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Fantasia 2025: Stuntman Review
Image Credit: Fantasia IFF
Loading...Directed by: Albert Leung & Herbert Leung
Written by: Anastasia Tsang & Oliver Yip
Starring:
Stephen Tung Wai – Sam Lee
Terrance Lau – Lee Sai-long
Cecilia Choi – Cherry
Philip Ng – Leung Chi-wai
Max Cheung – Lee Sai Kit
To Yin-gor – Cho Tin-hang
Lam Yiu-sing – Young Sam Lee
Stephanie Che – Kuen
Running Time: 114 minutes
Not Rated
There is a long and proud history of Hong Kong action films – and, of course, that means there’s a long and proud of Hong Kong action stuntmen. Stunt performers have always been an overlooked part of the film industry, risk their bodies to provide the movie magic needed to give us thrilling action sequences and bone-crunching battles.
Thankfully, stunt work is coming into its own in terms of long-overdue recognition as the film industry catches up on what hardcore action audiences have known for decades. It’s perhaps appropriate then that Stuntman comes around at this time. Albert & Herbert Leung’s ode to stunt performers, which screened at Fantasia Fest 2025, takes a page out of comeback drama playbook for a drama that delves into the heart of what it takes and the sacrifices – both physical and personal – that stunt performers make for their art.
Stuntman centers its lens on Sam Lee (Stephen Tung Wai), a former stunt coordinator who was considered the best in the business and a terror behind the scenes. As good as his films were, he was known for risking his crew to get the perfect scene. Years after a stunt on one of his films went awry, he is washed up and essentially out of the business. His relationship with his daughter Cherry (Cecilia Choi) is fraught as she prepares to get married and he only reluctantly attends a funeral for a former colleague, where he’s spoken about in whispers and largely ignored.
A chance for redemption comes about when an old friend brings Sam in for a new film that he’s directing, which will be a throwback to the action films that Sam used to do. The financiers are skeptical and the film’s star Leung Chi-wai (Philip Ng) has a difficult relationship with Sam, having been a stunt performer on the film that went bad.
Production gets started and Sam recruits young stuntman Lee Sai-long (Terrance Lau) to be his assistant. At the same time, Cherry is preparing for her wedding. Sam, trying to split his attention between reconnecting with his daughter and recapturing his glory, finds his old-school style clashing with the more safety-conscious approach of Chi-wai. The explosive mix threatens to ruin the production and destroy Sam’s hopes of finding something of the life he used to have.
Stuntman is a film serving multiple themes. On one hand, it is paying homage to classic action films of the Hong Kong era like Police Story, evident in the opening scene that features an impressive mall-set action scene and a street shootout scene that serves as a pivot for the story. The sequences, spark both in front of and “behind” the camera, showing the work that goes into making these sequences go off and serving as standout sequences in their own right.
On the other hand, it is a clear-eyed look at the pitfalls of the industry. Sam is a deeply flawed character who is trying to do right but often can’t get out of his own way, inflicting damage both physical emotional scares on everyone around him due to his negligence and sometimes his ego.
The parallels to Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler are evident throughout, though the script from Anastasia Tsang & Oliver Yip strikes a different tone. Sam’s similarities to Randy the Ram are contrasted with the inclusion of his protégé, who helps provide a bridge for the tension between the methods favored by Sam and Leung Chi-wai.
It all works remarkably well as both a character study and a tribute to stuntmen. Wai delivers a soulful performance as the regretful Sam, who wants to change his ways but is stuck in his mistakes, and Lau adds energy while Ng’s Chi-wai is more nuanced than we might initially think.
Stuntman doesn’t quite come off without a hitch; things get a bit overly familiar toward the end of the second act when things must inevitably come crashing down, and the pacing suffers at this point. The melodrama aspects become a bit predictable as well; it’s not hard to guess where this is going to ultimately go.
But predictability isn’t necessarily a bad thing; we don’t often mind when those action spectacles go down familiar roads if the ending lands. As anyone can tell you, it’s important that a stuntman stick his landing and in this case, it most certainly does.
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 16th through August 3rd.
