Black and White: The Dawn of Assault (痞子英雄首部曲：全面開戰)

Country  Taiwan
Year  2012
Genre  Action / Comedy
Format Color / Scope / DCP
Runtime  142 min
Status  Completed
Release Date  Jan. 13, 2012 (Taiwan)
Writer & Director  Tsai Yueh-hsun
Casts  Mark Chao, Bo Huang, Angelababy(Ying Yang), Terri Kwan, Ken Lin, Alex Tu, Dean Fujioka, Leon Dai, Soler: Julio, Dino

.

.
.

Adapted from the highly popular and award winning TV series  “Black & White” 

.

Synopsis

A fearless junior policeman who can only see right and wrong is willing to do anything to uncover the truth. Meanwhile a gangster, who fears death above anything else is struggling to stay out of serious trouble, his risky decisions have left his life at threat. Two people with completely different perspectives on life come together as partners in a way no one could ever imagine. Somehow, the fate of the world ends up in their hands, they have 36 hours to resolve a crisis which could destroy Harbor City…

 

On a road, a car accident breaks the silence. Ying-xiongWu, a policeman from the homicide squad of the southern substation, runs at a high speed and catches a drug dealer. But he almost smashes everything along the way.At the other end of the city,the West Post of the Triune Gang reigns over the entire underworld. A large amount of money has just been collected and stacked at the table. The West Post Chief is going abroad for some business. A gangster named Da-fu Xu sees the Chief off with a smile, but he wants the money. He tries to make a deal secretly with someone on the high sea, three million dollars in exchange of a suitcase full of diamonds. In a dark container terminals, during this trade, Da-fu Xu was being attacked by a heavily armed force. In this chaos, Ying-xiongWu met Da-fu Xu for their first time.

Thus a disaster commence…

Attacks as hard as life threats seemed never stop from the moment they first met. The most impossible partnership became possible. Ying-xiongWu needed Da-fu Xu for his investigation while Da-fu Xu required Ying-xiongWu for keeping his own life. After the two finally escaped from every of attacks did they realizethat they might have to see each other for every of seconds until the end of this world, regardless how much they hated each other. The diamonds are the answer for all. Within 36 hours, the city might be destroyed, but their ultimate enemy is one step before them as usual……

No matter how hard, in the darkest moment, you can still believe in this world.

”Black and White:The Dawn of Assault” is a funny and humorous action comedy, featured with lively and relaxing rhythm of a metropolis story. This stylish movie has been relished with oriental angles and sentiment, in an attempt to reward the audience not only entertainment but also something on their mind, particularly how friendship, courage and love can positively transform of the darkness of your life.

With creativities, delicacy and exotic aesthetic of the director, Yueh-hsun Tsai, the most extraordinary two partners turned the impossibilities into real, relying on the conscience inside the bottom of their heart that they even had not been aware of it. The surprisingly best partners will show you how they rescued the Harbor City.

The Director’s Statement

Our original inspiration was to create a new style of highly-entertaining modern action movie that features of Asian culture. We started from two elements as a modern and entertaining story, with two leading roles in contradiction, which may look standard, however, such genre is always successful.

The whole story is simply based on two partners who were totally in contradiction, and who had no choices but being partners just because they both got their worst day of their life. Their mission was also simple: make sure the disasters on their hands can be lead to a happy ending.

Stunt：We have achieved a lot of stunt and special effects that no one ever tried before among the movie industry of Chinese-language films, including chasing game involving with helicopters and vehicles. Of course, we did not forget passenger jet swinging in all positions on the air as we expected. Can you imagine how one of our leading role, Mark Chao, achieved various extreme movements while the jet flying in high speed ? Also, I definitely have to mention that scene of the jet crushing into the building. You may not believe, but we did shoot so many clips high from the air, and then edited them altogether to generate such stunt of jet crushing into buildings. We studied it again and again, and scheduled so many times of shooting project once again. Finally, we can then satisfy the ultimate outcome. And this is just for one scene. Nonetheless, our team members all have pleased for achieving such challenges.

Action：Basically, ”Black and White: The Dawn of Assault” majorly focuses on action scenes. I have talked to Cyril Raffaelli, our French action director, for my own expectation. My concept is to create the actions that involve physical movements by the actors, instead of stunt men. The ideal one in my mind is a kind of combat that makes the audience feel it’s painful while some tricks and art are required to upgrade it with certain level of aesthetic.

“Black & White”, meaning: In fact, I don’t think that this title refers directly to the colors, but its significance can be a wider concept that extend into such as “yes or no”, “ right and wrong”, and “ good or bad”. Something between those can be just comparison, instead of absolute. “Where the darkest is, where the brightness is originated.” This can be viewed as the essence of my creativities for the entire of this movie. The storyline is also developed through this essence from beginning to the end. When you thought that you had dug out the truth, you might be still deeply in confusion that you just have not been aware of it. The gangster may not be an absolute bad guy.