The Bodyguard from Beijing
Encyclopedia
The Bodyguard from Beijing , also known as The Defender in the United States
and the United Kingdom
, is a 1994
Hong Kong
action film
directed by action choreographer
Corey Yuen
, and starring Jet Li
, Christy Chung
, Collin Chou
, and Kent Cheng
.
When a wealthy man's (Ng Wai-Kwok) girlfriend, Michelle Yeung (Christy Chung) becomes the only surviving (of three) witness of a mob murder, Allan (Jet Li
) is hired to deal with the many attempts on her life. After isolating her completely in her penthouse with her young nephew and two Hong Kong policemen, Charlie Leung Kam-Po (Sergeant Lau in American releases) and Ken (Kent Cheng
and Leung Wing-Chung), he has to deal with her anger at being sequestered.
Meantime the mob boss becomes desperate to off this last witness to her murder before his upcoming court date. He hires a deadly Chinese assassin Wang Wen Jun(Collin Chou
)and calls in sick to postpone the court date. All the while Michelle goes berserk as she is not allowed any freedom (such as going to the mall) with Allan being equally fed up at not being able to join the Chinese Premier's bodyguard detail in Southern China. Michelle eventually storms out of the estate. This turns ugly as the mall is crawling with mob assassins dressed as mall clerks, custodians, patrons, and police officers.
After a massive shoot-out inside the mall killing all would-be assassins, they manage to get out to the car. However, an assassin posing as a police officer comes to shoot her with a pistol in his jacket pocket. Fortunately, Charlie stops him and is shot twice in his bulletproof vest. In response, Allan fires several shots from the car killing the perpetrator.
The plot gets ugly as the "police officer" turns out to be the younger brother of the Chinese Assassin, who helped save him from a bullet while they were both serving in the Chinese
People's Liberation Army
. He abducts the body from the police morgue killing five forensic centre guards with a tri-bladed bayonet. Burying the body and tossing paper money into the flames, he swears vengeance against the bodyguard.
Meanwhile back at the penthouse, Michelle finally begins to understand that her bodyguards care for her. After apologizing to Allan, she finds that she is falling for him and tries to seduce him. Allan also has some feelings towards Michelle as she tries to seduce him, but held his feelings. Finally, things come to a climax when the a group of assassins and Jun storm the house. Fighting in the house, Allan holds the advantage of being familiar with the house's layout. He takes out most of the assailants leaving only Jun standing but not before they severely wound the two policemen.
With no one left to stop them, Jun and the bodyguard engage in a long hand to hand fight, trashing most of the house. During the melee, the boyfriend enters the house just as Jun recovers his gun. Michelle breaks cover to hold up a stumbling Allan who had been bayoneted in the left lung. Jun points the gun at all three of them asking her to choose who should die first. The boyfriend makes an offer to double whatever he was being paid for the hit in exchange for her life which the assassin refuses. He says his brother was shot seven times, and he intends to put seven bullets into somebody as retribution but then adds, "Perhaps you could pay someone to take the bullet for her?". Allan steps forward as Jun fires a shot at Michelle.
The shot hits Allan in the chest causing him to fall back into Michelle's arms. "One down, six more to go." Jun says and fires again. Impossibly Michelle tries to shield Allan with her body only to have him struggle up pushing her away. The bullet hits him in the back spinning him around. As he spins toward Jun, he uses the last of his strength to pull the bayonet from his chest and throw it into the assassin's neck. The scene ends with Michelle holding the convulsing Allan and crying inconsolably.
With the danger over and the court concluded, we see Michelle and her boyfriend driving to the Chinese/Hong Kong border. The boyfriend, James, was given a note by Allan stating that he needs to be there for her. At the border they try to get Allan to stay in Hong Kong with them. However they are barred from setting foot on Chinese soil pass the checkpoint. As per his wishes, two items were left for them in Hong Kong. The first was the trunk full of money paid by James to Allan which he wills to the police chief. In it is a note, that the money is for his son's education and that the chief shouldn't gamble anymore. Lastly there was a small box for Michelle. The box had his watch which were usually swapped between persons as mementos of the person. Michelle remembers and cries 'Allan' as his car drives away from the border checkpoint back into China.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, is a 1994
Hong Kong films of 1994
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1994:.-1994 :-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1994 at...
Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
action film
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
directed by action choreographer
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen
Corey Yuen Kwai is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and producer. He was a member of the Peking Opera Schools and one of the Seven Little Fortunes.-Life and career:...
, and starring Jet Li
Jet Li
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
, Christy Chung
Christy Chung
Christy Chung is Chinese-Canadian actress. She was born in Montreal to a Chinese father and a Vietnamese mother.Chung grew up in Brossard, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal, with French and Vietnamese as mother-tongues...
, Collin Chou
Collin Chou
Collin Chou , sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist based in Hong Kong known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as well as the Enter the Matrix video game...
, and Kent Cheng
Kent Cheng
Kent Cheng Jak-si is a Hong Kong film and television actor. He has won twice the best actor award in the Hong Kong Film Awards.-Biography:...
.
