REVIEW: ‘Invisible Target’ (DVD – Dragon Dynasty)

INVISIBLE TARGET is, in my opinion, the worst movie to come out on The Weinstein Company’s Dragon Dynasty label to date since DRAGON SQUAD but the two-disc ultimate edition release is one of the label’s best home video packages. There is over five hours of bonus material, most of it made up of exclusive material including an audio commentary with Shawn Yue, Jaycee Chan and Andy On and interviews with Benny Chan and cast members. There is a wealth of material for fans of the movie or its stars to dig into.

The release comes with standard technical specs including original and newly English-dubbed audio tracks in Dolby 5.1, a crisp 16×9 image transfer, removable English and Spanish subtitles, and attractive packaging and menus. The bonus material is the real attraction of this release.

Disc One

Audio Commentary with Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On, and Bey Logan - Bey brings together three of the stars of INVISIBLE TARGET to discuss the film. They all speak good English. They drop some good info. I particularly like their comments about Philip Ng and his martial arts background which confirmed my suspicion that the guy has some serious traditional kung fu training under his belt. He gave a great performance in WING CHUN but has yet to have a showcase role in a movie. Props to Bey Logan for introducing him to the Hong Kong film industry. I think he has “martial arts star” potential but Bey kind of dashes that hope with a reminder that kung fu movies are still out of fashion.

Bey keeps discussion lively and on track by asking questions of the stars and dropping usual bits of industry-insider information with light humor. I cannot say I agree with Bey’s favorable opinions of the film or of Benny Chan. It should be known that Bey, in addition to working for TWC and in a small industry in HK, he was a co-writer on Benny Chan’s GEN-X COPS and GEN-Y COPS.

The quartet turns into a frat crew during action scenes with groans and custom sound effects being shouted. Of the three stars, Andy does the most talking. The other two are soft-spoken and lacking in verbosity which forces Bey to keep asking a lot of follow-up questions that are not always pertinent to the subject at hand. For instance we get to learn about Jaycee’s musical career. The last thing I want to hear about is another Canto pop-singing actor but Jaycee points out that entertainers today almost have to do both to break into the industry which may be true. There isn’t enough money in filmmaking to go around and that’s definitely true.

It’s generally an entertaining commentary, if not Bey’s most informative, and I appreciate being able to hear from some of the younger acting talent working in Hong Kong, even though I don’t always like what they do. It was definitely more enjoyable than the movie itself but that’s not saying much.

Orchestrated Mayhem: The Making of Invisible Target (25 minutes) - Although produced originally for Hong Kong audiences, I’m glad DD put this featurette on here. The stars are all interviewed but my focus was on the comments of director Benny Chan who explains his thinking behind several aspects of the movie. He discusses character motivations and themes that the movie supposedly conveys. It all sounds great but I don’t see his vision coming together in the final product. Nicholas Tse shouts out a boast of sorts about what he is doing as representative of “Hong Kong action.” I don’t want to belittle his commitment or efforts but everything in this movie is a mere shadow of the Hong Kong action of the ’70s and ’80s. Call me when you’ve dropped the wirework.

Trailer Gallery - Original and Dragon Dynasty-produced trailers for INVISIBLE TARGET.

Disc Two

Interview with Benny Chan (22 minutes) - More explanation from Benny Chan here on what is, in my opinion, a terrible film. The only comment I agree with is that the action should match the drama yet it seems to be something he only understands in theory. My conclusion from his comments about the challenge of coming up with dramatic scenes on the spot is that maybe it’s time Hong Kong filmmakers get with the program and start shooting from completed scripts. Without talents like Jackie Chan and Yuen Woo-ping to carry a movie along, there is no movie without a script that sticks.

Interview with Jaycee Chan (19 minutes) - As far as I know this is the first American interview with Jaycee, son of Jackie Chan, at least on DVD. He looks like his father and shares his musical talent but is not the same. He’s soft-spoken and not interested in martial arts or screen fighting. Personally, I think it was a mistake for him to star in INVISIBLE TARGET because he was required to do stunt and fight-related action scenes. He needs to focus on dramatic roles and do his own thing before he ends up typecast.

Interview with Shawn Yue (20 minutes) - Yue discusses his role in the film and the challenges he faced in performing the physical action, as well as drawing comparisons to other work and Hollywood.

