands of the other. And it’s not until a deathly attack on their beloved father prompts the elder Yiu (Miu) to ask the younger Shun (Chan) to return to Hong Kong that this pair of siblings gets physically reunited.
Prior to Tam Tin’s untimely demise, Yiu’s lawyer and ladylove, Chong Ching (Crystal Kwan), revealed in a courtroom situation that this senior Triad had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Puzzlingly, both the police (whose representatives here include Chief Inspector Lau (Andy Lau) and his deputy, Sergeant Sun (Gordon Lam Ka Tung)) as well as assorted members of Yiu’s gang appear to largely ignore what one would think should represent a major piece of news to them. (For the record, this is just one of the plot inconsistencies that undermine much of this structurally weak movie.) If one had taken the revelation seriously though, it would have been easy to predict what Yiu would do next: that is, bid to prepare his brother – however naive and ignorant he hitherto may have been about the ways of the Triad – to be his successor.
In order to smooth the path for Shun, Yiu has to quell dissent in the ranks and challenges from senior individuals who aren’t happy with the group’s leadership being passed from Tam to Tam as well as with their insistence that the gang not be involved with any drug dealing. Two men who prove to be particularly troublesome are the father-son duo of Uncle Nine (Henry Fong Ping acting appropriately sleazy once more) and Kui (Ken Tong). And while the older man is eventually easily bumped off, Kui is able to stir up quite a bit of trouble and, in the process, pit one Tam brother against the other, with tragic consequences that bring the film back full circle to the beginning.
Yvonne Teh
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