Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In Review

Hong Kong action cinema has long been an essential pillar of the genre. Given the influx of action movies from around the globe in the years since its ’80s boom, and the exodus of most of its prominent stars in the ’90s, Hong Kong action cinema experienced a decline in relevance. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Jiu Long cheng zhai · Wei cheng) is a riotous, eager return for Hong Kong action, a modern work indebted to the past yet always pushing the boundaries. It’s the finest action picture that I’ve seen all year.

Based off the novel City of Darkness by Yi Yu and its subsequent manhua adaptation by Andy Seto, director Soi Cheang centers the genre pastiche by setting Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In in the 1980s. This timeframe is also convenient to real Hong Kong history, as the film’s main setting is Kowloon Walled City, a sealed-off fort of sorts where a lack of official governance led to the people fending for themselves. In the world of Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Kowloon is ruled over by triad crime lord Cyclone (Louis Koo). Outside the wall, Mr. Big (Sammo Hung) rules with a disregard for the locals that stands in stark contrast to Cyclone’s gentle nature.

Our entry point into Kowloon is Chan Lok-Kwan (Raymond Lam), a refugee to Hong Kong trying to scrape together as much money as possible to get a falsified ID card so he can find real work. When Mr. Big rips him off, he steals some of Mr. Big’s drug stash, darting into the walled city hoping to make something off of it. Cyclone does him one better: giving him a job and purpose. Unbeknownst to Chan Lok-Kwan, a secret from his past could upend everything for not only him, but the whole population of Kowloon.

In a movie like Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, it’d be easy to coast off some zany action and call it a day. What Soi Cheang does that immediately makes Walled In feel different is committing to building out atmosphere. No, building out mythology. The opening scenes lay out a healthy helping of exposition to set up Kowloon involving a feud between rival gangs that puts Cyclone on top. What appears as simple context to set the story up reveals itself to be the inciting incident of a decades-long cold war of sorts that comes to its boiling point during Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.

It’s a thrill seeing the grander narrative come together. Twilight of the Warriors constantly introduces new players, key pieces of lore, or shocking twists that it’s like watching a painter slowly adding new details onto a canvas. There might be points where a new addition seems questionable, but once the pieces start to connect you’re in awe of what the painter has accomplished. Or shall I say painters. As much as I laud Soi Cheang’s distinctively cinematic eye, always keeping the proceedings stylish and kinetic, a lion’s share of the credit should go to the writers.

A writing team composed of Kin-Yee Au, Tai-Lee Chan, Li Jun, and Kwan-Sin Shum disprove the notion that too many writers can lead to a mess. On the contrary: the screenplay for Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In manages to elegantly cover a mammoth amount of material without ever losing the plot, taking each new complication or reveal as an opportunity. Moreover, Twilight of the Warriors keeps its heart in the right place.

For all the ridiculousness of the action and clear propensity towards genre homage, Walled In portrays Kowloon as a flawed paradise, where the lack of bureaucracy leads to a sense of neighborly harmony. It’s not the prettiest of cities, and obviously crime is still a major component, but it’s one where by wearing your heart on your sleeve and showing your willingness to work, you can make a life for yourself. Kowloon is something to fight for. And fight they do.

Any action picture will be judged on its sauce, the actual action sequences therein. Boy howdy does Twilight of the Warriors have some sweet, sweet sauce. Characters fight in an exaggerated manner that often uses cartoon logic. Poles will bend when a character smashes into them. Chan Lok-Kang can perform physical feats like suplexing an adversary into the wall. Yet, there’s always an eye towards accentuating the impact of hits. In other words, when a character gets their bone snapped, it’s brutal. When a punch connects at a weak point, you feel it.

The most apt way to describe the action of Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In outside of the obvious Hong Kong cinema reference points is a match of the modern Mortal Kombat where the “X-Ray” moves mark sharp interruption points in the combo-heavy, fast combat. That it all flows together as well as it does is partially thanks to cinematographer Siu-Keung Cheng, who maintains a gritty, in-the-moment feel while also capturing the wider chaos of fights. The set-ups for such fights are ridiculously cool, as well. Chan Lok-Kang having to improvise a knife out of sheet metal and a villain King (Philip Ng) whose skin cannot be penetrated are two highlights in a film of stand-out moments.

The final aspect of Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In that ties everything together is our main cast, the titular warriors. Raymond Lam plays Chan Lok-Kang as the consummate action hero, a man cast out by society who at every turn shows himself to be a reservoir of honor and determination. Shin (Terrence Lau) is Cyclone’s second-in-command, whose nice clothes and icy demeanor hide someone who really cares. Twelfth Master (Tony Wu) has dedicated his life to mastering martial arts, and it shows. AV (German Cheung), a masked doctor of sorts who betrays a hidden strength, might be my favorite. And wonderfully, each character has a place in the story and their own method of fighting that makes them stand out.

It’d be hard to think of something in Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In that doesn’t stand out. Making an action film that’s perfectly functional is hard enough. Making an action film with ambitions towards a sprawling narrative is even harder. Putting them together? Forget about it. Somehow, someway, Soi Cheang’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In comes together and it’s an absolute triumph.

We watch movies, action especially, as a form of transportation, to let the world melt away in a flurry of fists and fantasy. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is a portal into Hong Kong action cinema bliss that I never wanted to leave. Will it offer Hong Kong action cinema the shot in the arm it needs? Maybe. Is it a masterpiece of the illustrious sub-genre? Absolutely.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In opens September 13, 2024 in New York City, with plans to expand. The film is also available on VOD and physical release.