In 1989, actor Stephen Chow rose to fame with his lead role in the television series The Final Combat. Nowadays, most audiences know him for his directorial efforts Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, but two years after The Final Combat, Chow starred in a trilogy of films that would break Hong Kong records.
The first Fight Back to School film would go on to be the highest grossing Hong Kong film of 1991, and as the trilogy would continue, it’d highlight the star power of lead actor Stephen Chow as well as actors like Ng Man-tat, Anthony Wong and Sharla Cheung.
The Fight Back to School trilogy, despite being a trio of important films, have never been released on Blu-ray, until now. 88 Films has presented all three films with HD masters and new extras. I’ll be reviewing each film individually, then giving my thoughts on the Blu-ray release and all of the bonus features at the end.
Fight Back to School
Director: Gordon Chan
Screenplay: Barry Wong and Gordon Chan
Starring: Stephen Chow, Sharla Cheung, Ng Man-tat and Gabriel Wong
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 101 min
Year: 1991
The first film in the trilogy introduces us to Starry Chow (played by Stephen Chow), a police officer who’s more hot-headed than most and doesn’t listen to orders. He’s tasked with going undercover at a high school to find his police chief’s gun, which has gone missing. While undercover as a student, the film’s comedic elements are introduced with crazy situations such as flying erasers hitting students and eating condoms on screen, or Starry cheating on his school tests. The film feels very reminiscent of 21 Jump Street. Chow immediately tries to get the attention of teacher Miss Ho. Ng Man-tat’s Uncle Tat delivers a lot of the humour and the pairing of him and Starry leads to some great moments.
While the film isn’t action-packed, per se, the action on screen is pretty great. The majority of the film is focused on the comedic nature of Starry Chow pretending to be a student at school, and while it can wear thin at times, it’s never insufferable. I had a pretty fun time with the film, all things considered.
It’s well-directed and the high definition presentation on the 88 Films release compliments the film well. Action-comedies are a tricky genre for me, because while I think both genres can work well together, it takes a particular type of film to fully click with me like that. If I had any major complaints about Fight Back to School’s approach to the genre, it’s how disconnected both genres are from each other. I’d love to see some of the comedy mixed with the action, but that’s down entirely towards my personal preference. As I mentioned earlier, there’s some really funny moments in the film and most of the humour lands well enough.
Overall, Fight Back to School is a decent start to the trilogy, and while it never blew me away, I had a pretty fun time with it and would recommend it to anybody interested in seeing one of Chow’s earlier hits. It’s funny, it’s well-paced and introduces characters who only become more interesting as the series progresses.
Film: 
Fight Back to School II
Director: Gordon Chan
Screenplay: Kin Chung Chan, Gordon Chan and Kai-Chi Yuen
Starring: Stephen Chow, Sharla Cheung, Ng Man-tat and Athena Chu
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 98 min
Year: 1992
Similar to the first film, Fight Back to School II follows Starry Chow (Stephen Chow) as he resigns from the police force after being demoted in his position to a traffic cop and being framed for an investigation. After this, he decides once again to go undercover as a high school student to find answers.
While undercover, Chow gets into more silly antics, as well as trying his luck with a new romantic interest, Sandy Lai. The romance in this film felt more genuine and there’s some pretty sweet moments between Lai and Chow. Also, there’s some fun comedic sequences, such as when Starry is hiding from his girlfriend, Miss Ho, by wearing a Bart Simpson mask. Ng Man-tat’s presence is a highlight again, too. The flying erasers from the first film even make a comeback.
While the final act of the film essentially turns into a remake of Die Hard at a school, it’s still entertaining. Ng Man-tat dressing up as The Terminator in this sequence is glorious. The action here is all pretty solid and it’s absolutely worth the wait.
While I’d be lying if I said the film did much to deviate from the plot of the original film, I think I might have preferred this one for a few reasons. Chow and Chan seem more comfortable here on a creative level, with a higher emphasis on action than the first, as well as a slightly meaner tone which I really enjoyed. As humorously pointed out in the Djeng/DeSanto audio commentary included on this release, a lot of the actors look way too old to be playing students, which weirdly makes Chow fit in even more compared to the first film. There’s even a joke where the principal of the school says Chow’s character looks 28 years old, so the film’s absolutely aware of the ludicrous premise.
