Roaring Wheels (2000)

Three years ago Racing God Fred Wong (Wong) crashed out of a motorbike race against Weird Fung (Chan). And his wife died in labour on the same night. Crippled and left with newly-born son Senny, he vanished from the illegal racing scene. Eatery owner Kelly (Siu) takes in Fred and sis-in-law Decker (Yeh) for a quiet life of obscurity on a New Territories beach.

Fred's years of peace and quiet end which Fung comes across him serving up noodles at the beach. Fung's fed up with being the second-best racer in Hong Kong - Fred still holds the top title - and he want's a showdown. But Fred's not interested in returning to the roads, and strong-arm tactics are needed to convince him. Soon thugs show up, douse the restaurant tables in petrol, set them ablaze and kidnap Senny. The charred tables and umbrellas heal themselves overnight, but it'll take more effort for Fred to get the kid back. He agrees to the race.

The script offers plentiful similarities with the God of Gamblers-related films. The term itself is replaced with che sun (Racing God), and the concept of an underground master going into hiding and holding legendary status is re-used. While the story in Roaring Wheels is nothing astounding in following this formula, there are attempts to add depth to the relationships between Fred, Kelly and Senny. Additional plot diversions are introduced towards Fred and Fung's showdown finale. Patchy narration is occasionally added as a storytelling device, though it's not consistent when it changes person.

Director Aman Chang's credit doesn't appear until the end of the movie, but his efficient and satisfying filmmaking is recognisable throughout. Plentiful zooms, quick cuts, heads and cleavage filling the composition, and many close-ups of Dave Wong's brow play throughout. The bicycle pursuit concept used in his Fist Power reappears in a minor way, minus the martial arts but highlighting every bounce in Maggie Siu's pedaling instead.

The beach location at Sheung Sze Wan offers a pleasant summer feel, despite the film's end-of-season theatrical release, and continually offers viewers longer lines of sight than possible in urban-set films. The bikini to one-piece swimsuit ratio is, as should be expected, higher on this beach than usual. And in an interesting quirk, Japan references are fairly common on the Roaring Wheels set and in conversations, including Calpis Water (rarely seen in Hong Kong) being served and an idol poster on a wall.

On the acting stakes, Dave Wong is lacklustre as Fred but sweats up a small storm in his various stills. Maggie Siu, playing Kelly, offers a quiet presence in the sidelines with her relationship to Fred. And Lam Suet is introduced with a fanfare of slide guitar. Yeh Au-ting's acting, meanwhile, is particularly bad. The remaining straightforward performances are pleasing to watch but seldom make Roaring Wheels anything more than a presentable diversion to conclude the summer movie season.

The dashing Roaring Wheels painted billboard at the Imperial Cinema

Credits:

Directed by Aman Chang
Produced by Frankie Ng Chi-hung
Starring Dave Wong Kit, Maggie Siu, Karen Mok Man-wai, Yeh Au-ting, Moses Chan and Lam Suet