My Schoolmate, The Barbarian (Ngo dik yeh man tung hok -2001)

Starring:
Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung
Stephen Fung Tak-Lun
Joey Yung Tso-Yi
Samuel Pang King-Chi
Yu Ka-Ho
Ng Chi-Hung
Fung Wai-Hung

Stephen Fung is Edward, a rich high school kid who accidentally gets enrolled in seedy TBS College instead of the prestigious private school he was supposed to get into. TBS College is apparently the Battle Royale college of Hong Kong. The ritual here is for kids to settle their differences through one-on-one fisticuffs without any teachers present. The teachers actually know but don't get involved, which is yet another fine argument for public education.

Edward immediately gets saddled with smarmy rivals, but he does find an ally: Stone (Nicholas Tse), the undisputed King of Fighters. However, Stone hasn't fought in six months and current top dog Mantis (Samuel Pang) wants Stone in the ring so they can see who's the toughest of all. Stone doesn't care to fight Mantis, but he will help Edward learn the ropes so he can fend for himself in the ring. However, Stone has his own issues, and Mantis isn't content to let Stone avoid fighting him. Plus there's a kidnapping case and the obligatory high school romance between Edward and classmate Fung (Joey Yung).




The movie started out stupid. The jokes were a little lame and corny for superstars Tse and Fung. But in all, the movie was okay. Wasn't my favorite by far. The action was pretty tame too. They down played Fung's strength's and relied on Tse's.

I guess the story was too farfetched for me to believe in. Don't get me wrong it was a fun movie for those who need a not-so-mind-thought-provoking show.

Ah, but alas, Nick was cute as usual and so was Stephen. Hey, even the Sam (Mantis) was looking pretty good there. That's what this movie was....just eye candy for those of us who thrive on Nick and Stephen. Where was Shawn (Yue)? Can't have a movie without those three together. LOL!

Nicholas Tse