Gang war dramas need a great deal of convincing action and plotting to articulate the ticking time bomb of a heated situation adequately. No one is entirely ever safe. Power lust renders the whole pursuit of existence a slippery, unreliable affair. One never knows when the tables may turn or when the next betrayal may strike to wipe out all traces of control. It is a mucky, morally grey business where everyone has their hands bloodied and complicit. There are no exemptions or the slightest inkling of innocence being fully undiluted and pure. Everything is taken for a toss. Soi Cheang’s “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” doesn’t lack the flourishes of action sequences. It thrives on the strength and spectacle of them.
Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Lost in the Shadows of Kowloon: A Cycle of Violence?
The film fumbles to trace a psychological dimension and texture to characters and settings, the mess of conflicts that take root and decay over the course of generations. The cycle of violence in the film is depicted as systemic and almost inescapable, with tragedy and fateful punishment. An adaptation of the novel City of Darkness, the film opens with a long detailing of events that have so far transpired. It introduces the setting of the walled city of Kowloon in 20th-century Hong Kong as an anarchist enclave.
It was the site of several immigrants who found temporary shelter, many of whom didn’t have proper, official IDs to prove their citizenship. Thus, it was the hotbed of tense gang wars. The city was under the control of Lui Chin’s gang for years, mainly with the help of Jim Chan, who was killed without mercy. However, a stranger, Cyclone, entered the city, united all those who opposed Lui’s rule, and defeated Jim, signaling the start of a change in power.
The film specifically opens in the 1980s, with a man, Chan Lok-Kwan ( Raymond Lam), who takes up an underground fighting challenge. He wins, but the payer, Mr Big (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung), refuses to hand him money and insists he join his gang instead. But Chan has no such desire. He is an undocumented person and wants just money so he can expedite his getting an ID for the citizenship of Hong Kong. After some needling, Mr. Big concedes that he will grant a fake ID but doesn’t keep his promise when Chan later shows up for it. Enraged and vexed, Chan steals a sack, thinking it contains money, and flees. A chase ensues as Mr. Big’s men go after him.
From Fighter to Fugitive: A New Life in the Underbelly?
Chan stumbles into the depths of the Walled City. Chan discovers, to his disappointment, that the bag contains not a wad of money but cocaine. He tries to sell it to local dealers but incenses them. Kowloon’s criminal leader, Cyclone ( Louis Koo), rescues him from Big’s men. He takes Chan’s bag of drugs and shelters him.
Under his wings, Chan has some semblance of a new life. Cyclone pays for him, but Chan is told he is in debt. He finds work, helped by Cyclone’s men. He starts to feel at home in Kowloon, under Cyclone’s aegis and forges friendships with Cyclone’s men, Shin, AV, and Twelfth Master. They are all undocumented people who found shelter under Cyclone.
What is Chan’s real identity?
Through Shin and AV, Chan discovers the bloody backstory of the men who rule Kowloon. Jim and Cyclone were friends but were ripped apart professionally due to their association with different gangs. Cyclone’s close associate and friend, Chau (Richie Jen), had a very dark personal history with Jim. The latter had slaughtered Chau’s wife and kid on the command of Lui. Chau knew Jim had a wife and son, so he swore to exact vendetta and kill Jim’s son one day. Cyclone finds out Chan is Jim’s son and keeps his knowledge hidden from a wrathful Chau, who would instantly butcher Chan the minute he gets his hands on him. Back in the day, Cyclone had helped Jim’s wife escape after he killed Jim.
Mr. Big discloses the secret of Chan’s identity to Chau, who allows Big and his other accomplice, King, to go after Chan since Cyclone wouldn’t give him away. Chan is helped to escape by Shin and AV. He gets out of the Walled City. In the stormy clash, Cyclone sacrifices himself as Big stabs him.
Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who takes control of the Walled City?
Chau is betrayed by King when the latter kills Big and cages him. King takes over the city’s reins. Meanwhile, Chan, who recovers from his wounds in the scuffle with Big and Chau outside the dangerous confines of the city, reunites with Shin, AV, and Twelfth Master. They join Chan in taking vengeance for Cyclone’s death.
Cyclone was a solid paternal figure for the four guys. They owed him their lives and safety. He looked after them as their own sons and gave them a bastion. More than wrestling power back from King, who took violently and hideously over the city, they know they must make up for the wrong done to Cyclone. The film’s climax is a long-drawn clash between Cyclone’s loyalists and King. King’s formidable supernatural powers help him in good stead and enable him to outmatch his rivals.
But the four are determined and united in resolve to bring him down, bolstered by taking retribution for executing Cyclone. There’s some supernatural force as Cyclone’s spirit seems to descend, and a blade goes inside King. His mortality is immediately brought to the stake. That brings King down and precipitates his effective death at the hands of Shin. Chan lets Shin have the last hand in killing King.
Ultimately, Chan frees Chau from the captivity imposed by the King. Chan and his friends continue to be together for as long as they can in Walled City. Contentment and happiness permeate the final shot, but the epilogue note mentions that the city was torn down in September 1993.
