Tsui Hark’s The Wicked City (1992) is an adaptation of the same novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi as the classic anime feature Wicked City (1987). While both films take liberties with the source material, the anime remains truer to the novel in both tone and plot. Hark’s film essentially uses the novel Wicked City: Black Guard as a launching point for one of the most bizarrely unique spectacles Hong Kong cinema ever produced.
Elements of Hark’s film such as the “reptoid” drug called “happiness” tie into the central metaphor of The Wicked City wherein the demon creatures, or “reptoids”, represent mainland China while the human “reptoid police” represent Hong Kong. The anxiety surrounding the impending handover that occurred in 1997 is at the very heart of Hark’s interpretation of Kikuchi’s text.
The fact that the “reptoids” can appear as both human and as supernatural beings is indicative of the identity crisis Hong Kong faced in the nineties. When the “reptoid” Yuen (Tatsuya Nakadai) observes what a “sad world” Hong Kong is with his dying breath he encapsulates the essential themes of The Wicked City. The Wicked City is a rapid fire series of set pieces structured around mind bending practical effects that give expression to an atmosphere of political fear and dread. Other topical concerns such as the drug and AIDS epidemics also find expression in Hark’s film as symptoms of this broader political landscape and shifting national identity.
As much as The Wicked City is Tsui Hark’s film, the writer/producer did not take credit for the film. Allegedly Hark directed roughly half of The Wicked City while the rest of the film’s production was helmed by the officially credited Peter Mak Tai-kit. Whatever the shortcomings are of its narrative structure, The Wicked City breezes past them at break neck speeds with Tsui Hark’s signature sense of pacing. Mood and atmosphere take priority over the far fetched plot in much the same way as Yoshiaki Kawajiri approached his own anime adaptation of the novel.
This approach puts much of the pressure for the success or failure of The Wicked City on the special effects in the film. Luckily, even the most low budget and silly looking effects in The Wicked City are creative enough to sustain the otherworldly feel of the film. Of course it’s down to the actors to sell the special effects on an emotional level which they do admirably. Jacky Cheung, Tatsuya Nakadai, and especially Michelle Reis carry The Wicked City with their performances.
Since its release, The Wicked City has enjoyed a modest cult following although it pales in comparison to the anime Wicked City. The world that Hideyuki Kikuchi created which Tsui Hark and Yoshiaki Kawajiri realized is so unusual and stylized that the films have eluded any mainstream acceptance in the United States. Hark’s film in particular is in need of a proper restoration and critical re-evaluation stateside.
