On the Run

Alfred Cheung Kin-Ting's 1988 Hong Kong film follows Hsiang Ming, a police officer whose wife is murdered. He tracks the killer; when he finds them the person is nothing like what he expected, and the two are forced to run together. The film is entirely away from the buoyancy of Hong Kong action cinema of the period. The colours are cold, the locations empty and the violence produces no heroism. Even the escape sequences are shown as exhaustion rather than achievement. Yuen Biao leads in a role that makes almost no use of his fighting skill, a choice consistent with the tone. Pat Ha plays opposite him and the relationship between them rests on necessity rather than trust. Who it's for: those who like bleak Hong Kong crime films. Who it's not for: viewers expecting high-energy fight sequences; the film deliberately withholds them and its ending is heavy.