Love, Guns and Glass is a 1995 Hong Kong Heroic Bloodshed-romance action film (yes, you read that right!) starring Simon Yam and Cecelia Yip.
Brother Yung Siu-Wing (Simon Yam) is a benevolent gangster who leads his own triad, but a set-up from his jealous subordinate had him framed for drug possession, where Siu ends up imprisoned for ten years, leaving behind his wife and daughter. A decade later, now a free man, Brother Siu discovers that his wife doesn't love him anymore, his daughter is an ungrateful brat who disowns him, and he's no longer the powerful triad boss from ten years ago. But there is still hope when Brother Siu ends up falling in love with businesswoman and accountant Yeuk Cheng (Cecelia Yip), who loves him back despite knowing his past criminal background. So everything would turn out well after all... except the subordinate who's responsible for framing Brother Siu and destroying his life still holds a grudge, and is determine to have Siu and Yeuk killed at all costs.
This film contains examples of:
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Brother Siu and Fai in the final shootout.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Yeuk on her wedding day
with Brother Siu after an attempt on her life, though she survives. - Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Subverted, when Brother Siu proposes to Yeuk using a wedding ring made of glass (hence the title). Yeuk agrees anyway despite knowing the ring is pretty much worthless, because she truly loves him no matter what.
- Fall Guy: Brother Siu ends up falling from grace when Blackie, his former number two, frames him for drug trafficking, at which point Siu volunteers himself to be arrested so that his followers can escape trial.
- False Soulmate: Brother Siu’s unfaithful wife, Jade, who promises to wait for him as he gets carted away to prison for ten long years, only to completely turn cold and emotionless towards him in his absence and forgetting him completely by the time he’s released.
- Genre Mashup: Heroic Bloodshed Romantic Drama. A Rare Sentence indeed.
- Gold Digger: Jade, despite having borne a daughter for Brother Siu, turns out to be like this the moment Siu ends up in prison, gambling away the vast amount of money he left her before leaving. By the time the money he left for her runs out, she no longer has any more feelings for him.
- Hate Sink: Jade, the moment she is exposed to be an unfaithful gold-digger and ungrateful wife, who did a terrible job raising Brother Siu’s daughter turning their child into a whiny brat, and flat-out admits she doesn’t love Siu anymore once the money he gives her runs out and she is leaving Siu for another man. Despite everything she has done, she received absolutely no comeuppance for her actions.
- How We Got Here: The movie starts with Brother Siu, carrying Yeuk who is covered in blood, and rushing into a hospital demanding for medical attention and pointing guns at doctors to save her. Cut to titles, and the movie flashes back to a decade ago depicting how Siu used to be a mob leader before ending up in jail for 10 years, and his wife leaving him during that period, and how he eventually found new love with Yeuk.
- I Have Your Wife: Rather literally. Barely a month after the wedding of Brother Siu and Yeuk, she ends up being kidnapped by Blackie, the former subordinate of Brother Siu who still holds an old grudge against Siu.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Fai dispose of Blackie’s number two, by shoving a bamboo pole through his midsection.
- Just Got Outof Jail: Brother Siu ends up in prison early in the movie, before a Time Skip a decade later depicting him trying to piece his life together once he’s a free man.
- Long Haired Prettyboy: Blackie, the Big Bad.
- Men of Sherwood: Brother Siu’s small band of loyalists, led by The Lancer Fai, whom are still dedicated to Siu after waiting for his release for ten years. They back him up in the final shootout, and fares quite well against Blackie’s thugs despite being outnumbered.
- Mook Lieutenant: Among Blackie’s legion of gangsters, there is a sole Caucasian henchman (played by Mark Houghton) who is a more competent fighter than the rest of the thugs, is frequently seen leading lesser mooks, and even kills Uncle Bill, Siu’s benefactor before getting shot by Brother Siu himself.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Yeuk appears to die in the end of the film, succumbing to her injuries as Brother Siu pleads with her to wake up. But then, her supposedly-motionless fingers starts moving, implying her to be Not Quite Dead. Cue credits.
- Recycled Premise: To the earlier Simon Yam Heroic Bloodshed film, Return Engagement, where both movies’ plot involves the main character, a former gang leader who ends up being imprisoned, attempts to reunite with his former love after being released, realizing an old subordinate of his has betrayed him, and teaming up with a Hyper-Competent Sidekick to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. The sheer Irony of the whole thing, however, is that Simon Yam stars in both movies, where in Return Engagement he plays the Big Bad, but in this one he plays The Hero.
- Removed from the Picture: The audience realize that Jade is no longer faithful to Brother Siu when she tears away his face from their family photo and burns it.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Ultimately, what drives Brother Siu to pick up his gun and start leading his former followers and killing enemies in shootouts, is to rescue Yeuk who had been abducted by Blackie and his minions.
- Rule of Pool: The final shootout takes place in Blackie’s mansion, complete with a swimming pool, which Blackie had filled with massive amounts of hydrochloric acid enough to burn the skin of anyone who falls into the pool, and is threatening to throw Yeuk in it. Ultimately, it’s Blackie himself who ends up in the pool after failing to kill Brother Siu.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The romance between Brother Siu and Yeuk.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Blackie’s eventual fate, falling into a swimming pool contaminated with hydrochloric acid, and then having an oil drum falling on him pinning him underwater. Then said oil drum explodes.
- Worst Wedding Ever: The wedding between Brother Siu and Yeuk occurs an hour into the film, but it goes horribly wrong when mobsters which are Siu’s old enemies crashes the banquet. Though they both survive and declare their undying love to each other regardless of what would happen, and have a second wedding afterwards in the film.
- White Shirt of Death: Subverted, when Brother Siu gets assaulted by his old enemies on his wedding day where he is wearing a smart white suit. Wishing to avoid a violent confrontation, Siu ends up getting brutally beaten up with plenty of his blood all over his suit, but he didn’t die.
- William Telling: Blackie, having his minions surrounding Brother Siu and Yeuk in a restaurant and refusing to let them leave (considering Siu have taken a vow of peace and to avoid bloodshed at this point), made a deal that Brother Siu and Yeuk can only be released if Siu shoots an apple off Yeuk’s head. Thankfully, Siu still retained his Improbable Aiming Skills from ten years ago.
- Would Hurt a Child: Subverted, one scene had Brother Siu threatening a rival mob boss by throwing the boss’ son off a yacht, but when the boss agrees to cave in to Brother Siu’s demands, Siu immediately leaps into the water and saves the child.
