Ben F. on Nostr: City of Darkness. Ever since I heard of its existence a few years before I moved to ...

City of Darkness. Ever since I heard of its existence a few years before I moved to Hong Kong I've been fascinated with the Walled City of Kowloon, an area of about a square kilometer in Hong Kong that stayed Chinese after the treaty that ceded Kowloon to the British. Until WW2, Chinese troops were stationed there, but the Japanese invasion wiped out Chinese and British troops in 1943. After the war, there was no way Britain was letting communist Chinese troops back in, so it became a lawless area: enclosed in British territory, but not under British law. This is where refugees, shady businesses and criminals chose to live and/or operate from. I couldn't miss a movie set in that mindblowing place. The movie is set in the early to mid-80s and revolves around gang wars for control of the Walled City. There isn't much of a plot to be honest, but after all this is a kung-fu movie, I'm guessing the average fan doesn't come for the plot. The recreation of the Walled City is mindblowing, and the movie exudes a fantastic late 20th century Hong-Kong vibe that I found very compelling. The fights are numerous and brutal, but so choreographed that the violence doesn't feel too visceral, which was fine by me. All in all I quite enjoyed myself, there is only one aspect about the ultimate bad guy (honor amongst thieves being what it is, there *are* 'good guys' in the movie) that broke suspension of disbelief for me. I guess the line between what is believably realistic and what is not is different in Hong-Kong action cinema. But apart from that, I recommend it! #movie #hongkong #action #kungfu