Here’s a gonzo, pull-out all the stops then TEAR OUT those stops martial arts “Gangs of New York” set in Hong Kong before the People’s Republicans moved in and ended to gang wars and spoiled all that cinematic fun.

Sure they did.

“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” is epic in every sense that matters, with gloriously crowded and claustrophic slum sets by Kwok-Keung Mak — art design by Sai-Hung Chow — with climb-the-walls, tumble down floor after floor fight choroegraphy by Kenji Tanigaki and performances by Raymond Lam, Louis Koo, Chun-Him Lau, Philip Ng, Tony Tsz-Tung Wu, German Cheung and martial arts legend Sammo Hung that are the quintessence of Hong Kong martial arts cool.

It’s historic, set in Kowloon’s long gone but infamous high rise “walled city” slum, and between the over-the-top action, deadpan underreactions and silly supernaturalism, it is laugh-out-loud funny

The plot? Well, just go with it.

Based on a comic book, it’s the sequel to “Twilight of the Warriors: Dragon Throne,” which doesn’t appear to have been released in the West.

This film follows the gang machinations by the Triads as they recognize that the British are about to hand over Hong Kong to mainland China. Doom isn’t exactly in the late ’80s air, but scores are being settled and turf taken over by the survivors of “Dragon Throne,” some of whom figure they’ll get sweetheart real-estate deals when their new government buys them out to destroy the vast Walled City.

That’s the world the loner Chan Lok Kwan (Raymond Lam of “The Sorcerer and the White Snake”) wanders into, broke and in need of a Hong Kong ID card to stay. That’s how he runs afoul of Mr. Big (Hung, of “Ip Man” movies and the ’90s US TV series “Martial Law”). When Big’s minions — chiefly the big-haired giggler King (Philip Ng) — cheat Lok, Lok grabs one of the sacks of drug money those minions have collected, and we’re off.

Fleeing and fighting off certain death and trying to sell what turns out to be a bag of drugs creates “territory” issues that add to Lok’s ass-kickings. But the always-smoking Cyclone (martial arts cinema veteran Koo) who killed an infamously deadly gang leader named “Jim” in the first film, takes pity on the guy his mob lieutenant Shin (Chun-Him Lau) nicknamed “Egghead” because of his haircut.

Cyclone covers Egghead Lok’s theft. He finds a restaurant for the homeless loner to work in. Of course, this is AFTER he’s busted Lok’s shoulder in the barber shop that he runs as a legitimate business. And, you know, AFTER he’s tied him up with a new debt.

“Walled In” is about the rippling effect Lok has on this world, his secret connection to its past and the ticking clock of history winding down around them as one and all see The End coming.

It’s a boy’s world of blood and abuse and drugs and working poverty, all of it hemmed in by the gloriously-recreated Kowloon Walled City.

Half-ruined apartments, food stalls, stolen-goods vendor shops and the like close in around us as director Soi Cheang (“Limbo”) leads us into Kwok-Keung Mak’s “Gangs of Hong Kong” sets. Floors are half-gutted, and the space between makeshift buildings is a tangle of busted pipes, planks, cables and wires for characters to tumble through as they plummet to the ground — tossed out of this shop, kicked through the walls of that stall.

The only female character to register is the restaurant child worker they call “Fishball Girl” (little Wan Ching Wong). She’s here to weep over the beatings psychotic Johns deliver to hapless hookers.

“Why doesn’t anyone care,” Lok wonders( in Cantonese and Mandarin with subtitles)?

“The Walled City’s stench will drive anway any normal (feeling) person,” Cyclone sighs.

Lok, of course, will not let this stand. That’s how he falls in with Shin, Twelfth Master (Tony Tsz-Tung Wu), a lieutenant for mob leader Tiger (Tak-Bun Wong), and with the scarred-and-masked AV
(German Cheung), the two-fisted “doctor” for this corner of the Walled City.

The first act has a dazzling chase through Kowloon, a brawl on a bus and our introduction to the Walled City. The second act adds more furious fracases as more characters are introduced and flashbacks to the “Dragon Throne” bloodbath explain how we got here.

And the third act stacks fight upon fight as one and all must face the consequences for their actions and figure out how to stop King, the power-mad Joker-giggler with “spirit power” kung fu, seemingly impervious to pain or injuries and perhaps unkillable.

This is all good, clean, unsurvivably brutal fun, with flying feet and fists and knives wielded with brutal precision. By the time firearms turn up in the third act, the viewer can’t help but wonder what manner of sissy needs one in this world?

You don’t need to have seen the first film, and even being a genre fan isn’t a must. Within ten minutes of the opening credits of “Walled In,” even non-fans are almost sure to become converts, wholly invested in this lost world and these warriors in their twilight.

Rating: R, graphic violence and lots of it

Cast: Louis Koo, Raymond Lam, Chun-Him Lau, Richie Jen, German Cheung, Tony Tsz-Tung Wu, Philiup Ng, Tak-Bun Wong and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Credits: Directed by Soi Cheang, scripted by Kin-Yee Au, Tai-Lee Chan, Li Jun and Kwan-Sin Shum, based on the comic book by Yi Yu. A Well Go USA Release.

Running time: 2:05