Snowden - Joseph Gordon-Levitt (2016) - Lung Fu Shan, Hong Kong

Here's another one that snuck under the radar. You'd be surprised how easy it is to miss filming in this place unless you are in with the right crowd. Unfortunately I'm not so when this film was being made here back in 2015, I was none the wiser. That said, it looks as though the actual HK-based locations were narrow in scope, especially given the fact that Snowden kept his movements close to his chest for some time for fear of endangering those who sheltered him. As it turns out,the Govt has totally shafted those involved by turning down many of their asylum applications, so it looks as though his fears were justified.

For those who have been living under a rock for the past 5 years, Snowden was the NSA whistleblower who stole a bunch of top secret data and leaked them to the Guardian newspaper in an effort to shine a light on the overreach that was being utilised by the various US spy agencies i.e. spying on everyone, not just terrorists. He did a runner from Hawaii to Hong Kong and then managed to board a flight onward to Russia. The whole event caused quite a stir here when the local Govt let him 'escape' on the basis of a very pedantic clerical oversight which really pissed off the Americans. This film is a dramatisation of those events and the story that led to Snowden finally becoming disillusioned by his work and that of his Govt.

The film starts in Hong Kong and then deals mainly with flashbacks of his life leading up to that point. What better way to start a film than with an establishing shot of Hong Kong filmed with an aerial camera over Lung Fu Shan.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Lung Fu Shan, Hong Kong

The opening scenes of this Van Damme classic (arguably the film that really launched his career proper) start in the usual foreign-film-in-exotic-location manner with a sweeping helicopter view of the island and harbour. There's lots to see as we swoop past Lung Fu Shan from Pinewood Battery on the aforementioned hilltop, to the Shun Tak Centre with its red stripes in the middle distance and the west flank of Victoria peak on the right.

Lung Fu Shan is the smaller hilltop in the lower middle of the screen grabs and the excavated bit on the top is what remains of Pinewood Battery. It's well worth a visit if you haven't been there already and is one of many similar ex-artillery emplacements that still survive in the territory.

In the shots above we are looking NW across to Kowloon and of course in the mid-80's when the film was made, there was no sign of the west Kowloon reclamation that now dominates that part of the harbour. What does surprise me though from this view is there seems to be a fair amount of haze limiting the view - not something I would have expected in the 1980's. It seems as though HK's pollution problem goes much further back than I realised!

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Opening sequence, Various locations

The opening title sequence gives us a different view point though and takes us from west to east. First off we get to see the backside of High West (Lung Fu Shan) as the camera sweeps across and reveals Mount Davis and Kennedy town. Look carefully and you may be able to see the twin chimney stacks of what I believe was the Kennedy Town Abattoir, as well as Green Island and just to the distant hazy left is Kau Yi Chau (aka Han's Island from the B&W composite photo in Enter the Dragon).

Next we move over a little more to the east to just behind HK University and can see various buildings that are still around - not surprising seeing as this film is only a little over 20 years old. For example in the shot below the three buildings at the front bottom are on Po Shan Road and are called Piccadilly Mansion, Hamilton Court and (one block of) Po Shan Mansions, respectively. The tall building top left is Hong Kong Plaza and the three identical blocks on the right are the three blocks of a development called Connaught Garden.

Next as we move along we now look over the harbour. I like this shot because I can actually see where I live (although it's a wee bit blurry) in the far distance. But you can make out the transceiver on top of Beacon Hill (that tiny white splodge on the hill in the back centre and if you know your HK geography you should be able to guess that the next major bump in the ridgeline (to the right) is actually that of Lion Rock.

The camera keeps speeding east (to the right) and this time on the far right we can just make out the Ferry Point Estate a.k.a Man Buildings - they've been around since the early sixties and are fairly recognisable, however, this is a view that can no longer be found because the West Kowloon reclamation has blocked it all off and instead these days you will just be able to see the skyscraper development which has the new ICC as its centrepiece.

I was expecting the skyline to be a bit clearer on this DVD - but it seems as though even back in 1991 (well, actually I think the filming took place in 1990) there was a fair amount of haze over Kowloon. Not as much as today but more than I expected...