Review of Rich And Famous

Introduction

Gong woo ching aka Rich and Famous is another Chow Yun Fat film that people haven`t been raving about and another one that`s slipped under the radar. The cynic in me would say that it was being released now to cash in on the DVD release of Bulletproof Monk.

The story is almost standard Hong Kong fare, with brotherly ties, gangsters, guns and a few fights thrown in for good measure. And of course the obligatory shy love interest.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer awaits, and it wasn`t really worth waiting for. There`s quite a bit of print damage, a great deal of softness on display and not much in the way of sharp, crisp detail.

It`s not enough to stop you watching (although other aspects of the disc may make you), but it`s enough to make you wish Hong Kong Legends picked up every film ever made in Hong Kong and treated it with their particularly successful brand of tender loving care.

Audio

A DD2.0 Cantonese soundtrack, which is distinctly average (and below average much of the time). Some really awful gunshot sounds are the thing that stick out (the worst I`ve heard since Flaming Brothers), but in general it`s just a poor effort. There`s a lack of clarity and it just sounds like some 4th or 5th generation analogue copy of the original track...

And then there are the subtitles (useful if you don`t speak Cantonese). Well, I say useful, but they are not really, since they are utterly atrocious. Poor grammar and spelling and the inability to even construct a sentence make the film slightly tricky to follow at times. Some of the worst subtitles I have ever seen (and I`ve seen a lot).

There`s also the option of watching the film with an English dub, but I really couldn`t face that after the awful subtitles. I`m anti-dub at the best of times!

Features

You wouldn`t expect much after reading about the disc so far, and you`d be right. You can watch a few trailers, see a few photographs and read some biographies of some of the main players.

Conclusion

Like Flaming Brothers before it, there`s a reason that people don`t rave about this Chow Yun Fat film - it`s not really his film, and it`s not the greatest film in the world. It`s very similar to Flaming Brothers, being basically a series of gangster situations (complete with weedy gunshot sounds), there`s a bad boy Thai gangster involved (although he just sits around reading porn) and it`s just all very average.

The DVD is a pretty poor effort really, with average picture, below average sound and not much in the way of extras. And then there`s the awful subtitles. The whole thing smacks of a cash in on the name of Chow Yun Fat and should be avoided.

If you want a good Yun Fat DVD then hunt down Hong Kong Legends` The Killer or Columbia`s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.