The Unmatchable Match (1989) Movie Review

Although its title sounds more like a romantic comedy, “The Unmatchable Match” is actually a tough Hong Kong cop thriller that was originally released back in 1989 when the genre was undergoing something of a golden age. Directed by Parkman Wong and produced by the legendary Danny Lee, the film also stars an incredibly young looking Stephen Chow. Prior to his career as a comedian and his later international success with the blockbusters “Shaolin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle”, Chow actually starred in a number of action films, and also worked with Wong and Lee on the similar thriller “Final Justice”.

Certainly, the film doesn’t start like a typical Stephen Chow vehicle, as a brutal gang of robbers lead by the aptly named Big Mad (also known during the film as Guts, and played by the prolific 1980s Hong Kong character actor Sing Fui On, best known for the likes of “Blue Jean Monster” and “Her Vengeance”) steal a fortune in diamonds. Keen to offload the stones, Big Mad gets former underworld boss Brother Fei (martial arts star Chan Wai Man, who starred in “Broken Oath”, “Five Element Ninjas” and other classics) to set up a deal, planning to double cross him. Unsurprisingly, it all goes wrong, and Fei flees with the diamonds, falling into the clutches of the police. Deciding to use Fei to catch the real thieves, undercover cop Cheng Long (Stephen Chow) is assigned to befriend him in jail. Unfortunately, while en route the prison van is attacked by Big Mad, and the two are forced to go on the run, still handcuffed together. As they try to avoid both the police and the gang, the two men gradually become friends, leading Long to a difficult moral decision.

“The Unmatchable Match” will undoubtedly come as a bit of a shock to fans of Chow’s later works, as here he plays things almost entirely straight, proving himself to be perfectly capable in more restrained roles. He works well with Chan Wai Man, and the two make for a good partnership in the finest buddy film tradition, giving the film a genuine sense of camaraderie. The rest of the cast are similarly on good form, with Danny Lee making a brief but very welcome appearance, with Sing Fui On chewing up the scenery in his usual style as the shotgun-toting villain, and with Vivian Chow making the most of a typically thankless long-suffering girlfriend role, whose only purpose in the film is to make things more difficult for the protagonists.

With the plot being largely a by the numbers affair, rarely straying from the tried and tested path still being followed by cop thrillers today, the focus is on the action scenes, and Wong does a great job of making the film a genuinely thrilling affair. Violent and destructive from the first frame, it packs in plenty of bloody shoot outs, brawls and chases, with countless cars being blown up or smashed into pieces, and with a seemingly endless line of stuntmen being thrown off roofs or through windows. Even by the standards of the genre the film boasts an impressively high body count, featuring scene after scene of nameless henchmen being gunned down in loving slow motion.

Although Wong generally manages to keep the film moving along at a brisk pace, it does slow down somewhat around the halfway mark, getting tangled up as he tries to insert a little melodrama. To be fair, this was a common feature of most late 1980s Hong Kong thrillers, and it works well enough here, with the relationship between Long and his girlfriend echoing that of Fei and his long lost wife. This does add a certain emotional poignancy and does help to flesh out the characters, giving the final scenes when Fei inevitably finds out the truth about Long’s occupation a genuine punch.

This sense of depth, along with the strong performances from the two leads makes “The Unmatchable Match” stand out somewhat from the crowd of similarly themed films produced during the same period. Action packed and entertaining, it should definitely be enjoyed by fans of good, old fashioned police thrillers, as well as Stephen Chow devotees curious to see the funnyman in a very different kind of film.

Parkman Wong (director)
CAST: Wai-Man Chan … Fei
Stephen Chow … Cheung Lon / Cockroach
Vivian Chow … Mandy
Hoi-Shan Kwan … Uncle Kin
Danny Lee … Inspector Lee
Fui-On Shing … Guts
Chi Yeung Wong … Mandy’s Cousin
Fan Wei Yee … Ricky