The "Sha Po Lang" aka "SPL" thread

the68monkey · Post by **the68monkey** » 10 Dec 2006, 03:28

bradavon wrote:* What does "Sha Po Lang" mean?

brad, it translates roughly to mean:

ALL DADDIES MUST DIE!!!

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 10 Dec 2006, 09:03

Why are people complaining about characterisation? For me, it was a throwback to the type of action movie that D&B used to churn out, but with a better budget and a lot more panache.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 10 Dec 2006, 09:19

hey,

always thought the drama part worked to a fair good degree. A potentially sappy backdrop supported by the works of Yam and Liu Kai-chi while the gritty, dark tone is by Donnie Yen's action design.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 Dec 2006, 09:27

brooce-leroy wrote: D&B

D&B= what? Donnie and Bey?

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 10 Dec 2006, 09:30

hey,

D & B=Dickson Poon and Sammo Hung Kam-bo. Production company from the 80s. Royal Warriors, In The Line Of Duty, Fatal Termination, Autumn's Tale, that kind of stuff.

brooce-leroy · Post by **brooce-leroy** » 10 Dec 2006, 09:31

D & B stands for "Dak Bo", and was a HK film production company in the 80s. Part owned by Sammo Hung I believe (the Bo represents Sammo, as in Sammo Hung Kam Bo).

the68monkey · Post by **the68monkey** » 10 Dec 2006, 17:10

brooce-leroy wrote:Why are people complaining about characterisation? For me, it was a throwback to the type of action movie that D&B used to churn out, but with a better budget and a lot more panache.

Well, as I just wrote in a message to Knetan, I think my problems with the film's characterization have a lot to do with the overpowering score for the film. Instead of letting the characters interact with one another with dialogue, or subtlety of action, the director chose to blast us with loud, "important" music deep with violins and cellos, and zoom in on an intense glare or facial expression. To me, that's not good characterization if it's not mixed with some good acting and dialogue to show complexity of character. Some examples of excellent, complex characters I can think of in action/crime HK films of the last decade are Lam Suet's Lo in PTU and Eric Tsang's Sam in Infernal Affairs. Their characters show a complexity that's built through actions, subtlety, and dialogue. PTU's mood, especially, is similar to the darkness of SPL, but the characters aren't blasted off the screen by stringy, melodramatic music that doesn't match with the tension that's supposed to be shown in the story.

I'm definitely going to watch SPL again, maybe even tonight, but this time with the sound OFF!

RickyTheDragonSteamboat · Post by **RickyTheDragonSteamboat** » 10 Dec 2006, 22:17

I loved SPL. It has started a whole new trend of action films. I can't wait to see Wilson Yip's CITY WITHOUT MERCY.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 10 Dec 2006, 22:46

I have sen it twise now and hey its not the best movie ever, but hell its still a great little film, and cannot complain about much of it on any level.

DangerousLeeHandsome · Post by **DangerousLeeHandsome** » 11 Dec 2006, 16:35

I thought SPL was an excellent movie. Of course like most action films, plot holes run amuck but still, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I watched an episode of Cinema AZN last night and during a segment with Jackie Chan, he stated that HK cinema is dying because of all the piracy and unenforced copyright laws. Although piracy is a factor I disagree; I blame the decline of HK cinema on the quality of the films being produced there. Except for a few rare gems, HK has produced largely crap cinema with nothing but one pop star vehicle after another. I find that extremely annoying. While SPL may be a flawed film, I think it's a step in the right direction. If HK were to continue making films of this quality - which isn't too much to ask IMO - HK could once again become the forefront of innovative filmmaking.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 11 Dec 2006, 16:52

brooce-leroy wrote:D & B stands for "Dak Bo", and was a HK film production company in the 80s. Part owned by Sammo Hung I believe (the Bo represents Sammo, as in Sammo Hung Kam Bo).

Did he own part of Bo Ho Films/Gar Bo etc as well?

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 22 Dec 2006, 21:38

When SPL was announced for Germany, they used the same cover art as the DD cover and also used the same title (Kill Zone). Now it went to this:

LOOOL!

