Hap Hak Hung |
Artist Name | Character Name |
Tony Leung | Sek Chung Yuk & Sek Fa Tin |
Sheren Tang | Ding Dong |
Tit San Ho | |
Dong Yee | |
Thi Giem | |
Bak Sau Man |
Summary by Nath!
'Hap Hak Hang' is
another Jin Yong's novel adaptation made in the 80's. However, I
know this adaptation wasn't faithful to the novel, since one of
the main character was a rapist and his lover, a murderer, I
think. Maybe because TVB didn't want to ruin the image of the
main leader or because the rapist character wasn't appropriated
to be portray on the t.v. From a rapist, the character became
funny and cunning.
I am presently reading the novel, but still can't say how closed
the adaptation is when love relationship comes.
Because this series is about twins, you know that Tin and Yuk
will be mixed up and there will be many misunderstands. As for
the personalities of the twins, it is very typical : Yuk is
cunning, smart, fast thinker and funny ; Tin is more sentimental,
naive, innocent. You could say one is night and the other, day.
As you can guess, the twins have been separated at birth, also a
typical trait. Their parents were known as 'Black and White
Swords' in the mo lam world. Once, they have killed the godson of
'Ghost', an evil character... On the twins one month birthday, 'Ghost'
came to avenge his godson. The parents could only save Yuk and
thought that Tin was killed because of a sword through his heart
; however, Tin's heart isn't at the same position as normal
person and that saved him. Because they were afraid of 'Ghost', 'Black
and White Swords' lived a discreet life and didn't teach any kung
fu to Yuk. His father treated him severally while his mother
spoiled him. During all those years, Tin was raised by a hunter.
In one incident, involving Yuk's encounter with Ding Dan, his
parents' identity is revealed. To protect Yuk, he was sent to 'Snow
Sect' to learn kung fu. However, Yuk accidentally made the leader's
granddaughter, Sau, fall from the cliff. Everyone thought she
died and of course, 'Snow Sect' fellows wanted to kill Yuk to
avenge her.
On the other side, baby Tin was saved and raised in the forest by
a hunter. Later, he dies and Tin was cheated by the leader of 'Heaven
Union'. They lied about his origins and forced him to become the
leader of 'Heaven union', soon after, the real leader was killed..
One day, Ding Dan appeared and mistaken him to be Yuk. Tin falls
in love with her.
Soon, Yuk and Tin switched place. Tin was kidnapped by a very
high skilled man who had a strange personality and Yuk became the
leader of 'Heaven Union'. In 'Heaven Union', Yuk get closed to
Tin's maid, Siu Giem. However, when he learned that Boi, the high
skilled doctor of the 'Heaven Union' has planned Tin to become
the leader of 'Heaven union' because they wanted him to die
instead of the leader, Yuk started to act wild in the hope that
Boi will kick him out... and he thinks of the idea of running
away.
Actually, every 18 years, from 'Hap Hak Island', two men will
come and invite the leaders and well-known characters from the mo
lam world to follow them to the island. The invitations have been
sent 2 times, and the third time is to be very soon... But what
made them afraid, is that those who left never came back, so
people are suspicious and assumed that they are death. Only, if
you refuse the invitation, you will get kill immediately, you and
your sect.
So Boi, the high skilled doctor of the 'Heaven Union' has planned
Tin to become the leader of 'Heaven union', so when the two men
from 'Hap Hak Island' come, they will invite Tin and he will
disappear. Yuk tries to run away, succeeds and refugees himself
in the 'Poison Sect' of San ho, a woman that he has met. She is
in love with him. In the 'Poison Sect', yuk encounters the most
well-known rapist, Mo Yung Bak, who turns out to be a very
sympathetic guy and will become a close friend. At the same time,
he re-encounters a girl named Dong yee, whom he fell in love with
when he was still in the 'Snow Sect'.
Dong Yee's family was also well-known in the mo lam world ;
however, while she was away with her grandma, mother and other
women of the family, 'Ghost' came and killed all the remaining
members at home. When, they came back, they found all death
bodies... Dong yee's mother committed suicide next to her husband,
while the grandmother swore vengeance. However, they aren't
enough skilled to confront 'Ghost' yet, so have to hide
themselves in a valley for more than 10 years. Now, capable of
defeating 'Ghost', they exited the valley and kidnap Mo Yung Bak,
a good friend of 'Ghost', to threaten him. However, they failed
because of Yuk. Later, Dong yee and her family are separated, so
she follows Yuk. Yuk loves her very much and this caused San Ho
to become jealous. Because of this misunderstanding, San Ho makes
Yuk drinks a poison that even herself can't cure.
Misunderstandings after misunderstandings, finally Yuk has the
pleasure to live with San Ho, Dong Yee, Ding Dan and Siu Giem. At
first, they argued, but for him, because they all loved Yuk
sincerely, they agreed to be good friends.
