Taxi Hunter (1993)
April 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Herman Yau
Actors: Anthony Wong,Yu Rong-Guang, Ng Man-Tat, Athena Chu Yun
Genre: Revenge! exploitation!
Taxi Hunter at first glance might lead you to believe that this is Hong Kong’s version of Taxi Driver by Martin Scorcese, but the buck stops there when comparing the two! However, the characters of Travis Bickle & Ah Kin do share something in common…rage and revenge!
The inscrutable, Anthony Wong plays an insurance agent named Ah Kin who is a very caring & gentle person in his own quirky type of way. He & his lovely wife are expecting a child very soon. For those who’ve never seen Anthony Wong in any movie roles before, gentle & caring is usually not a word used to describe this beast of an actor! Wong often plays a twisted psychotic man, bad cop, or triad leader. Hold up, wait a minute, I’m not finished…he starts off as a gentle, docile creature, but circumstances would change this man’s life forever! Now, we’re talking! Will the real Anthony Wong please stand up?!
Ah Kin always finds himself in the grasp of the sleazy & opportunistic Hong Kong taxi driver on a daily basis. The taxi driver usually falls into at least 1 of these categories if not all: 1)verbally abusive towards their customers. 2)wheels & deals with negotiating fares instead of using the meter; 3)driving in loops to extend the ride if they are using the meter; 4)profiling his fares in terms of location preferences; 4)hurling insults to their customers; 5)ALL OF THE ABOVE. This frustrates Wong to no end, but this is all tolerable until one stormy night when his wife goes into labor & starts bleeding. The husband calls for a taxi, but the cab driver ends up leaving for another fare who negotiated a higher price. With the wife in tow, bleeding, and in labor pains in the rain no less, the hubby flags down another dirtball taxi driver who promptly negotiates a fare to take them to the hospital emergency room. However, after seeing the wife bleed profusely, mr. cabbie reneges the ride offer because he doesn’t want blood stains in his ride, god forbid! The taxi driver takes off like a Domino’s delivery guy promising to deliver pizza in “30 minutes or less or it’s free” mode! The problem is that the wife is still attached to the cab. She is dragged in the rain for a block or two belly down. She finally curdles to the curb without the cab with something more than a rash. Unfortunately, the wife & the baby do not make it. REE-VENGE! Ah Kin’s outlook on life has now been shaken upside down & tossed inside out as he looks to eradicate all sleaze bucket taxi drivers in Hong Kong! Kin hails taxi cabs in order to test out these slime ball drivers and if there are any signs of foul play, a prominent choke hold till death will ensue! Ah Kin ups the ante when he graduates to handguns! It all comes to a head when Kin’s friend who is a cop sets up a sting operation to trap the Taxi Hunter!
This movie is pure Hong Kong exploitation at its best! Surprisingly, the film is not as dark or dreary as you may think! There are even sprinklings of humor in it! There’s a bunch of car chase scenes & stunts that will make you say, yeaaah son! Check out this Herman Yau directed film, y’all if you can grab a hold of it! I don’t think it’s on Netlix, though. Suddenly, I have an urge to hail a cab in NYC! Take me down to chinatown and then, to the halal cart on 4th & 6th ave, you son of a sleaze ball! Say hello to my….woo!
Tags: anthony wong, herman yau, hong kong exploitation, taxi hunter
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
