SYNOPSIS:
Based
on real events, Escape from Huang Shi is a sweeping but intimate
story set against war-torn China in the 1930’s. English
reporter, George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) witnessed the Massacre
of Nanking and report on the brutal killings causes him to be
captured by the Japanese. Both Jack Chen (Chow Yun-Fat) and
George escaped to a missionary home war orphans. They met Lee
Pearson (Radha Mitchell) and Madame Wang (Wang Yeoh), with the
war catching up, the four along with the children starts on
their journey across snow bound mountains to safety...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Based on the little-known true story of Oxford educated
Englishman George Hogg whose selfless act during the Japanese
occupation period in Shanxi helped saved a group of orphan
boys from the ruthless killings of the Japanese army and the
conscript exercise by the Nationalist Army.
This
big-screen adaptation by Jane Hawksley and James MacManus
started quite promising enough. We see Hogg as played by Jonathan
Rhys Meyers as a reporter in search of a way to cover the
news in Nanking (note that news of the Nanking massacre was
still blanketed at that time). The only way it seems is to
pose as a Red Cross volunteer to secretly penetrate into the
war zone. However, Hogg is nearly killed by the Japanese army
for being discovered for taking photos of the massacre and
he is fortunately saved by a Chinese guerilla soldier, Jack
(‘Fa Ge’ aka Chow Yun Fat). Hogg is then advised
to seek shelter at a home for orphans, all these happening
within the first 20 minutes.
The
strange thing about the screenplay is that in the beginning
it tends to grasp you by the neck and choke you breathless
and next thing you know, everybody onscreen seems to take
a leisurely walk without dispensing much emotion for audience
to embrace. With strange, unexplainable turn of events, Hogg
starts to take pity for the orphans and acts as sort of a
surrogate father to the kids. Teaching them English, building
a basketball hoop and repairing a damaged generator. In the
first act, we haven’t even got to know Hogg’s
character and all of a sudden, he’s acting so fatherly.
To
make matters worse, there’s a rich merchant lady, Madame
Wong (Michelle Yeoh) and a love interest, Lee Pearson, a fearless
doctor who went around the provinces to tend to the sick and
injured who hovered around Hogg without developing any serious
emotional attachments. And one of our favourite HK actor,
Chow pops in and out on screen as if he is busy juggling between
fighting the pirates and the Japanese soldiers.
Director
Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, The Sixth Day) is
faultless in coordinating the major action sequences but literally
forgot to invest more emotional, engaging aspects to the story
and characters. The breath-taking cinematography of the on
location shoots in China by Zhao Xiaoding (House of Flying
Daggers) is a plus though.
Jonathan
Rhys Meyers is a great upcoming young actor, despite his incoherent
mandarin diction here, he’s someone who deserved a better
script to showcase his talents. A pity a story like "The
Escape from Huang Shi" is not. There’s so much
potential that was somewhat left unexplored. Maybe the book
in which the movie is based on is better, ironically written
by James MacManus.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Nil.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visually, the transfer is pleasant to the naked eyes and audio
is not a problem at all. Apart from some explosions, the movie
is more dialogue based.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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