How Hong Kong movies The Wicked City and 2000 AD rewrote the city’s cinema rule book
Tsui Hark-produced alien flick Wicked City and Gordon Chan’s 2000 AD were ambitious projects that tried things new to the Hong Kong industry
Hong Kong cinema has always prided itself on speed and adaptability, yet the industry has often been guilty of merely repackaging old formulas. However, the 1990s brought a wave of existential anxiety – both political and commercial – that forced filmmakers to take drastic risks.
Below, we revisit two ambitious productions from the beginning of that decade and the turn of the next one that attempted to rewrite the rule book: one a dark fantasy reliant on extravagant home-grown special effects, the other a glossy action thriller gunning for Hollywood-level production values.
The Wicked City (1992)
But today, the chaotic blend of physical models, special make-up effects, wirework and trick photography makes the film a uniquely enjoyable cult classic. Combined with the continually changing camera angles, the look of the film is an extreme summation of Hong Kong movie style in the early 1990s.
Directed by Peter Mak Tai-kit and produced by Tsui, who reportedly co-directed without credit, The Wicked City is a loose adaptation of the novel that inspired the famous Japanese manga of the same name.