THE LAST BLOOD (1991)
aka 12 HOURS OF TERROR
aka POLICE PR0TECTORS
aka HARD BOILED 2
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: A,B
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 94 Minutes 10 Seconds
Audio: Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, English-Dub DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Wong Jing
Cast: Alan Tam, Andy Lau, Eric Tsang, Bryan Leung, May Mei-Mei Lo, Ka-Yan Leung, Ho Chin, Jackson Lou
In the Wong Jing directed action-comedy HK gunplay vehicle The Last Blood (1990) a low-level triad gang member Bee (Andy Lau, Infernal Affairs III) and his girlfriend Ling (May Mei-Mei Lo, Midnight Angel) are on vacation in Singapore when they find themselves caught up in a Japanese Red Army sleeper cell terrorist plot to kill Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, here referred to as the "Daka Lama", which happens at the airport, where a group of Red Army terrorists disguised as pink-clad stewardesses open fire on the spiritual leader, gravely wounding both he and Ling. It turns out that the Dalai Lama and Ling share the same rare type "P" blood-type, and apparently only only three people in all of Singapore share that rare vintage hemoglobin. With the clock ticking to save their lives via a desperately blood transfusion Interpol agents Lui Tai (Alan Tam, The Banquet) and his partner Stone (Ka-Yan Leung, Knockabout) are assigned to track these would-be donors down, but the terrorists are somehow also well-aware aware of the rare-blood donors and set about eliminating them so that there's no chance that Dalai Lama could survive his injuries.
Eventually Fatty (Eric Tsang, In the Line of Duty III) is the last of the type "P" blood matches to survive and the cops must get him to the hospital before the Red Army cell can kill him, too, leading to some wild action set-pieces and far-out stunt work that is pretty breathless in it's execution, but also peppered with some pretty absurd HK action-humor mostly centered around Tsang's character. Fatty is a pretty grating character to be honest, he's this film's version of Franklin from TCM, I just wanted him to die, but instead it's everyone around him, including his elderly mother and a whole family including a wheelchair bound father and his adolescent kids, that end up biting the bullet figuratively and literally.
The action sequences are top-notch and look to have been quite dangerous to film, highlights include the terrorist attack at the airport with pink-clad stewardess/assassins, and our protaganist being chased through the streets by dozens of motorcycles, with both motor bikes and cars tearing through crowds of innocents on the streets and the motorcycles exploding left and right as if they were Molotov cocktails on wheels, just waiting for a bullet to set them off! We also get a fun sky tram kerfuffle (ending in an explosion 'natch), plus a pretty terrific final showdown at the hospital where the gleefully diabolical terrorist leader (Ho Chin, The Prince of Temple Street) goes on a Terminator-esque kills spree, sporting one of the scariest crew-cuts I've ever seen. Another memorable scenes features terrorist henchmen Saporo (Jackson Lou, First Strike) repeatedly getting shot in the crotch, and a final scene where condensation on eyeglasses figures prominently into how it pans out, which was odd if interesting to say the least.
The Blackie Ko directed action is absolutely terrific, though a few shifts into the melodramatic and offbeat humor is a mixed bag, the tonal shifts are pretty wild, but somehow it still worked, the whole shebang being better than the sum of it's parts. The worst offender is Tsang's character who is chaffing, his joking about AIDS is off putting, and makes for an odd mix against the deaths of innocents and children either, but it doesn't derail the film, but it's certainly an odd mix. There's a nice twist that turns things on it's side a bit, and a running joke about agent Stone's "fake cigarette" which has prominently hanging from his mouth the whole film, and which figures into the twist. All in all a pretty action-packed spectacle of a cop-action flick with plenty of squibby gunplay, loads of explosions, and some off-kilter humor that is a mixed bag, but it's never not entertaining.
Audio/Video: The Last Blood (1991) debuts on Blu-ray from 88 Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1). I thought it looked pretty solid with well-managed grain and strong colors, and pleasing fine detail and contrast. Audio comes by way of Cantonese 2.0 dual-mono or English-dub 2.0 dual-mono with optional newly translated English subtitles. The Cantonese is the stronger of the pair, but both have decent fidelity and are clean and relatively crisp, the English-dub can get a bit grating at times, but it's serviceable.
Extras are pretty slim compared to other recent 88 Asia Collection releases I have on the shelf, but we get a solid Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng who always delivers the goods with plenty of info about the cast and crew, the production, it's distribution in various territories, and contextualizing these action-packed HK flicks, plus the Theatrical Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring the original HK poster art plus a new a banger artwork by Sean Longmore, who keeps pumping out these spectacular artwork, Longmore's 88 Films artworks have been some of my favorite artworks for releases this year. That artwork is also featured on the high equality Limited Edition Slipcover, and on the Double-Sided Fold Out Poster inside.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng
-Theatrical Trailer (3:38)
- Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng
-Theatrical Trailer (3:38)
Screenshots from the 88 Films Blu-ray:
