Let’s go! – Bao wei zhan dui zhi chu dong la! Peng you! (2011)

Directed by: Ching-Po Wong | 96 minutes | action | Actors: Juno Mak, Stephy Tang, Jimmy Wang-Yu, Gary Chaw, Ka Tung Lam

Action movies are constantly being made that take themselves too seriously. These films suffer badly from that, but ‘Let’s Go!’ not be bothered. The film – with the absurdly long original title ‘Bao wei zhan dui zhi chu dong la! Fuck you!’ brings its unnatural plot and absurd action moments with a big wink and is therefore extremely entertaining.

As a child, protagonist Siu-Seung was a huge fan of superheroes, until he saw his father murdered when he was trying to perform a heroic deed. Since then, Siu-Seung has only relied on his own fists. His qualities lead to him being hired as a bodyguard for the daughter of top criminal Mr. Hon. But when Mr. Hon seizes power, Siu-seung is forced to spring into action.

Director Ching-Po Wong places his film in the list of superhero films with a realistic touch, hard violence and a touch of comedy, such as ‘Super’, ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘Defendor’. The list of new superhero films is getting longer and longer and does not only come from the United States. The hints of an Asian Mafia movie and a naive friendship complete the deviant story (as well as the not missing clumsy love scenes). And although the plot by writers Simon Lai and Pak-Wing Yan sometimes looks a bit messy – there are a lot of characters to take into account – the big final battle makes up for everything. Hong Kong action as you would expect, with lots of martial arts and a lot of faces that speak louder than words.

Pop singer Juno Mak is visible in his element as an actor, uniting the mix of styles of ‘Let’s Go!’ also in his own acting, so that his somewhat strange way of acting never gets boring. The film’s lack of special effects and weird story may put some people off, but ‘Let’s Go’ brings silly fighting to a high level and doesn’t take itself seriously. Not much else is needed for a good action film.