THE BOUNTY DVD (悬赏) (2012)

SYNOPSIS: To plays Cho, a resourceful ex-cop who earns a living by claiming bounties offered for catching wanted persons. His latest job brings him to an isolated island for fugitive robber Fai, on whom the police have placed a hefty bounty of $400,000! During his investigation, Cho takes lodge at the small inn run by quirky innkeeper Suen (Alex Man) and his imaginative and perhaps a little too hyperactive daughter Ching (Fiona Sit), who are curious about this stranger. A series of unexpected and often hilarious events takes place before Ching realizes that the criminal Cho is chasing after is actually a friend of hers!

MOVIE REVIEW:

Probably one of the most ambitious Hong Kong films this year is writer/ director Fung Chih-Chang’s ‘The Bounty’, a light-hearted crime caper that takes after the style of the Spaghetti Westerns. Following the genre formula of a loner who rides into town looking for a wanted someone last seen within that community, Fung effectively blends comedy, suspense, drama and some ‘gongfu’ into a unique concoction that deserves notice for its sheer ambition alone.

In the role of the loner is Chapman To, who plays Cho, a low level bounty hunter from Guangzhou sent by his agent Boss Tony (Wen Chao) to a remote Hong Kong island in search of a fugitive, Lee Kin-fai (Nick Wang), wanted for assaulting a young bride. Kinfai was last seen at the Lazy Inn, and so Cho checks into that very motel, only to be greeted by three oddball individuals – the meddlesome proprietor (Alex Man), his equally nosy daughter Linda (Fiona Sit), as well as a buck-toothed shaggy-looking helper Coconut Man (or Kin-fai in disguise).

What appears on the surface to be a straightforward pursuit turns out to be a lot more with the addition of these oddball characters. Man’s hotel manager is in fact a grieving father still unable to forget the sudden drowning of his daughter ten years ago; and because of that trauma, refuses to acknowledge Linda as his other daughter. And then there’s also the budding romance between Coconut Man and Linda, the latter of which retains a soft spot for the former even after discovering his identity.

Besides these key supporting characters, Fung also adds other colourful others such as a group of local triad members who call themselves the ‘Biting Sugar Cane Gang’ for precisely the habit which the name implies, as well as Cho’s acquaintance (Max Zhang) from his law and order days who turns into an unexpected villain towards the end. Like Fung’s screenwriting debut ‘Shaolin Soccer’, there is a whole host of quirky characters here – though admittedly they aren’t nearly always as interesting.

The fact that most of the supporting characters are only loosely connected to Cho’s pursuit of Lee means that what you may have thought was a cat and mouse game between the hunter and his prey should more accurately be framed as a story of the hunter’s misadventures. Indeed, there isn’t much surprise who Lee is hiding out as in the town, nor for that matter is his capture some well-plotted affair; instead, Fung prefers a looser style than the directors (e.g. Stephen Chow, Johnnie To or even Law Wing Cheong) of his earlier movies, which makes for a more languid pace than some might have liked.

Still, besides the originality of the material, what keeps the movie engaging is the delightful cast performance. Chapman continues to be one of the most underrated comedic actors in Hong Kong, and here his low-key repartee suits the film perfectly. His second teaming with Sit – after Wong Jing’s ‘Mr and Mrs Gambler’ –sees the two complementing each other nicely, not as romantic halves but as jester buddies. Fung also manages a casting sleigh of hand with Alex Man, who has been absent from the big screen for some time – and the veteran actor is suitably garish as the Lazy Inn owner.

At a time when the Hong Kong film industry seems entirely reliant on the kind of period action blockbusters that would sell millions at the China box office, it’s heartening to see something as original and daring as ‘The Bounty’. It’s not as polished as if Stephen Chow or Johnnie To were to direct it, but this is nonetheless a commendable first directorial attempt by Fung. As the industry goes through a critical inflexion point, it is works like this that truly deserve support – lest every other movie that comes out of the territory looks like another ‘Red Cliff’ wannabe. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Just a Photo Gallery and a Trailer. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is surprisingly robust when projected onto a 5.1 system, delivering good sense of place with dialogue and action sounds. Visuals are clear and sharp, and colours look dynamic.

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong

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