Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: McG
Cast: Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Richard Sammel, Eriq Ebouaney, Tomas Lemarquis, Big John
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language & Violence)
Released By: GV
Official Website: http://3daystokill.tumblr.com
Opening Day: 6 March 2014
Synopsis: In this heart-pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy who is determined to give up his high-stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he's previously kept at arm's length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission—even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world’s most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.
Movie Review:
Luc Besson certainly knows something about career reinventions; after all, he wrote and produced one of the most unlikely of them in Hollywood with the lean and mean EuropaCorp-financed ‘Taken’, which made an unlikely action star out of Irish actor Liam Neeson. There’s no secret that his latest, similarly written and produced by him, aims to do for the same for former Hollywood A-lister Kevin Costner, whose meteoric rise in the early 1990s with ‘Dances with Wolves’ and ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ never quite recovered from its swift descent in large part due to his hubris from vanity projects like ‘Waterworld’ and ‘The Postman’.
And yet, as much as we had really hoped that ‘3 Days to Kill’ would be the big-screen comeback for Costner that he much deserves, we are equally pragmatic about that prospect now that we’ve seen this McG-directed movie. Yes, we can safely say that this mishmash of action, comedy and family drama is hardly going to be the shot in the arm that will do for Costner’s career what ‘Taken’ did for Neeson - and that is despite the obvious thematic similarity in the father-daughter dynamics between the two films. That is however no fault of Costner’s, whose gruff charisma is the only reason that this tonally muddled comedy-thriller is anywhere near watchable.
To be sure, it isn’t a persona that his fans should be unfamiliar with; indeed, from as far back as ‘Bill Durham’, Costner has made a career out of playing the cynic with a heart of gold. That said, it does take some getting used to seeing Costner this grizzled and downbeat, as if the years since have indeed taken a toll on the once boyishly dashing actor. With a paunch, jowls, and thinning hair shorn down to an unflattering buzz cut, Costner disappears right into the role of the veteran CIA field operative Ethan Renner whose unflappable demeanour is replaced by newfound vulnerability when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and given but three months to live after an operation gone bad.
That explosive opening set in Serbia is the closest one gets to the kind of over-the-top action which McG of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ and ‘Terminator Salvation’ is known for. It also establishes the de rigueur villain of the day, a Germanic arms dealer known simply as ‘The Wolf’ (Richard Sammel) and his right hand man referred to as ‘The Albino’ (Tómas Lemarquis). After blowing up an entire hotel, McG settles down - a little too much, we may add - as Costner returns to Paris to reconnect with his estranged wife Christine (Connie Nielsen) and teenage daughter Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld), which in Besson and his co-scripter Adi Hasak’s terms means lending fatherly advice over a bad hair day, visiting the amusement parks they used to go when Zooey was young and teaching Zooey how to ride a bicycle.
Deserving of special mention is how McG inserts a sly nod to one of Costner’s biggest hits of the 1990s ‘The Bodyguard’ by getting him to carry Zooey out of a nightclub as he did Whitney Houston after saving the former from nearly being raped by three guys. Not so humorous however are Besson’s attempt to inject humour while Costner is on the job, recruited as he is by a mysterious woman named Vivi (Amber Heard) who claims that she works for the director of the CIA and will give him an experimental drug that may cure his cancer if he assists her to track and kill ‘The Wolf’; indeed, a sequence where Costner and Heard banters over what a goatee or a moustache looks like falls painfully flat.
For that matter, the comedy works only because Costner gamely goes through the motion with his deadpan comic flair. A recurring plot device has Costner extracting personal advice from his hostages - a recipe for spaghetti sauce in the case of an Italian accountant (Bruno Ricci) when Zooey calls so she can cook dinner for her boyfriend, Hugh (Jonas Bloquet); and some parental advice from a Middle Eastern limo driver (Marc Andreoni) linked to ‘The Albino’ whom he tortures by waxing the latter’s bodily hair using sticky tape. All the while, Costner plays it straight and cool, which is always good for a few chuckles here and there.
If the comedy is sporadic, the action turns out even more so. Costner does some shooting now and then, but there’s nothing on the scale of the opening. Even the finale is over just a bit too soon, unfolding over the course of some gunfire exchanged at yet another nightclub that is combined with an obligatory conflict with Christine upon her discovery that he is not yet fully retired. The only mildly memorable sequence is a one-on-one skirmish between Costner and an assassin in the deli section of a grocery store, which is also the only point in the movie that Costner gets to show off a little of that physical agility which Neeson displayed amply in ‘Taken’.
