The Adventurers (1995) by Ringo Lam

Director: Ringo Lam

Year: 1995

Country: Hong Kong

Alternate Titles: Da mao xian jia

Genre: Action

Plot:

After surviving a deadly betrayal, a fighter pilot finds that his work in Cambodia prepares him to accept an offer to infiltrate a deadly arms dealer's gang to take down the leader. Learning that this is the same figure responsible for murdering his parents in a double-cross decades earlier, he undertakes the assignment only to find it complicated when he develops romantic feelings for his target's daughter, further interfering with his mission to stop the criminal kingpin and bring his parents' murderers to justice.

Review:

This was a rather fun Action effort with a lot to like about it. That comes about from the high-stakes energetic action scenes on display, featuring quite a lot to like throughout here. The emotional core of the whole mission being revenge for the traumatic action taken when he was a child as he witnesses the brutal murder of his parents by the duplicitous agent in the burning house while they terrorize the rest of the village is a fine way to get this going on a high note, launching the motivation to work around the usual motion of seeking out the responsible party at a later time.

That serves the film well in offering up plenty of frantic, full-throttle setpieces throughout here with the Action taking place in multiple varieties and locations around the globe which makes them standout from each other, most notably a botched assassination attempt and a rescued kidnapping plot that pile on the over-the-top gunplay and kinetic stylings in fine form. Switching nicely from these into explosive confrontations that get more tense as the high-stakes mission gets closer to completion, it brings about far more to like in terms of its slick presentation and production values to make for a generally enjoyable time here.

There are a few slight issues to be had with this one. The main drawback here is the incredibly silly outcome in the film's action scenes where his incompetence at fulfilling the featured revenge propels the film along. Rarely does anything he tries here actually come together positively, with almost everything attempted here inadvertently blowing up in his face through sheer incompetence rather than dumb luck, as was the intent behind it. These seem to be intended to focus on the escapes occurring through luck so that he has to keep fighting harder to bring him down yet instead comes about due to incompetence with his hot-headed nature screwing everything up to the point of being a bit more difficult than expected to buy into how everything comes together.

The other issue here is the melodramatic storyline involved in the middle section where it slows the film down at the wrong time, going through a bizarre and underwhelming storyline about love triangle between the vengeful hero, the wife of the protagonist, and her daughter that drags the film down despite the rest of the running time being a frantic rush through his mission. It feels way too long trying to wind through this area of the film, trying to work through an aspect that's not interesting and adds nothing to this one beyond adding character value it didn't need, overall bringing this one down.

Overview: ***.5/5

An immensely solid and likable Action effort, there’s more than enough on display here to keep this going as the pieces you want to be impressive are which makes for a solid time here. Those with an affinity for this style of genre effort, appreciate the positives found here, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while most others out there should heed caution.