BREAKING AND RE-ENTERING (还钱) (NETFLIX) (2024)

SYNOPSIS: A group of thieves attempts to pull off a “reverse heist” by putting the one billion dollars they’ve stolen back into the bank vault when its leader finds out that his ex-girlfriend is framed for the crime. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Released theatrically during CNY in Taiwan, Breaking and Re-entering is a heist movie that is surprisingly more entertaining and rowdy than expected given the genre has been done to death by Hollywood. But then there is writer and director Leo Wang (The 9th Precinct) and an invested cast who manages to pull everything off.

Chang Bo-chun (Chen Bo-lin) and his motley crew which consists of Master of disguise, Uncle Bin (Frederick Lee, younger bro of Christopher), tech expert Kao (Kent Tsai) and fighter, Wen Hao (JC Lin) are hired to rob the bank owned by the shady Chen Hai-jui (Wu Kang-ren). When it turned out that Chen is making use of Chang to siphon his own money and blaming it on his employee and coincidentally Chang’s ex-flame, Shu-wen (Cecilia Choi), Chang decides to pull off a “reverse-heist” in order to send Chen to jail.

All thanks to the funny rebuttals from Uncle Bin and funny action gags from the gang, Breaking and Re-entering moves at a lightning speed despite the occasional convoluted flashbacks and time line. Fret not though, Chang is here to save the day as he casually repeats the scenarios several times in his head, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes style.

Frederick Lee is easily a scene-stealer as he often infuses the dialogue with smattering of dialect like a true blue Taiwanese. To add on it, his master of disguise character is a hilarious elaborate gag reminiscing us of Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible. Kent Tsai is fine as the talkative computer guy while JC Lin deserved better with his character harbouring a secret admiration of Chang. Come to think of it, it’s a comedy not a LGBT emo drama.

Chen Bo-lin and Hong Konger Choi makes a good, eye candy pair-up even if their whole angle is not the movie’s strong point. Golden Horse winner Wu Kang-ren is a hoot as he puts on a fake ABC accent and cunning, cruel display of a nepo-baby turned baddie.

Anyway let’s get back to the reverse bank heist which basically involves truckloads of money being returned to Chen’s vault. The entire plan includes obviously unforeseen consequences, some cockroaches and homemade scallion pancake with explosives. The entire plan sounds flimsy enough but again we are not here to poke at the plot holes.

On the whole, Breaking and Re-entering is sillier than the average Danny Ocean’s heists. Fortunately the breezy pacing and the enthusiastic cast delivers more hits and misses. Arguably, an unpretentious lightweight comedy that everyone will enjoy. Remember its a CNY movie after all.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee