Though I don’t normally look to Hong Kong kung-fu epics for political meaning, I was puzzled by a central plot point in this 1980s-set action movie directed by Soi Cheang, which reportedly is the first of a series. Raymond Lam plays the main protagonist, Chan Lok-Kwan, who is described as a refugee in Hong Kong, and I kept wondering: A refugee from where? Since he speaks fluent Cantonese and has wicked fighting and mahjong skills, I assume he grew up either on the mainland or in a Chinese-speaking expat community in another country. Malaysia perhaps? Vietnam? The furiously paced plot has no real need to explain such things—though we do eventually learn that, as a baby, Chan, along with his mother, was “exiled” from Hong Kong—but there is something essential about the matter given that the historical thrust of the story eventually leads to the British handover of the territory to China in 1997, and so the historical background is important to the theme, if not necessarily vital for the action set pieces, which are numerous, densely choreographed, and viscerally mind-blowing.

Walled In is already being boosted as a full-on return to the great traditions of pre-millennial HK action, and in terms of plotting and character development, it may even surpass those traditions. Though Chan is a cliche, a poor migrant who is cheated by one triad and chased into the arms of a second, to which he then swears allegiance out of a sense of gratitude and fraternal belonging, there’s a richness to his development as a pauper-hero that’s mainly provided by the superior production values. The walled city of Kowloon—a real place—is so vividly tactile that overcoming its maze-like structure is an enormous feat, and the denizens of this demimonde are themselves vivid relics of a lost era in their own right. After escaping the clutches of the greedy triad boss Mr. Big (Sammo Hung), Chan is taken in by Cyclone (Louis Koo), the “head of security” for Kowloon, who protects its ragtag inhabitants for the main landlord (Richie Ren), a former triad honcho who lives off-site in palatial digs that are basically a shrine to the wife and daughter murdered by a rival triad boss (Aaron Kwon). His appetite for revenge is whetted by Chan’s “return” to Hong Kong, thus reigniting a new inter-gang war goosed by the ultimate prize: Title over Kowloon, whose properties are already skyrocketing in value following the announcement of the future handover.

None of this context adds anything to the excitement, but it does provide a thick dramatic texture to the action, which is designed to take up a maximum volume of space. More significantly, the supporting characters are carefully conceived as charismatic individuals and performed by a stellar cast, and I would venture that the only serious miscalculation was endowing Mr. Big’s sergeant-at-arms, King (Philip Ng), with supernatural powers that require an extra helping of ingenuity on the part of Chan and his newly adopted crew to defeat. If it sounds like a sop to the worldwide audience’s MCU proclivities, it seems hardly necessary. The abilities of these guys to take a licking and keep on ass-kicking transcend superhero formulas. The only question is: How do they possibly top this? Two sequels? Bring ’em on.

In Cantonese. Now playing in Tokyo at Shinjuku Wald 9 (03-5369-4955).

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In home page in Japanese