Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In

by Mike McGranaghan

There’s a line in the movie Pootie Tang that cracks me up. The title character is described thusly: “Pootie Tang will draw you a picture of how he’s gonna kick your ass, then mail it to you ten days in advance. The picture gets there, right? You're going, ‘What the hell is this?’ and then Pootie Tang knocks on your door, promptly kicks your ass and you still won't know what happened to you!” That quote could easily apply to Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, one of the most entertainingly hyperkinetic action movies I’ve seen in a while. It leaves you feeling exhilarated and exhausted in the best possible way.

Refugee Chan Lok-kwun (Raymond Lam) gets scammed by triad boss Mr. Big (Sammo Hung). He retaliates by stealing a bunch of the guy’s drug supply, then hiding out in the Kowloon Walled City, an area cordoned off by stacks of shipping containers and the remains of old buildings. It’s a place where crime runs rampant. There, Chan comes under the wing of a local boss, Cyclone (Louis Koo), who gives him work and a place to live. His presence also brings out a secret that kicks off a war between Cyclone, Mr. Big, and another powerful entity inside the walls.

Twilight of the Warriors has a middle section that puts story elements in place that pay off later. It involves the history of the people who previously controlled the Walled City and how Chan connects to them. Although not as viscerally exciting as the action scenes, the dynamic created is engrossing. Characters who should hate each other become allies and characters who start off as allies grow to hate each other.

That drama puts the frenzied action into a context where it’s exciting and meaningful. Director Soi Cheang stages the fight scenes in a fast-paced manner that’s thrilling to watch. This is the kind of picture where two characters can’t say hello without ending up in fisticuffs. They get smashed through walls and tables, slashed with knives, flung across rooms, and more. All of it looks brutally real. In fact, the movie got me doing something I rarely do – reacting audibly. At least a dozen times, I chuckled with pleasure at a particularly gnarly fight tactic or said something along the lines of “Oof!” or “Ow!” when somebody sustained an injury. In other words, this isn’t a film you simply watch, it’s one where you feel every bone snap, leg break, and spine crush.

The performances are very good, with Lam making an appealing hero and Koo bringing an undeniable cool factor to Cyclone. Both men are skilled with the martial arts moves, too. They get to act within amazing sets that make the Walled City feel like a real place. Production design in the movie is outstanding, as the city is filled with grimy, gritty little details that bring it to vivid life. Simply looking at the screen is fun because of how authentically the setting is established.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In will be like catnip to fans of the martial arts genre. It’s a big, crazy, ultra-violent brawler with near wall-to-wall mayhem.

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