Dong yee's grandmother reappears and forces Dong yee to follow
her. Yuk immediately ran after them, but in the wrong way. He
then encounters two weird guys, one who always smiles the other,
never. Yuk decided to travel with them, until when he learns that
they both have great kung fu. Meanwhile, the two guys have some
special wine that they can only drink a little per year, Yuk
drinks it all and they are astonished that he isn't dead yet.
Actually, the wine has cured Yuk's poison and help him to
practice 'Poison Palm'. Yuk is afraid to get killed by those two
man, so proposed to become sworn brothers. The two guys are Sam
and Tu (it's very funny because the guy who always smile is
played by Bobby Au Yeung, and it's funny how thin he was and all
J) Just after, he finds and saves Dong Yee's family with his new
'Poison Palm'. The grandmother dies and asked him to take care of
the sect. Because he had became the leader, Dong yee tries to put
a distance between them. She will try even more to break their
relationship when later, she learns that 'Ghost' in reality is
her father, since she feels bad b/c she believes her father has
killed Tin, Yuk's twin brother. 'Ghost' and Dong Yee's mother
were lovers, once he left to seek revenge and disappear. Because
Dong yee's mother was pregnant, she had no choice to marry
someone... Later, 'Ghost' comes back and kill the entire family
because he is jealous... Feeling responsible, the mother commit
suicide. Dong Yee doesn't know what to do... finally, she decides
to kill her father, than commit suicide, but she fails. Her
father, understanding the reason of her act, commit suicide, but
just before, asked Yuk to take care of 'Ghost Sect'.
Finally, Dong Yee tries to put a term to their relationship and
ends up lost in a valley. In the valley, she meets a man, Yat,
and accept to marry him, believing by doing so, she will forget
Yuk. At the same time, Yuk sworn brother asked him to bring a box
to Shaolin : the box contains a precious jewelry that the
previous Shaolin leader brought with him to the 'Hap Hak Island'.
They all get suspicious and believes Yuk is from the island.. so
everyone wants to capture him... Eventually, he ends up being
lock up in 'Heaven Union'. He is rescued by his girlfriends and
also Yat. Then, Yuk assist to Dong yee's wedding with Yat, but
the ceremony was never completed. Next day, Dong yee finds out
that Yat is in reality a rapist, so run away with Yuk. All their
misunderstandings are cleared.
Dr. Boi has organized Yuk's trial, but he has ran away. To re-capture
Yuk, Boi's only solution is to capture Dong Yee, San Ho and Siu
Giem, hoping that Yuk will show up to rescue his lovers. In the
meantime, Tin has lived with the 'weird man' and learn great kung
fu. Usually, Tin should have die, because his internal wasn't
enough powerful to learn that great kung fu... But before
following the 'weird man', Tin has met an old man who was pursued
and murdered. B/c Tin tried to rescue the man, he thanked Tin by
giving him some little wood statuettes which is in reality the
greatest kung fu of Shaolin. Tin and the 'weird man' start to get
along well. During all that time, Tin thinks of Ding Dan and
finally, one day, his kung fu is powerful enough and permit him
to return to mo lam world. He then meets Yuk's parents who
believe Tin is Yuk. They soon hear about the trial, so decide to
go see. On their way, the meet an old woman and Sau, Yuk's si mui
who fell down the cliff. The old woman is her grandmother. One
day, Sau's grandparents got in an argument and her grandpa
slapped her grandma. So angry, the grandma left the sect and fond
her own. She rescued Sau and thinks Tin is Yuk, so forces him to
follow her. When both finally realized that Tin isn't Yuk, he
becomes the grandma's student. Gradually, Sau falls in love with
Tin, but knows that in his heart, there's only Ding Dan.
At the meeting/trial, Yuk rescued his 3 lovers by using small
sects to help him and also tricks, etc. He also admit he isn't
from 'Hap Hak Island', but no one believes him. Finally, he
escaped by the help of his sworn brothers.
Everyone believes Yuk is from 'Hap Hak Island', so they start
giving him lot's of gifts : jewelry, money, kung fu scriptures,
etc. hoping that they won't receive the 'Hap Hak Island'
invitation. At the same time, a man claiming to come from 'Hap
Hak Island' has started to kill many persons from different sects.
The leaders are invited to go to the island, but turns out to be
a trap set by Yat and someone else. Their goal was to kill as
many leaders possible, so later on, they will become the Mo Lam
Leader easier. Yuk discovers the plans b/c his sworn brothers
help him, but the others doesn't know so believe Yuk is a dai hop
so ask him to become the leader of mo lam. Also, the man from 'Snow
Sect' asked Yuk to come back to the sect, so they could solve the
misunderstanding.