But again, one senses that Besson had tried to pitch ‘3 Days to Kill’ as something quite different from that unexpected hit. Yet he has also clearly overcompensated here, trying too hard to mesh a father-daughter reconciliation with a espionage thriller complete with a dying spy and a generous load of farce. You can literally see the strain in the material, held only by Costner’s effortless self-deprecating charm. Clearly, he doesn’t want his audience to take it too seriously, and if you’re willing to look over the frays and flaws, you’ll probably still find this a mildly pleasing diversion. It’s still a missed opportunity for Costner though, who could really use a resurgence - after all, it has been a good half-dozen years since he is taking on a leading role on the big screen.
Movie Rating:
(A tonally uneven mix of action, comedy and family drama that is held together by the gruff charisma of its leading man)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (1967 - 2014)Posted on 03 Feb 2014 |
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SHAW THEATRES IMAX February SpecialsPosted on 13 Feb 2014 |
SYNOPSIS: Riddick, the latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000's hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.
MOVIE REVIEW:
No shit, nearly ten years after the tepid The Chronicles of Riddick, star Vin Diesel and helmer David Twohy teams up once again for another round of adventure with antihero Richard B. Riddick.
Almost as empty as the original and almost as good, Riddick is a stripped-down, survival story that begins with the Riddick character being left for death in the alien wasteland. Surrounded by hungry jackals, vulture-like flying creatures and mud demons, Riddick must first get himself healed to escape from this hellhole. Activating an emergency beacon in a deserted mercenary station, a group of rugged bounty hunters and a team of professional mercenaries answered his call. Its now men versus men and men versus a bunch of deadly mud demons before anyone can successfully escape out of here.
To put it simply, Riddick delivers what makes Pitch Black a cult hit, a truckload of creature effects, action and gore and a good amount of offensive humour. Characters are paper-thin, generically written and probably you are going to remember only Spanish actor Jordi Molla (Bad Boys II) as the leader of the bounty hunter who suffered a gory death, Katee Sackoff from Battlestar Galactica as a tough lesbo mercenary baring her tits in one bathroom scene and Matthew Nable as a father who seeks the truth behind his son’s death (referring to one of the characters in the first movie). Knowledge of the earlier two instalments is non-obligatory I must add.
Of course, the sole success of Riddick owes it to the star presence of actor and producer Vin Diesel. It’s one of his favorite onscreen characters and fortunately for the Fast and Furious actor, he is the only guy in Hollywood that can bring out Riddick’s badass attitude and that silly glow-in-the-dark vision else the character will be dumped into some straight-to-video territory.
This is definitely not Alien or Avatar sci-fi stuff we are talking about. It’s a lean killing machine serving up plenty of violence, pulpy dialogue and even a canine friend for the tough and usually aloof Riddick. Even without a sky-high budget, Riddick’s ROI is pretty substantial for Universal to consider a fourth outing and we sure wouldn’t mind more of Diesel’s low growling.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Sound is aggressive though it’s only Dolby 2.0 and visually speaking, the colours and imaging details are free of offensive jarring and banding.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: In this eerie and chilling, contemporary, action/special effects laden homage to the classic Chinese vampire movies of the 1980’s, writer-director-producer, Juno Mak makes his feature directorial debut. Reuniting some of the original cast members of the classic Mr. Vampire series, the film is set in a creepy and moody Hong Kong public housing tower whose occupants we soon discover, run the gamut from the living to the dead, to the undead, along with ghosts, vampires and zombies.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Some called it a reinvention while others slammed it as pretentious. Singer/actor turned feature director Juno Mak’s Rigor Mortis is a mixed bag but you can’t deny Mak’s directorial debut is surprisingly more engaging than the rest of the stuff he has dabbled in.
A tribute to the vampire-hopping genre with a J-horror twist, the protagonist in Rigor Mortis happens to be a washed-up actor played by Chin Siu-Ho. Of course, Chin is one of the leading actors in the first Mr Vampire before he went off the radar. Anyway the actor with the intention of taking his own life shifted into an eerie block of apartment that is occupied with many colorful characters and macabre events.
There is a hawker cum Taoist priest played by Anthony Chan, his assistant Billy Lau. Another priest, Chung Fat who specialized in black magic. A crazy mother Kara Hui and her albino son roaming around the block looking for food. An old loving couple, Paw Hee Ching and Richard Ng and lastly a kind-hearted security guard Loi Hoi Pang. Not to mention, a haunted unit that is occupied by the ghosts of two twin sisters.
