Film Review: The Black Sheep Affair (Another Meltdown, 1998)

Hong Kong had one of the most vibrant and prolific cinema industries in 20th Century, and its end, even after the mainland Chinese takeover, wasn’t an exception. One of many interesting films to come from that time was The Black Sheep Affair, 1998 action film directed by Vai-Lun Nam, known under international title Another Meltdown and interesting because of minor plot detail that make it almost inconceivably unique among Chinese films made at the time.

Despite its international title, Another Meltdown has nothing do with Meltdown, 1995 action comedy starring Jet Li. This film belongs to straight action genre and begins when Yim Dong (played by Wenzhuo Zhao a.k.a. Vincent Zhao), member of elite Chinese special forces, takes out terrorists who hijacked the plane. While doing so, he disobeyed orders so is demoted and sent to work as part of Chinese embassy security in (fictional) former Soviet republic of Lavernia. There he finds himself standing in the path of Keizo Mishima (played by Andrew Lin), vicious Japanese cult leader who had found shelter there and, thanks to corrupt government and ability to stir racist sentiment against Chinese migrants, uses the country as a base for terrorist operations. Yim Dong’s situation is complicated with presence of Chan Pun (played by Shu Qi), former girlfriend who emigrated from China following 1989 Tien An Men Massacre.

Another Meltdown is quite conspicuous for using the event that official China pretends it didn’t happen and something any wise Chinese film maker wouldn’t touch with ten foot pole as part of its plot. Vai-Lun Nam and his scriptwriters, however, found two ways to make this problematic content acceptable for censors. One is the events of June 1989, which are even briefly reconstructed through flashback, being euphemistically described as “the misunderstanding between the government and the people” and another is plot being set in fictional country, thus implicitly suggesting that the entire embarrassing affair of Tien An Men might be fiction too. Just to make things sure, the protagonist is portrayed as true Chinese patriot who scolds Chan Pu from abandoning mother country and even takes part in patriotic music number.

Politics aside, Another Meltdown is actually quite entertaining film that would satisfy all those accustomed to Hong Kong action cinema standards. There are plenty of effective action scenes, with explosions and Vincent Zhao displaying superb martial arts. But Vincent Zhao’s performance is overshadowed by Andrew Lin, who is much more interesting in the role of villain, obviously inspired by real life Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara. Andrew Lin plays that character as someone with martial arts skills matching protagonist’s and displays him in probably the most memorable scene of the film when Mishima briefly ends in prison and makes short work of bunch of burly men who were going to do some nasty things to him in the shower. Although it isn’t particularly deep, Another Meltdown represents good example of creativity within Hong Kong cinema.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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