When they arrived to 'Snow Sect', everything has changed. Soon,
Yuk and his women were jailed up and poisoned. Yuk was jailed
next to the leader's cell. The old leader believe he has killed
his students, so jail himself to stop... but it was all lies from
his student (Yuk's si fu) who wanted to take over the sect. AT
the same time, Tin, his si fu and Sau also come to 'Snow Sect',
the grandma wants to challenge her husband. The traitor is killed
by a masked man.
Finally, the two twins meet... Soon, ' Black and White Swords'
arrived and they find out that Tin is their son. The twins
reunited. Also, at the same occasion, Yuk celebrates his wedding
with his four wives, but no guests show up : leaders have
received the REAL 'Hap Hak Island' invitations. Tin, who is the
leader of 'Heaven Union', the grandfather, Yuk and San Ho soon
received their invitations too. They all left. The day they leave,
Tin realized he loved Sau.
Turns out the owners, 2 guys, of the island, invites every 18
years, the leaders of mo lam to help them. They have this kung fu's
scriptures hidden in a poem, but no one can learn it, etc. As for
all the previous guests, they are still alive, it's just they don't
want to leave the island. So everyone studies the poem and tries
to understand... Turns out that Tin is the one who will learn the
entire kung fu, even though he doesn't know how to read. Turns
out the kung fu meaning wasn't hidden in the meaning of the poems,
but in the traits of the words. Tin manages to learn it all,
except the last sentence : 36 years ago, when the owners invited
the Shaolin leader, they cut down the last sentence and brought
it with them. During the journey back to the island, a storm
occurred and their boat sink. There was a little monk with them,
but they all die and lost the last sentence.
At the end, the owners of the island destroyed the poem and urged
the mo lam people to run away, their wish has been fulfilled, now
they are dying so at the same time, destroyed the island. When
everyone comes back to mo lam world, they discover that Dr. Boi
has taken over the mo lam world and have become the leader. Soon,
they found out that Dr. Boi was in reality the little monk of 36
years ago. He had learn his kung fu in the last sentence of the
poem and he managed to guess all the previous sentences. Tin is
no match for him, so his group all have to hide themselves.
To preserve Tin's life who is the only one who can save them,
many sacrifices : Sau's grandparents, some leaders and even his
parents. In a battle, Tin is seriously injured and to be saved,
someone has to transfer all his/her energy into Tin... but the
consequence is that this person will get paralyzed. Because Ding
Dan feels responsible, she is the one who sacrifices.
But even then, Tin is still no match against Boi. He remembers
what the two owners of the island said : if he wants Hap Hak kung
fu to attain its maximal capacity, Tin has to find a person who
is the opposite of him, but who understand him the most. The best
choice is Yuk. AT first, they have lots of difficulties, because
even if they are brothers, they don't understand each other due
to the little time they lived together. After their parents died,
Yuk changes drastically and focused on learning kung fu. With the
help of the previous Shaolin leader, they are soon able to fight
against Boi.
SPOILERS -->ENDING :
At the end, they challenge Boi and of course win. After their
victory, Tin and Sau celebrate their wedding. Yuk plays a trick
and dresses as the groom ; however, Sau recognizes him. After,
Yuk and all his wives, plus Mo Yung Bak, leave China for Nepal or
India, as for Tin, he stays with Sau and becomes the mo lam
leader.
MY OPINION : Seriously,
it is a very typical twins story. You can guess easily what is
going to happen. If you compare 'Hap Hak Hang' of Jin Yong with 'Twin
Heroes' of Gu Long, I'll pick 'Twin Heroes'. Also adding the fact
that both adaptations weren't faithful... but I still prefer 'Twin
Heroes'.
One bad thing is that the series focuses too much on Yuk and not
enough on Tin. You see Tin a really little part, maybe the 3 last
episodes. I think they should have tried to put Tin more,
developed more on him, since in the novels, he's the main
character. As for Yuk, well I have to say, it's way more
interesting to have a funny character instead of a rapist. If you
have to compare Yuk-Tin to other JY's characters and also, adding
Tony Leung acting skills, well Yuk would be a repetition of Wai
Siu Bo ; while Tin would be Cheung Mo Kei.
As for the acting, Tony Leung is again fabulous. Like I said, his
characters resemble a lot at what he had already portrayed, so I
think it was easy for him. When you look at the series, you
sometimes feel that it is two different actors who act, since he
did a marvelous job.
Seriously, for the actresses, I think TVB could have done better.
Among the 5 leading actresses, if you could call them like that,
only Sheren Teng is known. All the other are unknown face to me
and their acting are only acceptable. Nothing exceptional, the
average. Sheren Teng is okay, not more.
So in conclusion, this serie is only average.
Nath scale : * ½ (on 5)
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Updated 9/24/2000