The heydays of Hong Kong cinema are no more. Instead, it is through physical media and receptive film festivals that the renowned genre will stand the test of time, recounting the surmounting efforts of directors capturing the industry’s envelope-pushing style of action and stunts, oftentimes to degrees that would never be accepted today. 1990 action thriller Fatal Termination is no exception, marking director Andrew Kam’s solo directorial outing after sharing the helm twice prior with The Enigmatic Case, and 1988’s The Big Heat.
Kam directs from a script by Jimmy Pang, with a relatively simple story that pales about halfway. Simon Yam plays Jimmy, an inspector tasked with looking into a what he suspects is a potential haul of weapons and ammunition heading to the Middle East via Hong Kong. Front and center is co-star Robin Shou in the role of Wai, the corrupt head of customs sought by elusive criminal Mok-Fu (Phillip Ko) to mitigate the weapons transfer by misleading investigators. Adding to the kerfuffle is when married uniformed officers John (Ray Lui) and wife Moon (Moon Lee) are forced to step up as brother-in-law Miu (Michael Miu) not only gets mistaken by the undeterred Jimmy as a suspect, but is subsequently fired by Wai.
Plotwise, that’s about all I can divulge in detail without spoiling the goods of Kam’s Fatal Termination. I’ll dip into a few more bits later on, but the rest of the tale told in Kam’s 91-minute flick culminates in a lackluster story that lacks substance for most of the way, making up for it in signature violence and action the way Hong Kong action cinema of the late-eighties/early-nineties intended. It helps that other characters are written in to keep the story surfaced and layered enough that it maintains interest. Yam gets supporting effort along the way opposite Lau Dan who plays Jimmy’s former partner, Lau, who is assigned by their superiors to watch over Jimmy so he doesn’t upend his investigation. Thomas Cheung co-stars as Billy, Miu’s colleague under Wai’s employ.
Shou’s antagonistic Wai proves to be as big a menace as Mok-Fu as two cohorts in a partnership that slowly unravels into betrayal with the law closing in. Lui and Lee proffer a poignant performace as the married cops who get enveloped into the upheaval, escalating their involvement following a surprise twist that sees John’s past catching up with him. Vengeful plots are up in the air on all sides, topped off with death-defying close calls and thrilling chase sequences, including the bonkers stunt sequence that literally puts the film’s youngest co-star, Chan Cheuk-Yan who plays John and Moon’s daughter Yan Yan, in harm’s way. While par for the course in an industry that once played fast and loose with safety standards in hopes of upping the ante, you’re still in your right mind to wonder just what the fuck the makers of this film were thinking, or just “WTF” in general.
Otherwise, explosive action and signature fisticuffs and kicks, blazing gun battles and sweet knock-out revenge as designed by stunt coordinator Wong Kwan come well-packaged in Fatal Termination. Martial arts fans will get a neat thrill from select members of the cast in this regard, including Shou and Ko, and especially actress Lee with nearly two-dozen screen credits by then, including Lu Chun-Ku’s notorious 1989 actioner, Devil Hunters. That film’s ending is not for the faint of heart – indicative of an industry memorable for numerous reasons, the entertainment value being one of them. At most, one takeaway from Fatal Termination is the worthwhile appeal to cinematic action invariably made by Kam and his team, lending audiences nothing short of a requisite thrillride.
Fatal Termination was reviewed for the 24th Boston Underground Film Festival.