Film Review: Fight Back to School
- Very Average Joe
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
English Title: Fight Back to School
Chinese Title: 逃學威龍 [lit. truancy hero]
Director(s): Gordon Chan
Screenwriter(s): Barry Wong & Gordon Chan
Studio: Win’s Movie Production & I/E Co., Samico Films Production
Released: 1991
Runtime: 1h 40m
Starring: Stephen Chow, Cheung Man, Ng Man-tat, Gabriel Wong, Roy Cheung, Barry Wong
Fight Back to School is a Hong Kong comedy released in July 1991 and is one of the highest domestic-grossing films. Anyone into HK-cinema has seen it but it is worth reviewing given that this modern classic is turning 35 years old.
Chow Sing-sing (Stephen Chow) is a capable police officer but is not a team player or leader. As such, he is about to be kicked out of the Special Duties Unit (SDU) selection program when he is given a second chance.
Wong Sir (Barry Wong) suspects his old revolver was stolen by a student during a recent school trip to the police station. Not wanting to draw attention to himself and given Sing-sing’s youthful appearance, he quietly sends Sing-sing to go undercover as a student at Edinburgh College, a prestigious boys’ school.
Sing-sing hated school and this is one of the reasons why he became a copper as soon as he graduated, so there is a degree of “fish out of the water” trope. He is so bad that he is threatened with expulsion barely three days in. The plot follows Sing-sing as he tries to survive school and carry out his assignment.
The premise and plot are typical of an action-comedy. The hero is initially reluctant but he is forced into the situation with something important to lose and/or to gain. The problem then turns out to be bigger than initially thought and the hero has to face that along with a love interest in the mix.
Consistent with the genre, the hero is not entirely alone. Groundskeeper Uncle Tat (Ng Man-tat) turns out to be a fellow undercover cop. He is in some respects a foil character in the sense that he is not highly competent. Thankfully, he is not a stereotypical bumbling idiot but rather an older, career low-ranking cop. He has experience, some connections and heart, which is an obvious contrast to Sing-sing who is young, motivated, capable and somewhat a lone wolf of colder disposition.
Much of the comedy comes from these two men acting as father and son, initially not even realizing that their cover assumed such a relationship. As usual, the chemistry between these two is gold, especially when Tat has to act like he has Parkinson’s. As expected, there are small doses of slapstick-type humor like teachers throwing dusters at students, a reference to Hongkie school culture (although that practice was phasing out even at the time).
Of course, there is the love interest in the form of an attractive teacher, Miss Ho (Cheung Man). She is idealistic but not naïve and wishes to help struggling students such as Sing-sing. She offers to tutor him, which is convenient as there is no doubt regulations regarding that, but the plot demands it. Her character is also a stark contrast to the stereotypically harsh mentality of some Hongkie teachers.
Whilst Sing-sing is infatuated, he obviously cannot do much as a student. This is further complicated by the fact Miss Ho’s boyfriend is also a police officer, so that adds to the problem and conflict.
Soon enough, the link between the missing gun and local triads involved in arms trafficking is established, so one can see where the plot is heading.
The film consistently has Chow’s trademark “pointless” humor but not as much as in some of his other films. There is the rumor that the film was not initially written for Chow, which is plausible considering that it is more overtly plot-driven compared to some of his other works.
To put it differently, one could describe it as an action-comedy that has Chow and his humor in it rather than a Chow comedy film that just happens to use a contrived action-comedy premise to house his humor. As such, the film can be funnier but it is still funny, and comes across as more complete and balanced compared to some of his other works.
The film is shot and edited conventionally without fancy camerawork or heavy stylization, nor does it need anything like that. It avoids overusing the clumsy “one-shot, one-shot, two-shot” approach. Instead, it makes good use of wider two-shots so that the viewer gets to see real interaction and chemistry between the performers. Either way, the film editing is seamless.
Overall, despite being a predictable “standard” action-comedy, it is a funny and entertaining film with good performances and pacing. There are some plot conveniences common to the genre, such as adversarial characters switching sides too quickly and/or without sufficient reason. However, it does, thankfully, avoid Sing-sing actively going around making friends. This happens in a roundabout way which is part of the comedy.
No doubt Stephen Chow’s marketing power contributed to its commercial success, but he and Ng Man-tat are genuinely a great fit for the premise and story. Although not the first film to have an adult going undercover at school, it is one of the earlier works with that premise so it had a sense of freshness at the time.
The series 21 Jump Street (1987) has cops going undercover as students but that show is more serious, whilst Kindergarten Cop (1990) is an action-comedy but has the hero posing as a teacher. So, the writers of Fight Back to School were able to make the work their own. For all these reasons, one can see why this was popular at the time—spawning two sequels—and continues to be considered a classic.
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