Mak stuffed his movie with a whole lot of familiar veterans from the 80’s, 90’s especially Chan, Lau, Ng and Fat who has appeared with Chin in a series of Vampire movies in the past. Nostalgic works even though the horror on the whole remains questionable. With the aid of cinematographer Ng Kai Ming and some touch up from visual effects, the mood captured is often unsettling, creepy and depressing. This factor alone is worth the admission ticket or in this case, the price of the DVD.
The credited script by Mak, Philip Yung and Jill Leung while devoiding of any humour has a lot of heart to it. The relationship between the old couple stood out as the best and probably a statement to remind the young not to forget this group of people who are still very much alive in today’s society. On the flip side, the character of Chin is not given an indepth look except for a couple of brief flashbacks and a series of dialogues exchanges between characters is too self-seriousness to be absorbed.
Discarding Sammo Hung’s style of outrageous kungfu stunts, Rigor Mortis is content in providing a digitally enhanced vampire, some simple fisticuffs, hell lot of gore and two long hair spirits probably a nod to producer Takashi Shimizhu. And seriously, someone should put a stop to all those annoying slow-motion crap as well.
The biggest problem however turned out to be the ending. Put it this way, one that won’t be appreciated by the masses. Rigor Mortis is impressive especially when it comes to the cast performances and the technicalities. Story wise, it contains all the spot on elements to tell a gratifying new age horror tale instead Mak chooses a few wrong artsy choices which diminishes the magic.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The dark, brooding mood is captured beautifully on DVD and the dual Cantonese and mandarin track makes it a worthwhile listening experience.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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"OUR SISTER MAMBO" BEGINS PRODUCTIONPosted on 15 Aug 2014 |
Genre: Comedy/Western
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Evan Jones, Ralph Garman, Rex Linn
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: NC16 (Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 June 2014
Synopsis: Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.
Movie Review:
We were really hoping that this comedy would be rated R21. Seth MacFarlane’s first feature length project Ted (2012) was rated M18 for coarse language, sexual scenes and drug use, and we remember being wildly entertained by the movie about a grown man who has to deal with an obsessive talking teddy bear. After all, it is the talented MacFarlane we are talking about – the creator behind the very funny TV show Family Guy, and the co-creator of other TV comedies like American Dad! And The ClevelandShow.
After a successful directorial debut (Ted was a critic and box office darling), the 40 year old Connecticut born entertainer decides to make a second movie – this time about a cowardly farmer who gets dumped by his girlfriend, falls in love with a mysterious new woman in town, and has to find courage to man up in a showdown with her notorious gun slinger husband.
When we first saw the trailers and promotional posters for this movie, we were excited to see what MacFarlane has up his sleeves. Having what we think is a great amount of creative control as the production’s director, co writer, producer and lead actor, we’d think this would be a hit. Alas, judging from what has been said about the movie, it seems to be a miss.
First, when you see a Seth MacFarlane movie rated NC16 for coarse language and sexual references, you wonder how outrageous the movie could get. The 116 minute movie does feature a few LOL moments, ranging from fart jokes, diarrhoea gags and sheep peeing scenes (yup, you may want to give this movie a miss if you think such humour is crass, crude and unwarranted). However, these moments seem scattershot, and you can’t help but get the feeling that MacFarlane is cautious about bringing on the whole suite of laughs due to mass appeal concerns. The result is a somewhat half hearted attempt to bring out MacFarlane’s signature humour.
Then we have the star studded ensemble cast. Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Huntsman) is the new woman in town, Liam Neeson (The Lego Movie) is the vicious villain, Amanda Seyfried (Les Miserables) is the superficial ex girlfriend, Giovanni Ribisi (Gangster Squad) is a holy townsman and Sarah Silverman (Wreck It Ralph) is a saloon prostitute. Each of these characters are played by a talented actor, but unfortunately end up looking like they are merely dressed up to deliver lines on set. Neil Patrick Harris (The Smurfs) steals the show as a moustache grooming store’s owner, and his scene with diarrhoea and a Western cowboy hat is unforgettably amusing.
Elsewhere, we have the much needed cameo appearances from Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Ewan McGregor (August: OsageCounty), Ryan Reynolds (R.I.P.D.) and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained), plus a narration from Patrick Stewart (X Men’s movie series). MacFarlane’s Family Guy has featured big names as cameos before, so we didn’t think this would be difficult for him to pull off. We just wished there were more of this slapstick moments to up the laugh factor of this movie.