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Dec 2006, 21:57

hey,

Swedish rental will be known as SPL - Hong Kong Force.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 22 Dec 2006, 21:59

How and foremost "why" do they come up with such bad titles? I'm sure that publishers believe that all HK films are still considered B-movies and that they have to reach to exactly that audience. So that's quite an insult to people like us.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:02

hey,

that is indeed the notion that runs through the people making decisions. But they're making them for us. So that we feel safe....

I mean, you can't have an action-thriller and have people thinking about silly star signs and shit like that. Better to distract with a title a Chuck Norris movie would have back in the day.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:14

Agreed Kill Zone is awful but there's no way SPL would be used. It just means nothing to anyone who doesn't understand Chinese.

Madman in R4 btw stuck with Sha Po Lang.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:16

Ask your average Chinese guy what SPL means.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:18

hey,

dude, it gets explained with English on-screen text at the very beginning of the movie! Perfectly easy to understand, not some Asian mumbo-jumbo. It may not mean much to anybody anyway but STILL...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:19

There's no need to roll your eyes LD. You knew exactly what I meant. The title needs to sell to the general public too and calling it Sha Po Lang is only going to seriously hurt sales.

You know that. For example:

Tom Yumm Goong - Good title but it means nothing to most people in it's target audience.
The Protector - Awful
Warrior King - A good attempt/fine

Who has the UK rights SPL?

Knetan wrote:dude, it gets explained with English on-screen text at the very beginning of the movie! Perfectly easy to understand, not some Asian mumbo-jumbo. It may not mean much to anybody anyway but STILL...

Fair point but tell me the last time you browsed the spine/cover of a DVD and asked the shop keeper to unwrap the DVD to play it so you could see that explained.

I see no harm in a re-tittle when the original is so centric to the original market (MUSA was renamed outside of Asia too, as was Brotherhood). It's when they pick an awful title it's annoying.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:21

Over here, Asian Star have released SPL as: SPL: Death, Destruction, Greed

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:24

hey,

I know the market demand is what it is but for ONCE, why not TRY and give the audience a little credit? But that would mean taking risks. You could make a great alluring cover art for SPL, using key stills like the cop unit on the roof and even the good ol' Hung/Yen fighting still, sell the movie with somewhat of a clever tag line and STILL keep the original title. But that would mean taking risks...

DangerousLeeHandsome · Post by **DangerousLeeHandsome** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:27

bradavon wrote: Tom Yumm Goong - Good title but it means nothing to most people in it's target audience.
The Protector - Awful
Warrior King - A good attempt/fine

As sick as it sounds, I thought THE PROTECTOR was actually much more effective than Warrior King ( or Revenge of the Warrior, Honor of the Dragon, Thai Dragon ect.)

bradavon wrote:Who has the UK rights SPL?

According to the disclaimer on HKflix.com, the Weinsteins also claim SPL in the UK as well.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:35

Fair point Knetan but it would only lead to confusion. It's not like Sha Po Lang is even an English phrase.

The HK studios should've come up with their own English title. Like they usually do.

tom2681 wrote:Over here, Asian Star have released SPL as: SPL: Death, Destruction, Greed

That's just as bad.

DangerousLeeHandsome wrote:As sick as it sounds, I thought THE PROTECTOR was actually much more effective than Warrior King ( or Revenge of the Warrior, Honor of the Dragon, Thai Dragon ect.)

Out of interest why?

tom2681 wrote:According to the disclaimer on HKflix.com, the Weinsteins also claim SPL in the UK as well.

Interesting thanks. They've released DVDs in the UK before.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:37

hey,

at least the French kept thinking of what the actual title meant and then adjusted it to their market.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 22 Dec 2006, 22:41

bradavon wrote:There's no need to roll your eyes LD.

I see no harm in a re-tittle when the original is so centric to the original market (MUSA was renamed outside of Asia too, as was Brotherhood). It's when they pick an awful title it's annoying.

Exactly, it's annoying. "Musa" was retitles to "The Warrior" which comes quite close to what Musa actually means (Swordsman / Swordfighter / Sword Warrior).