Full Contact – Sony Pictures (DVD)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1992
Director: Ringo Lam
Writer: Nam Yin
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Simon Yam, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Ann Bridgewater, Bonnie Fu, Frankie Chan

Release Date: May 13th, 2003
Approximate Running Time: 98 Minutes 53 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen & 4:3 Aspect Ratio
Rating: R
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono Cantonese, Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: OOP

"To help his buddy Sam settle a gambling debt, Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) reluctantly agrees to join forces with Judge (Simon Yam) for a daring weapons heist. But Sam and Judge betray Jeff and leave him for dead. Once nursed back to health, Jeff plots the ultimate payback." – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 2.75/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Digitally Mastered."

Full Contact comes of a dual layer DVD.

Disc Size: 7.4 GB

By today’s standards, this transfer leaves plenty of room for improvement. Flesh tones look correct, colors look very good, image clarity is generally strong, black levels are adequate, and there are some compression-related issues, most noticeably during darker scenes.

Audio: 3/5 (Dolby Digital Mono Cantonese, Dolby Digital Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a Dolby Digital mono mix in Cantonese and a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. Despite sounding clean, clear, and balanced, both audio tracks are limited range-wise. Included are removable English subtitles for the Cantonese language track and removable Spanish and French subtitles for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras are limited to trailers for Lockdown, So Close and a double feature trailer for Once a Thief/Full Contact.  

Summary:

Full Contact was directed by Ringo Lam, who rose to prominence in Hong Kong cinema in the latter part of the 1980s after directing films like City on Fire, Prison on Fire, and School on Fire. Even though he has made three films in Hollywood with Jean-Claude Van Damme, unlike most of his contemporaries, he has also managed to stay active in Hong Kong cinema.

When one of them offends a loan shark, three friends are forced to flee, and needing money, they team up with a trio of unscrupulous criminals.

Ringo Lam is one of a handful of filmmakers who excelled in the Heroic Bloodshed genre, with City on Fire being his most celebrated film from this genre. And though Full Contact has all the core elements of Heroic Bloodshed cinema, the result is an askewed version of this genre. Where his earlier forays into Heroic Bloodshed cinema had social commentary and were political, Full Contact is a film that drops all subtext in favor of style.

A key component to most of Ringo Lam’s most celebrated films, they all feature Chow Yun-Fat, an actor who he worked with for the sixth and final time on Full Contact. Chow Yun-Fat portrays Gou Fei, a bouncer who wears a vest and rides a motorcycle. Though there is a cool aspect to his character, it is not the same suave king of cool that he’s known for. That said, he delivers another superb performance in which he dominates every moment he’s onscreen.

Cast in the role of the bad guy is Simon Yam (Naked Killer); he portrays a flamboyant character named Judge who is openly gay. There is a song and dance going on between Judge and Gou Fei, in which the former flirts with the latter, who always rejects him. Also, Judge is a cunning character who uses a handkerchief to disguise his surprise ambushes. He’s a versatile actor who portrayed a variety of characters, including a few memorable turns as psychopaths.

Besides these two characters, there is a crew of colorful characters like Deano, a muscular madman with no impulse control, and his slutty girlfriend, who is aptly named Virgin in the English language version. The most surprising performance is Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, who, more than any Hong Kong actor, is known for portraying psychopaths. In Full Contact, he portrays Sam, a meek character who evolves into the type of character that Anthony Wong Chau-Sang is known for.

One thing you can say about Full Contact is that it never skims when it comes to its action sequences. In its opening moments, Judge and his two sidekicks rob a jewelry store. This opening sequence perfectly sets the tone for what follows; it is a bombastic moment of excessive carnage and destruction. When it comes to action sequences, they will not disappoint. That said, the action is more Gung Fu than hand-to-hand combat.

From a production standpoint, Full Contact is a film where everyone involved is clicking on all cylinders. The narrative moves at breakneck momentum towards an explosive finale that somehow tops all the earlier action set pieces. Though Ringo Lam lets his actors take center stage, there is never a shortage of stylish moments. Ultimately, Full Contact is one of the highwater marks of Heroic Bloodshed cinema and one of this genre's last hurrahs.

If rumors on the internet are true, it will be a long time before Full Contact makes its way to HD outside of Asia. That said, those with region-free capabilities will have options, while everyone else will be limited to releases like this.

Written by Michael Den Boer