Champions (2008) Movie Review

With the coming of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a slew of related sports related films were always inevitable. One of the first major productions now hitting DVD is “Champions”, from director Tsui Siu Ming, who recently produced the likes of “The Equation of Love and Death “ and “Battle of Wits”. The film marks the return to the screen of popular actor and singer Dicky Cheung, who stars in a patriotic tale (very) loosely based upon the real life exploits of the first Chinese Olympic participation.

The film is set back in 1936, with Cheung playing a martial artist called Fung, who along with his friend Shue Po (former child star Xie Miao, also in “My Father is a Hero”) dreams of taking part in the coming Olympic Games. Although the government offers to provide some sponsorship, the athletes find themselves needing to raise a considerable amount of money in order to travel to the prestigious event. Unfortunately they find their efforts hampered by troubles with a rival martial arts school, whose leader challenges them to an elimination battle to decide who should represent the nation. Local triads further complicate matters, as does a nasty, possibly life threatening injury to Fung’s beloved bride to be, long distance runner Ngan Ling (Patricia Wong).

Obviously, “Champions” is a fiercely nationalistic affair, and as such does get rather preachy and overbearing in places, packing in countless inspirational and motivational speeches about people supporting one another and being united, not giving up and so on. Thankfully, whereas this could have proved tedious, it actually works in the film’s favour, frequently being so ham-fisted and delivered with such an astonishing lack of subtlety that it causes no end of inadvertent amusement. Director Tsui really shows very little tact as he throws in the supposedly stirring diatribes, even going as far as to include a list of Chinese Olympic achievements at the end, along with some pointless footage of Beijing preparations. All things considered, it is hard to begrudge such self promotion given the circumstances, and it works well to keep the entertainment factor high.

This does make the film a rather strange mix in places, being part propaganda piece, part sports drama and part traditional, old school martial arts genre outing. Tsui, who also scripted manages to keep the viewer interested by allowing things to progress in random fashion, one minute dealing with the melodramatic subplot involving poor Ngan Ling, and the next throwing in a kidnapping plot. Of course, such chaotic mixtures have long been staples of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, and the film is all the better for its sense of variety. Dicky Cheung is pretty good in the nominal lead role, and brings a welcome touch of humour to the film and saves things from being too straight faced.

The film is quite slow to start, and initially viewers may fear that they are in for little more than a series of training montages and harmless feuds. However, once the initial flag waving is out of the way the pace picks up, and the film gets more action packed and indeed interesting as it progresses. Tsui wisely packs in plenty of martial arts displays and battles, with some solid choreography adding a nice touch of authenticity and skill that has been lacking in the form of late. Again, the film is a mixture, being both demonstrative in promoting martial arts in serious fashion, and including some fairly silly, though exciting and well handled mass brawls. Best of all is some great explanatory footage of the various styles, including descriptive shots of a praying mantis and eagle, which harks back to the old school Shaw Brothers classics. As such, the film certainly scores high for genre fans, delivering more traditionally styled action than the majority of other recent similarly themed efforts. It also helps that the film is quite nicely made, having obviously enjoyed a reasonable production budget, and benefiting from a polished look and some dynamic handling from Tsui.

All in all, “Champions” certainly makes for entertaining viewing, especially in these action-starved times. Although it wears its red, patriotic heart on its sleeve this is by no means a bad thing, providing as it does much amusement, and the film as a whole has a definite scattershot charm that makes the proceedings all the more enjoyable.

Siu Ming Tsui (director) / Sai-Keung Fong, Siu Ming Tsui (screenplay)
CAST: Dicky Cheung … Cheung Fung
Miu Tse … Kwan Shu-bo
Priscilla Wong … An Ling
Debbie Goh … Lee Sam
Wai Chi Ho
Xiang Dong Xu … On Yung
Rongguang Yu … Cheung Chi-kong