5 Star

Spooftacular Fun and Violence.

Writer, director and actor Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) gets his comedy teeth into this spoof/homage to the legend that is ‘James Bond’. With elements taken from each of the films up to the 1990s. And what a job he has done, with laugh-out-loud moments to cringing with the explosive violence. From the Eureka Classics range in its UK debut on Blu-ray – no previous theatrical (official) or home video releases, so thank you Eureka, for this experience. From Beijing With Love is a deadly mixture of laughter and deathly death.

Cue the dumbly de dumb’s, as the James Bond intro unfolds. People’s Liberation Army, Shenyang Military Region Air Force Base, take delivery of extra strong phallus pills, not really it is China’s most precious artefact, a container sized fossil skull. But when the officials open it up… it’s empty.

But at the Hexing Sino – Foreign container warehouse, a duplicate truck pulls in, and the soldiers surround it, waiting with bated breath as the doors are cut open. The sight of the skull is mesmerizing, until a gun pops out of the skull’s eye and guards start dying. It is agent ‘G’, and he is here to claim the skull for his commander Chan (Kam-Kong Wong, Yes, Madam!, The Master Strikes Back). With all the guards dispatched, G thinks the job is done, but the main baddy shows up, and he is an armoured man with a single shot golden gun (yep). This gun has serious firepower and agent G makes a run for it and hides behind a load of metal panels, but this baddy can see through walls, and knows exactly where G is. He loads his gun with the appropriate bullet and fires, the bullet finds its mark and G is no more.

 

 

 

Commander Chan now needs a new agent and after finding a ten-year-old file he hires (wait for it) Ling Ling Chat (Yes, that is 007) (Stephen Chow) who has spent his years as a pork seller, using his considerable skills with his hand made meat cleaver. The Commander sends Tat Man Si  (‘Q’) (Kar-Ying Law, Forbidden City Cop, Monkey King) to collect him. The difference between Man Si and Q is that all his inventions are hilariously rubbish.

007 is charged with finding the skull along with Chan’s subordinate Lee Heung Kam (Anita Yuen, He’s a Woman, She’s a Man, The Days of Being Dumb).

Let the death and hilarity begin. From Beijing With Love is everything you want in a spoof of James Bond. Enjoy.

 From Beijing With Love (Eureka Classics) Special Edition is on Blu-ray

SPECIAL BLU-RAY EDITION FEATURES

 

• Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [2000 units]
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a restoration of the original film elements
• Original Cantonese mono audio
• Optional English dubbed audio
• Optional English Subtitles
• Brand-new feature length audio commentary, Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
• Wong Kam Kong on “From Beijing With Love” – new interview with actor Wong Kam Kong about his role in the film
• Wong Kam Kong in conversation – actor Wong Kam Kong discusses his career
• King of Mo Lei Tau – Archival interview with Lee Lik-chi by Frédéric Ambroisine
• Trailer
• PLUS: A Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver [2000 units]