Fight Back to School II is more of the same, which isn’t a bad thing. Fans of the first will more than likely have a good time here. I actually enjoyed it a tad more than the first, mainly for the incredibly entertaining third act. It’s not going to blow anybody’s mind, but Starry Chow and Uncle Tat are a duo that make both of these first two films fun experiences.
Film: 
Fight Back to School III
Director: Wong Jing
Screenplay: Wong Jing
Starring: Stephen Chow, Anita Mui, Sharla Cheung and Anthony Wong
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1993
After the events of the second film, Starry Chow goes undercover for a third time to pose as a millionaire who was murdered, much to the dismay of his wife. While undercover as Million Wong, Chow constantly runs the risk of being caught by Wong’s wife, who suspects that Chow isn’t the man he’s claiming to be.
Unlike the first two films in this trilogy, Fight Back to School III isn’t directed by Gordon Chan, and is instead helmed by Wong Jing (God of Gamblers, City Hunter) and most notably, doesn’t involve much fighting or any schools whatsoever. Operating primarily as a comedy-thriller, Fight Back to School III works far better than it has any right to.
Immediately from the get-go, there’s references to Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct that continue throughout the film and I think as the trilogy goes along, the love that’s shown for American cinema, whether it’s action films like Terminator and Die Hard, or in this case, Basic Instinct is charming and feels like a refreshing change of pace than your typical reference in a Tarantino film. With this being my first Wong Jing film, it’s definitely got me interested in checking out some of his other films as the direction here is the highlight of the trilogy for me. Excellent lighting, a full commitment to absurd gags and a brisk pace that works wonders for the film.
While viewers might not enjoy this film as much as the first two for its departure to the formula set up in the prior instalments, I had a blast with this. One thing this film has that the last two didn’t is the legendary Anthony Wong, playing a man who likes to be referred to as ‘Motherfudger’ and sports an array of outrageous costumes throughout the film. While he’s not a main character, every second he’s in the film, he elevates it with his personality. At one point, Wong’s character refers to a women’s breasts as ‘twin peaks’. If that doesn’t tell you what you’re in for with him, I don’t know what could.
My main issue with this film is the lack of Ng Man-tat’s Uncle Tat, who’s nowhere to be seen here. As previously mentioned, the new characters more than make up for it but I think having him here would have only improved the film as he was a highlight of the first two.
Fight Back to School III is a bizarre conclusion to the trilogy, but it’s my favourite of the bunch. Most of the humour worked for me, I really appreciated the technical aspects of the film, Chow and Anita Mui are excellent and even if he’s not in the film as much as I’d hope, Anthony Wong is an absolute scene stealer. As long as you’re alright with a film that does something different to the prior instalments, Fight Back III is a great time.
Film:
The Fight Back to School Trilogy releases on September 11th from 88 Films on Deluxe Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. All three films come from High Definition masters and they look solid. From what I can tell, there’s 4K masters of these present on some streaming platforms, so I assume these are those same scans and they look great on Blu-ray. Each of the films contain two audio tracks, Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Lossless 2.0 Cantonese tracks. I watched the films with the 5.1 tracks and they sound stellar. The following extras are included:
- Audio Commentaries by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto on all three films.
- Truant Hero – An Interview with Director Gordon Chan
- ”Man’s Talk” Interviews Gordon Chan
- Original Theatrical Trailer for Fight Back to School.
- Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto
- Return of the Truant Hero – An Interview with Gordon Chan
- Second Chance to Graduate – An Interview with Scriptwriter Yuen Kai-ch
- Mr Mumble Meets the King of Comedy – An Interview with Comedian Michael Chow
- Theatrical Trailer for Fight Back to School II.
- Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto
- The Artist and the Businessman – An Interview with Actor Anthony Wong
- Philip Chan – A Life in Movies
- Chinese New Year Teaser Trailer for Fight Back to School III
- Reversible cover with new art by Sean Longmore for each film
- Newly Translated English Subtitles and SDH for each film
Fight Back to School extras
Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto – The first of three new audio commentaries in this box set, with frequent 88 Films collaborator, Frank Djeng as well as producer F.J. DeSanto. As expected, Djeng is informative and enthusiastic and never ceases to amaze with his knowledge. Some fun facts include how Fight Back to School was the highest grossing film in Hong Kong in 1991, as well as how the scene where Chow cleans his apartment was completely improvised by the actors. A great audio commentary.
Truant Hero: An Interview with Director Gordon Chan – A 31 minute interview with director Gordon Chan which touches on a variety of subjects, such as his beginning in the Hong Kong film industry, how Fight Back to School came to be and how Stephen Chow got on board. It’s a solid interview, and Chan talks about how he didn’t like the script for Fight Back initially, but has a lot of positive memories from the shoot overall. It’s worth checking out.
Man’s Talk interviews Gordon Chan – A 22 minute archival interview with Gordon Chan. It details a lot of his career, including his early films like The Yuppie Fantasia as well as Fight Back to School. There’s some overlap with the prior interview, but it’s interesting hearing Chan talk. The microphone quality here is something to note, as there’s quite a bit of audio clipping which I found a tad distracting, but it’s still worth checking out despite the technical issues.
An original theatrical trailer is also included.
Fight Back to School II extras
Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto – The second audio commentary of the boxset, once again with Djeng and DeSanto. Like with the first audio commentary, it’s an essential listen and the knowledge that Djeng is able to share is informative as ever. There’s some fun moments, such as when the pair point out that a lot of the actors don’t look like students. It’s another commentary worth listening to.
Return of the Truant Hero: An Interview with Gordon Chan – A 22 minute interview with director Gordon Chow. Topics discussed this time around include the quick turnaround from the first film, the love interest being changed for the second film, how long it took to shoot the film and how the sequel was more action focused than the first. It’s another interview worth checking out.
Second Chance to Graduate: An Interview with Scriptwriter Yuen Kai-ch – A 16 minute interview with the screenwriter Yuen Kai-ch. He touches on how director Gordon Chan and himself worked together at Shaw Brothers and that’s how their working relationship began, as well as how Stephen Chow helped with the screenplay. A good interview!
Mr Mumble Meets the King of Comedy: An Interview with Comedian Michael Chow – A 25 minute interview with actor Michael Chow. Some of the questions are similar to prior interviews, such as asking Chow how he entered the Hong Kong industry, but Chow is a delight to hear from. Chow discusses his early work in TV commercials, how he met director Gordon Chan and how he was cast in Fight Back II, as well as his experiences with Stephen Chow. Another great interview that’s worth checking out.
A theatrical trailer is included here too.
Fight Back to School 3 extras
Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Film Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto – Without repeating myself too much, this third and final audio commentary is another highlight of the set. The usual knowledge and fun anecdotes are all present here and if you enjoyed listening to the first two, you’ll like this one too!
The Artist and the Businessman: An Interview with Actor Anthony Wong – This 8 minute interview with Anthony Wong is an absolute delight. He talks about his experiences starting out as an actor, as well as his opinion on the director Wong Jing, who Anthony calls “disgusting” which I found hilarious. He calls Stephen Chow interesting too. He touches on the wacky design of his character in Fight Back to School III too which is great. Wong’s interview might only be 8 minutes long, but it’s the best extra on the disc by far.
Philip Chan: A Life in Movies – A new 32 minute interview with actor Philip Chan. It’s extensive, and he discusses his childhood, the films that interested him at a young age like westerns, as well as his passion for English Literature. It’s an incredibly engaging interview and learning that Chan was a police officer before working in film was interesting, given how he’d play police officers in future films. Another top-notch interview here.
A Chinese New Year Teaser Trailer is also included.
88 Films have put together a brilliant package with their deluxe collector’s edition for the Fight Back to School trilogy. While I wasn’t in love with every film here and the trilogy only became better with each instalment for me, it’s another great release from the team over at 88. Great video, great audio, great extras. A must-buy for fans of action, comedies and Hong Kong cinema.
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