Plot
Known by few, there exists an elite corp of international bodyguards based in China. Allan Hui Ching-yeung (John Chang in American releases) is one of their most promising members known for his highly unorthodox methods, such as pointing a gun at a client's head. Although his methods are anti-trust building, his decisions are usually right.When a wealthy man's (Ng Wai-Kwok) girlfriend, Michelle Yeung (Christy Chung) becomes the only surviving (of three) witness of a mob murder, Allan (Jet Li
Jet Li
The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
) is hired to deal with the many attempts on her life. After isolating her completely in her penthouse with her young nephew and two Hong Kong policemen, Charlie Leung Kam-Po (Sergeant Lau in American releases) and Ken (Kent Cheng
Kent Cheng
Kent Cheng Jak-si is a Hong Kong film and television actor. He has won twice the best actor award in the Hong Kong Film Awards.-Biography:...
and Leung Wing-Chung), he has to deal with her anger at being sequestered.
Meantime the mob boss becomes desperate to off this last witness to her murder before his upcoming court date. He hires a deadly Chinese assassin Wang Wen Jun(Collin Chou
Collin Chou
Collin Chou , sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist based in Hong Kong known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as well as the Enter the Matrix video game...
)and calls in sick to postpone the court date. All the while Michelle goes berserk as she is not allowed any freedom (such as going to the mall) with Allan being equally fed up at not being able to join the Chinese Premier's bodyguard detail in Southern China. Michelle eventually storms out of the estate. This turns ugly as the mall is crawling with mob assassins dressed as mall clerks, custodians, patrons, and police officers.
After a massive shoot-out inside the mall killing all would-be assassins, they manage to get out to the car. However, an assassin posing as a police officer comes to shoot her with a pistol in his jacket pocket. Fortunately, Charlie stops him and is shot twice in his bulletproof vest. In response, Allan fires several shots from the car killing the perpetrator.
The plot gets ugly as the "police officer" turns out to be the younger brother of the Chinese Assassin, who helped save him from a bullet while they were both serving in the Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
. He abducts the body from the police morgue killing five forensic centre guards with a tri-bladed bayonet. Burying the body and tossing paper money into the flames, he swears vengeance against the bodyguard.
Meanwhile back at the penthouse, Michelle finally begins to understand that her bodyguards care for her. After apologizing to Allan, she finds that she is falling for him and tries to seduce him. Allan also has some feelings towards Michelle as she tries to seduce him, but held his feelings. Finally, things come to a climax when the a group of assassins and Jun storm the house. Fighting in the house, Allan holds the advantage of being familiar with the house's layout. He takes out most of the assailants leaving only Jun standing but not before they severely wound the two policemen.
With no one left to stop them, Jun and the bodyguard engage in a long hand to hand fight, trashing most of the house. During the melee, the boyfriend enters the house just as Jun recovers his gun. Michelle breaks cover to hold up a stumbling Allan who had been bayoneted in the left lung. Jun points the gun at all three of them asking her to choose who should die first. The boyfriend makes an offer to double whatever he was being paid for the hit in exchange for her life which the assassin refuses. He says his brother was shot seven times, and he intends to put seven bullets into somebody as retribution but then adds, "Perhaps you could pay someone to take the bullet for her?". Allan steps forward as Jun fires a shot at Michelle.
The shot hits Allan in the chest causing him to fall back into Michelle's arms. "One down, six more to go." Jun says and fires again. Impossibly Michelle tries to shield Allan with her body only to have him struggle up pushing her away. The bullet hits him in the back spinning him around. As he spins toward Jun, he uses the last of his strength to pull the bayonet from his chest and throw it into the assassin's neck. The scene ends with Michelle holding the convulsing Allan and crying inconsolably.
With the danger over and the court concluded, we see Michelle and her boyfriend driving to the Chinese/Hong Kong border. The boyfriend, James, was given a note by Allan stating that he needs to be there for her. At the border they try to get Allan to stay in Hong Kong with them. However they are barred from setting foot on Chinese soil pass the checkpoint. As per his wishes, two items were left for them in Hong Kong. The first was the trunk full of money paid by James to Allan which he wills to the police chief. In it is a note, that the money is for his son's education and that the chief shouldn't gamble anymore. Lastly there was a small box for Michelle. The box had his watch which were usually swapped between persons as mementos of the person. Michelle remembers and cries 'Allan' as his car drives away from the border checkpoint back into China.
Cast
- Jet LiJet LiThe fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce...
- Allan Hui Ching-yeung/John Chang - Christy ChungChristy ChungChristy Chung is Chinese-Canadian actress. She was born in Montreal to a Chinese father and a Vietnamese mother.Chung grew up in Brossard, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal, with French and Vietnamese as mother-tongues...
- Michelle Yeung - Collin ChouCollin ChouCollin Chou , sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist based in Hong Kong known in the United States for his portrayal of Seraph in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as well as the Enter the Matrix video game...
- Wang Wen Jun/Wong - Kent ChengKent ChengKent Cheng Jak-si is a Hong Kong film and television actor. He has won twice the best actor award in the Hong Kong Film Awards.-Biography:...
- Charlie Leung Kam "Fat" Po - Ng Wai Kwok - James Song Sai-Cheung
- Leung Wing Chung - Officer Ken
- William Chu - Billy Yeung
- Kam-Kong Wong - Chiu Kwok-Man
- Corey YuenCorey YuenCorey Yuen Kwai is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and producer. He was a member of the Peking Opera Schools and one of the Seven Little Fortunes.-Life and career:...