Movie Rating:
(Seth MacFarlane’s second feature length movie may not be the outrageous comedy you were wishing for, but it does features a few LOL moments)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: Lifelong friends Tin (Sean Lau), Chow (Louis Koo) and Wai (Nick Cheung) all work for the Hong Kong Police Department’s Narcotics Bureau. The three law enforcers would readily risk their lives for each other, but a dangerous mission in Thailand to capture the legendary drug lord, Eight-Faced Buddha, puts that to the test. In Thailand, the covert goes bad at the last minute, and a battle breaks out. The three friends are confronted by a tragic emotional dilemma… Five years later, burdened with personal hardship, two friends are still seeking to revenge the loss of a third. Friendship turns into rivalry and brotherhood must be sacrificed once again. A war between good and evil unfolds, and there's no turning back!
MOVIE REVIEW:
The White Storm is a lot milder than Johnnie To’s Drug War despite that both movies feature drugs as the central theme. Benny Chan’s effort takes us back to the good old days whereby HK crime flicks glamourized brotherhood and heroic bloodshed. Think John Woo and Ringo Lam. Yes it doesn’t disappoint on the whole though it’s bloated with clichés at every corner.
Rope in two of HK’s darkest actors, Sean Lau and the prolific Louis Koo in addition to the in-demand Nick Cheung and you are bound for a white storm as ironic as it sounds.
The three gentlemen play childhood friends, Tin (Sean Lau), Chow (Louis Koo) and Wai (Nick Cheung) who works in the Narcotics Bureau. Chow is an undercover cop on the brink of quitting. But after persuasion by his friends Tin and Wai, Chow went on to accept a mission to lure out the most dangerous drug lord in Thailand dubbed the Eight-Faced Buddha (Lo Hoi Pang). But when the mission went awry causing the death of Wai, both Tin and Chow went their separate ways with their friendship at stake. It’s not until years later that the once friends have to team up once again to battle the drug lord.
When it comes to serious rampage and heart-stopping action, Benny Chan who helmed action classics such as EU Strike Force and many of Jackie Chan’s features is an old hand. An aerial attack by the henchmen of Eight-Faced Buddha and a car chase in a dense forest is the flick’s main highlight and that only marks the concluding first chapter of the two hours movie. The script co-written by Chan only starts to crumble in the next hour or so with a needless climax and the world’s worst hidden twist. Obviously it’s best to skip the trailer if you are sensitive to spoilers.
The ladies especially don’t really get good parts here. What’s transgender beauty queen Treechada Petcharat doing in a macho movie by the way? Mainland actress Yolanda Yuen has the thankless role of being Chow’s wife while The Wedding Diary’s Elanne Kwong’s role as Wai’s girlfriend is left on the cutting floor. Thankfully, we have the chemistry of the three male actors to keep things going even though we have to bear with their constant crooning of an old Adam Chen’s classic song because that’s what guys do when they bond. Chan’s direction and storytelling becomes unbearably heavy-handed especially towards the end and the blood soak finale in a Macau casino doesn’t help.
Still on a personal note, The White Storm harks back to the grand old days of HK cinema for this reviewer. Stories of brotherhood, cop and robber simply never get old. Chan’s movies always entertain; it’s just the dated story format that bothers.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Visual is great while the 2.0 soundtrack deserves an upgrade to fully appreciate the solid zipping of bullets and explosions.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Toni Revolori, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene and Some Nudity)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.grandbudapesthotel.com
Opening Day: 20 March 2014
Synopsis: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune - all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.
Movie Review:
This reviewer remembers that day in 2001 clearly – he had initiated a movie outing with his army mates, and the selected film was Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums. Nope, that didn’t go down too well with the other five guys very well at all. The star power of big names like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson couldn’t salvage the situation. Not even the earworm Hey Jude could make this columnist’s friends feel engaged with the movie. On the other hand, he found himself loving every other work made by Anderson.
The 44 year old filmmaker’s latest film is no exception. It has all the signature visual and narrative style – and on top of it, a reflective plot which will have you pinning for life’s more humane moments. The comedy drama film written by Andersoninspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig tells the story of a concierge who teams up with his bell boy to prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. The duo embarks on an adventure in the fictional Republicof Zubrowska, a European state.
If you have been awed by the whimsical storytelling approach Anderson’s previous works like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012), you would not want to miss this trip to the Grand Budapest Hotel. This is, after all, from the quirky mind of the man who turned Roald Dahl’s children’s tale Fantastic Mr Fox into an idiosyncratic animated film. Who would have thought George Clooney and Meryl Streep would make such a lovely pair of foxes?
Here, it’s another star studded affair. Ralph Fiennes headlines the flick with his spot on comedic portrayal of M Gustave, our protagonist who has charmed his guests in the most delightfully charismatic ways you can imagine. At the end of the film, you’ll understand why we desperately need someone like M Gustave in our lives – because of the simple yet poignant human touch he brings. Elsewhere, Adrien Brody is amusingly entertaining as the antagonist, Willem Dafoe is a joy to watch as a psychotic aide, Jeff Goldblum is slimy fun as a good for nothing attorney, Edward Norton switches on his fun mode to play a police inspector, while Harvey Keitel shows you what he’s got by playing a topless hardened convict.