Interview with Wu Jing (28 minutes) - This is the second exclusive interview with Jacky Wu Jing that has appeared on a DD release. He previously appeared on the KILL ZONE release and there was also a featurette on Wu Jing on the FATAL CONTACT DVD. Jacky is always fascinating to listen to. He has a lot of ideas in his head, is down-to-earth and speaks his mind. He mostly talks about the film but also reveals his uncertainty about the future of action cinema in China. He’s obviously feeling some pressure to produce new and better action sequences that will thrill audiences. I think what he is missing is story. What Chinese and Thai action cinema need are better scripts, not better or new action sequences. Once action begins to serve the needs of a quality script then new and interesting sequences will naturally follow. Unfortunately, Wu Jing is a product of the “make it up as you go along” mentality of Hong Kong cinema.

Interview with Philip Ng (26 minutes) - It must now be common knowledge that all young Hong Kong stunt actors waste their days playing video games instead of practicing their martial arts and stunt work, or so that’s what the elder generation would have you believe. I got a kick out of the outspoken Philip Ng tossing in a “Warcraft” aside while discussing his training. He’s from Chicago and it’s refreshing to hear a fellow Midwesterner talking bluntly about the Hong Kong movie scene. He came into the industry with a trainer/instructor mentality as a longtime martial artist who provided action direction on STAR RUNNER so despite his relatively limited movie experience he has a far different perspective from his acting co-stars. His version of getting slapped by Wu Jing in a deleted scene is humorous in the way that he, being the recipient of the blows, exaggerates the number of times he’s hit. Philip makes an important observation about the power that Wu Jing conveys in his onscreen strikes. It takes a real martial artist or dedicated stunt actor to be able to hit and receive convincing blows. That’s one of the single most important skills that separate an average Hong Kong action star from a great one. I have additional respect for Philip for openly discussing his Christian faith, seemingly the least popular religion among the cool crowd in the entertainment industry, and how it affects his lifestyle and choice of projects.

Interview with Vincent Sze (15 minutes) - Vincent has been in a few recent action films including KILL ZONE, DRAGON SQUAD and DRAGON TIGER GATE but so far he hasn’t registered at all, at least with me. He lacks distinguishing characteristics and his role in INVISIBLE TARGET is inconsequential. It’s nice the DD team gave him a chance to talk but it’s not going to be of interest to the average viewer.

Interview with Andy On (20 minutes) - I’ll credit Andy On for being honest. He comes right out and states that he was originally going to be doing a lot of action in this movie but after 10 minutes with Nicky Li it became apparent that he was not physically fit enough for it so they changed his role to something more dramatic. He’s exactly the kind of person working in Hong Kong that the older generation is complaining about and it explains why nothing has ever come of his action career following his starring role in BLACK MASK 2.

Deleted / Extended Scenes (14 minutes) - Included are six scenes all with audio commentary from director Benny Chan. Only one is action-oriented and extends a shootout sequence. The main reason for all the cuts was basically due to the film’s long running time. I’d suggest the film was poorly planned from the beginning because even with the cuts, the film is too long.

Fight for Glory: Constructing the Action Sequences (19 minutes) - This is a companion piece to the “Making of” on disc one. Benny Chan and the cast discuss the creation of the action sequences and we see more of the same behind-the-scenes footage, expanded in some places. Noticeably missing are comments from action director Nicky Li who cannot be found anyone in the extras.

Storyboard Comparison (18 minutes) - Benny Chan narrates this side-by-side comparison of storyboards by Mak Tin-kit with the finished film. Hong Kong action movies are often shot without storyboards so it’s a credit to Benny Chan that he bothered to use them, even if he repeatedly changed the script on the fly. It’s a step in the right direction for Hong Kong action cinema.

The Gala Premiere (10 minutes) - Raw footage of the gala premiere for INVISIBLE TARGET in Hong Kong is shown here. It’s a standard promotional event with nothing worth commenting on.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16×9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Cantonese 5.1, Cantonese DTS, English 5.1
Subtitles: English, English CC, Spanish
Length: 130 minutes
Release Date: 2008.06.10

Related Topics: Benny Chan, Bey Logan, Dragon Dynasty, DVD, gallery, Invisible Target (2007), Philip Ng, Wu Jing