Ghost in the Shell - Kansu Street Alleyway - Now and Then

Unfortunately, when I arrived at this alleyway I didn't find Scarlett Johansson but instead some old guy who decided, just at that moment, to take a piss in the nearby gutter...he's obviously not a fan of my blog. I then had to wait around, like some weirdo voyeur, for him to finish his business before I could take the photo. He must have prostate problems because it took so long I thought I might just get arrested for loitering. The things I do in pursuit of this noble art form...

Anyway, this alleyway sits between Woosung Street and Temple Street and looks directly up at Temple Street and the rear of the Alhambra Building. Unfortunately, as you can see, by the time of my visit the rather striking lights of the mahjong parlour that made it into the film were in the process of being removed or renovated.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - King's Road, Quarry Bay

After taking care of business, Jang Dong-gun heads off and stops at some traffic lights to ponder the meaning of life. The traffic lights in question are located where Java Road joins onto King's Road between the Hong Kong Funeral Home and Kerry Centre in Quarry Bay. Then as he pulls out onto King's Road we get a brief glimpse to the east as the cars drives off. Actually, this later angle was also used in the opening scenes as one of the driving shots as he makes his way to his rendezvous.

The lower three images show the view along King's Road (looking east) but the first of those is actually from the beginning of the film. The latter two are from the end as he makes his way back to the airport.

Java Road with Towngas Building in the background

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Tai Po Road, Sham Shui Po

Another part of Jang Dong-gun's car journey takes him back over to Kowloon and we see a high level view of the car driving onto Un Chau Street from Tai Po Road. I'm not sure why this particular spot was chosen by the film makers over a million other possible locations but there you go. The camera most likely placed in one of the flats located in either the Hong Po building or The Merrylands next door.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

A few moments after driving along Hung Hom Road, the car pops out on the other side of the harbour and drives along Gloucester Road, past the now demolished Excelsior Hotel.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Hung Hom Road, Kowloon

As he makes his way to his rendezvous, Jang Dong-gun drives out of what appears to be some sort of tunnel. It turns out that this is the Hung Hom Road where it passes under the podium of a large residential development called Harbour Place. At last, a real location.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Hong Kong Cityscape

Recently, I've found myself having to post stuff just to make the point that a shot is supposed to be Hong Kong but actually isn't. It seems to be the way film-making is heading as more and more films use CGI to recreate a place rather than actually use the (now more expensive) option of actually visiting a place.

Anyway, this film is no different and although there are actually real HK locations making brief appearances, much of what you see is not HK but some similar stand-in or a faked shot. Case in point is this view of Hong Kong. The scene occurs as Jang Dong-gun's South Korean intelligence officer makes his way from the airport (not filmed at HKIA as far as I can tell) to his rendezvous with the US intelligence services (represented by the excellent Peter Stormare) in "Lan Kwai Fong".

First off I don't recognise this bridge at all so it is most likely one in Korea, and secondly even if it was a Hong Kong bridge there is no way it could have that particular view of HK Island in the distance.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - View over Hong Kong

V.I.P (Very Important Person) is a South Korean crime thriller that centres around the chase and capture of a young creepy looking serial killer (played by Lee Jong-suk) who is able to evade the consequences of his actions by the virtue of being the son of a high ranking North Korean official.

Although most of the action is based in South Korea, there are some "Hong Kong" scenes. This means that the beginning and end points of the film are set in Hong Kong but the actual proper on location footage is fairly limited, with most of the HK action actually being filmed in Korea with some scenery dressing to give the impression we are in Hong Kong.

Anyway, the film opens with a Korean Intelligence agent, played by Jang Dong-gun, catching a flight to Hong Kong. He takes a peak out of the window just before he lands and we get a brief glimpse of a familiar sight to anyone who has had the fortune to fly into Hong Kong on a clear night.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Nanking Street, Yau Ma Tei

To round of this film, there is a post-credits sequence when one of the characters if revealed to have survived the film's denouement. The sequence starts off with a blurry shot of Woosung Street as the character steps into frame and comes into focus. Squint a bit and you can just about make out the vague shape of a building in the background that stands on the NE corner of the junction of Woosung and Nanking Streets. Actually, we were at that junction just a few months ago with Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong.

The final shot of the film was taken along the aforementioned Nanking Street (turn right at the junction I just mentioned) and it's a view from just beyond the junction with Parkes Street looking back to the pedestrianised section of Nanking Street between Parkes and Woosung Streets.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Queensway, Central

Another establishing shot from this film and yet another quick scene filmed from one of the many walkways that criss-cross the roads around Central leading me to believe that this film, too, was most likely shot without official permits (well, can't blame them considering the low budget).

This shot was taken from the walkway that connects the Lippo Centre with the High Court building on the south side of Queensway.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Harcourt Road, Central

We had another post from Harcourt Road last week, this one is a night time shot taken a  little further to the west which means you can see the pedestrian bridge from which the earlier post's image was taken from. This one is most likely taken from the bridge that connects the Admiralty Centre with the new Central Government Offices.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Lung Wo Road, Central

Before heading into the office, the two HK-based characters do what all car driving Hong Kongers do and stop their car on a double yellow line to get out. The interesting fact about this location here is that it was once where Queen's Pier stood at the waterfront and now is a main road called Lung Wo Road.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Garden Road Flyover, Central

We were here just a few months ago, except that time we were following a couple of an epic walk from SoHo to Lan Kwai Fong via Katmandu (or at least that's what it felt like). This time it's just a quick scene as a car drives down Garden Road down towards Queensway.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Old Peak Road, The Peak

The two Hong Kong based characters are out for a run and they are filmed at the top of Old Peak Road not too far from the Barker Road Tram Stop. This bend in the road is less than 200 metres down the road from there. The triangular roofed building the guy is looking at is the Tavistock 2 and Aigburth towers on Tregunter Path.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Austin Road, Kowloon

Another incidental shot used to give some HK ambience to the following scenes. This one is a quick shot along the western side of Austin Road looking towards Nathan Road. The road on the left is Parkes Street with the Hong Kong School of Commerce just visible. In the distance you can see the art deco structure of the old shophouse that sits at 190 Nathan Road with its Austin Road-side balconies (I have pictures of it here and here).

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Harcourt Road, Central

One of several shots of general areas around Hong Kong that are supposed to establish that events have no moved back to the SAR. This is a view from the pedestrian bridge that crosses Harcourt Road on the way to the Central Govt office and CITIC building.

The smaller pale yellow building behind the trees on the right is the front of Caine House within the Police HQ compound on Arsenal Street. It's hard to believe that building essentially marks the old waterfront. Everything in front (i.e. to the left) is reclamation from the early 1970s and onwards.

Harcourt Road turns into Gloucester Road at Caine House. 

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Intercontinental Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Despite being a budget independent production, the producers obviously managed to budget in a conference room at the Intercontinental Hotel for the Hong Kong Office scenes. I still haven't quite located where the establishing shot for this was (it's a close angle view  up of the front of a building that really could be anywhere) but it looks as though the interiors were filmed at this hotel. The view was obviously a help in locating the rough area but the giveaway is the bit outside the window that forms a bit of a sun shade. I think only the Intercontinental has this design.

Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Blood, Sand and Gold is an apparently low-budget independent effort by a film maker called Gaelan Connell. The film stars Aaron Costa Ganis as a recently-released-from-prison archaeologist who is hired by a salvage/exploration company to track down a cache of gold stolen by the bad guys.

In true budget style, much of the footage for the overseas locations is used for establishing shots and I believe much of the rest of it was filmed in Mexico but there are a few Hong Kong shots that involve the actors on locale and so it's worth including them here. This appears to be another film whose release date was significantly later than the shooting date, so even though it has a 2017 release date I understand much of the principal photography was done 2 or 3 years earlier.

The film's Hong Kong story opens with a nice, but cloudy (so probably filmed in the springtime), view of the harbour from Kowloon-side.

Geostorm - Gerard Butler (2017) - Nga Tsin Wai Road, Kowloon City

If the sudden jump from Mongkok to Sham Shui Po was too much of a leap of faith for you then this one will send you loopy because the immediate scene following the Wong Chuk Street is in fact all the way over in Kowloon City along the main road there, Nga Tsin Wai Road. Wong Chuk Street suddenly turns into Lion Rock Road as Wu skids around another corner in his attempts to outrun the apocalypse. The first two screen caps show the location from the junction with Lion Rock Road. The lower two screencaps is the view from the next junction with Hau Wong Road. You can make out the EFCC Grace Church building on the left of the screen and the hoardings of the building site that became "Billionaire Luxe" (last pic on left). That rather naffly named condominium building (trust me, by HK standards it's only mildy naff) was completed in 2016 so the fact that it is a building site here appears to fit with the principal photography timeline of 2014/15.

There are some further snippets along the same road but the next block over as we come to the end of the real Hong Kong locations. These next few bits were filmed between Lung Kong Road and South Wall Road.

Geostorm - Gerard Butler (2017) - Wong Chuk Street, Sham Shui Po

After zipping along Tai Nan Street, Wu (his character name in this film is the very uninspired "Cheng Long"), makes a left onto Wong Chuk Street in his attempt to escape from the exploding roadway.

I'm surprised Robert Chow from the so-called "Silent Majority", or someone equally soft-minded, here in Hong Kong hasn't hijacked this footage and edited it to make it look like the result of Hong Kong protesters...

Geostorm - Gerard Butler (2017) - Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po

Taking a leaf from Michael Bay's playbook the action quickly moves to Tai Nan Street in Sham Shui Po. I say Michael Bay because he filmed at exactly the same location just a few months before when he was shooting Transformers: Age of Extinction. If you follow that link you can see exactly the same shop signs in the top image (the corner we are driving around is Shek Kip Mei Street) as can be seen in Geostorm below.

The movie has been edited to make you think this is close to the last location, but actually its more than a kilometre away. This place blows up too.