The list doesn’t end there: Mathieu Amalric is an important eye witness, Jude Law is a writer, F Murray Abraham is a world weary concierge, Lea Seydoux is a housemaid, and Tilda Swinton (in unrecognisable makeup) is a rich and unhappy old woman. Tony Revolori and Saoirse Ronan play a lovely young couple, and other big names like Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban and Tom Wilkinson have cameo roles. Phew, did we miss out anyone?
The visual style is unmistakably Anderson’s. Do a Google check and you’d find countless articles penning the academic symbolism of the Oscar nominated writer’s unique framing. While we won’t bore you with scholastic blabber, do watch out for the change in aspect ratio in this film, and you can’t help but be awed by how innovatively clever Andersonis. This, and the intelligent use of Robert Yeoman’s cinematography to have you keeping your eyes on screen every single moment. Alexandre Desplat’s apt scoring also complements the film’s storytelling.
There is both style and substance in this film, and it is a piece of work you’d want to watch again to appreciate on various levels.
Movie Rating:
(Like Wes Anderson’s previous works, this is a stylishly affecting piece of work that you’d love to bits)
Review by John Li
Genre: Martial-Arts/Action
Director: Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung
Cast: Fan Bing Bing, Huang Xiaoming, Vincent Zhao, Wang Xuebing, Yan Kuan
RunTime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 31 July 2014
Synopsis: In the twilight of the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial court is plagued by corruption as tyrants rule over the land. With the Manchurians preying on a weakened empire, war is imminent. The situation is even worse near the northwest border, where widespread famine is rapidly claiming lives. To save the victims from further suffering, sorceress Jade Raksha fights the soldiers that oppress people for their own gain. As payback, local government officials decide to pin the murder of Governor Zhuo Zhonglian on Jade, turning her and the members of her cult into wanted fugitives for a crime they didn’t commit. Meanwhile, Wudang sect’s Master Ziyang intends to nominate disciple Zhuo Yihang to become the next sect leader, sending him to the capital to present the Red Bolus to the Emperor as royal tribute. However, the emperor dies after consuming the Red Bolus, and the Imperial Guards are quickly dispatched to capture Yihang……
Movie Review:
Hong Kong movie director, producer and screenwriter Jacob Cheung probably does not believe in churning out productions like a factory line, considering his sparse filmography. However, whenever the 54 year old filmmaker directs a movie, it is something we’d enjoy. His credits include A Battle of Wits (2006), which was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Golden Bauhinia Awards and Beyond the Sunset (1989), which was a nominee at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards. Of course, there is the much loved Cageman (1992), which showcased the director’s ability to translate human relationships and emotions on the big screen. Cheung’s last work was Ticket in 2007, and seven years later, we were very much looking forward to his latest work.
But alas, what a letdown and regrettably, a laughable piece of
The version we are all familiar with is Ronny Yu's 1993 movie The Bride With White Hair, starring Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia and the late Leslie Cheung, which is widely considered a classic of the genre. Here, it is an ironically too messy and overstuffed piece of work that lost our interest 30 minutes or so into the movie.
For the uninitiated, the 104 minute movie tells the story of a witch-like woman known as the Jade Raksha (Fan Bingbing) who becomes a wanted criminal after getting framed for the murder of a prominent government official. At the same time, a young man known as Zhuo Yihang (Huang Xiaoming) is framed for the murder of the emperor. The two fugitives meet by chance and fall in love, but when Jade Raksha becomes a prime suspect who is responsible for the murder of Yihang's beloved grandfather, can there still be a happy ending?
There are countless scenes boasting expensive
It doesn’t help that there are several complex palace intrigue and politicking side plots which serve nothing but confuse and dilute the interest levels of viewers. Nope, thefootnotes of character names and relationships superimposed on the side of the screendo not help.The uninspiring screenplay includes the intriguing sub-plot of apolitical marriage of convenience between the male protagonist and the beautiful daughter of a scheming eunuch, amidst other uninteresting storylines. They are jam packed into one movie here, and bythe time the moviereturns to the romantic couple, we can’t be bothered to find out about their fate. Even playing Leslie Cheung’s heartfelt end credit song doesn’t help anymore.
Movie Rating:
(An uninspiring adaptation of a classic which is bogged down by the lack of chemistry between its leads)
Review by John Li
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