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The Last Tycoon Blu-ray Review

 
  • Actors: Chow Yun Fat, Sammo Hung, Francis Ng, Huang Xiaoming, Yolanda Yuan
  • Director: Wong Jing
  • Format: Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen
  • Language: Cantonese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Rated: Unrated
  • Studio: Well Go USA
  • Release Date: September 17, 2013
  • Run Time: 107 minutes


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            Jing Wong’s The Last Tycoon is a reasonable entertaining film. There are more than a few engaging sequences, though they are buried enough amongst many forgettable and vaguely familiar moments to make The Last Tycoon feel like the echo of better films from recent past. Despite a jarring editing style which jerks the audience back and forth in time, there are few surprises to be found and little distinctly memorable. With that being said, The Last Tycoon is still a reasonably entertaining film.

     

            Action star Chow Yun-Fat plays the seasoned older version of the film’s main character, Cheng Daqi, and it almost feels as though the editing was a choice made in order to keep the film’s largest star equally dispersed amongst the narrative. First played by Huang Xiaoming, Daqi is a young man working for a fruit stand owner in the early 1920s when he is framed for murder and forced to flee  to Shanghai where he becomes the right hand to a triad boss, Hong Shouting (Sammo Hung).

     

    He is forced to leave behind childhood sweetheart, Ye Zhiqui (Feng Wenjuan followed by Yuan Quan), only to meet up with her later in life as a powerful gangster. She is married to Mao Zai (Francis Ng) whose involvement in the battle against Japanese occupation doesn’t always take her best interest at heart. Daqi takes it upon himself to protect his long lost love, despite her marriage to another man, forcing him to risk all that he has for something he has lost. The film’s narrative actually shares a great deal with Casablanca, but this does not help the film’s uneven editing.

     

    The Blu-ray release includes a making-of featurette and a trailer.

     

           

    Entertainment Value: 7/10

    Quality of Filmmaking: 6.5/10

    Historical Significance: 5/10

    Disc Features: 5/10

     

     

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