I really enjoyed the movie. Of all the summer movies I saw, this was one of the best. It was quite clever in the use of some digital special effects, like the "mantis" shadow on the wall behind bad guy Dragon Ferrari, played by Wong Jing. Quite the 'actor', Jing steals the show as the 'bad guy'.
I had quite a few belly laughs with Sandra Ng! She should do more movies. The comedic business with Chiau Sing Chi and his bodyguards' arms was very funny, although he did seem to be sleepwalking through most of his scenes. Lot's of kung fu comedy and tributes to Bruce Lee, of course, are sprinkled throughout the movie. It is a major spoof of several HK film series; God of Gamblers, Conman, Wong Fei Hung, Young & Dangerous, etc. Nick Cheung is much funnier here than Chiau.
Stephen Chiau Sing Chi worked 12 hours a day on Wong Jing's
TRICKY MASTER, got paid 1.1 million and has 8 scenes. Wong Jing used
several directors to help finish the movie quickly, including Aman
Chang [Raped by an Angel 3], Bosco Lam
[Underground Banker], and
Andrew Lau [The Storm Riders]. However, Andrew Lau Wai Keung could
not take it and left after working one day with Chiau. In the end,
Wong Jing had to wrap it up. In the HK press Wong said, "Besides me,
who else can stand him! A lot of people are hard to take. Sing Jai
has his own style. Those who can accept it call it style, those who
can't call it hard to take. I can accept anyone."
Another GOOD Wong Jing movie!
copyright 1999 J. CrawfordPhoto of Wong Jing and co-star Kelly Lin is altered from an original photograph of the Tricky Master premiere in Hong Kong, part of a series covering the event.
Visit the Hong Kong Movie Database to see the entire portfolio of pictures.