An emotional and action packed film which pays tribute to the fighting spirit of kung fu stuntmen.
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Stuntman is a Hong Kong action film directed by brothers, Albert and Herbert Leung, who are inspired by their personal experience as action stars. The film centres on Lee Sam, the undisputed king of stunt choreography during the golden era of Hong Kong action cinema in the 80s. After a tragic stunt accident, Sam retires from the industry for 30 years. However, his old friend, a veteran director, has persuaded Sam to make a come-back as the stunt choreographer on what will be his friend’s last film project.
The main cast comprises Terrance Lau, Stephen Tung, Cecilia Choi, Philip Ng, Lam Yiu Sing, and Rachel Leung.
Stuntman opens to a scene set against the backdrop of the 1980s, where a violent fight is being enacted in a shopping mall with plenty of fist fighting and high kicks culminating to men falling over railings and tumbling down the escalators. The next scene moves to a dangerous stunt where we see stuntman Wai leaping from a pedestrian bridge onto a moving truck in stop the “baddie” trying to escape. He hesitates and does not make the jump which causes Sam (Tung), the perfection-seeking stunt choreographer to lose his temper. Another stuntman offers to do the jump and tragically misses his cue and ends up being severely injured from the incident.
The film cuts to present day 30 years on where an aged and lonely Sam sits and reminisces while looking on at the film posters on his wall. By chance, Sam ends up helping Lee Sai Long (Lau) over a misunderstanding over a delivery incident. Long helps his brother in his delivery company but his passion is working as a stuntman. Long, in gratitude, leaves his name card and promises Sam free delivery services in future. At an association dinner where the stuntman gathers and pay tribute to a passing of a colleague, Sam feels emotional about the decline of the stunt industry for movies in Hong Kong. His friend, the director persuades him to work as the stunt choreographer for his final film. At first, Sam is reluctant to take on the job as his estranged daughter, Cherie Choi (Choi) is getting married, and he hopes for this opportunity to reconcile with Cherie. However, Sam finally accepts the job as the director promises that they will work around the schedule to allow Sam time for the wedding preparations.
As Sam returns to the world he once dominated with his newfound friend, Long as his assistant, he has to navigate the complexity of his relationship with Cherie and Leung Chi Wai (Ng), a previous member of his stuntman team who is now a top action movie actor. Wai blames Sam for the incident years ago which ended the career of the stuntman. Despite conflicts and misunderstandings in the beginning, Sam (with Long’s help) is able to successfully shoot the action scenes.
However, the film's finale requires shooting a robbery heist in a jewellery shop, Again, Sam is so caught up in his passion for perfection to bring to the audience realistic action, he inevitably endangers the public and members of his crew. With public outroar following police arrest for failure to ensure safety, Sam is fired from the project.
The director shares with Sam that his swan-song movie is a failure as the film distributors are not satisfied with the finale. As the pressure mounts and the stakes rise, Sam decides to reshoot the finale scene and execute the dangerous action sequence using old-school methods sans modern technology, to leap off an 8 storey building amidst explosives. This is Sam’s last chance to revive the past glory of Hong Kong action cinema of the 1980s.
Can he come to terms with his own past and move on to redeem his reputation? Will he be able to reconnect with his daughter whom he has neglected all these years due to his ambitions and passion? Watch this emotional and action packed film which pays tribute to the fighting spirit of kung fu stuntmen and action directors of Hong Kong films in the 1960s – 1980s.
Understanding their painful challenges and how they risk their lives to bring audience the creatively impossible stunts without the aid of CGI truly opens a new aspect of films to regular movie goers. The cast are also amazing in carrying out the stunts and showing the toll that such work has on them and truly embodies fine examples of Hong Kong actors/actresses.
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