Genre: Romance
Director: Nithiwat Tharatorn
Cast: Sukrit Wisetkaew, Ploy Chermarn
RunTime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: GV
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 May 2014

Synopsis: The Teacher’s Diary is inspired by a true story of how two total strangers overcome the most impossible of odds and find love within the pages of a lost diary. This new romantic drama from GTH (producer of acclaimed Pee Mak) is based on the events that unfold after a teacher forgets her diary at school only to have it serendipitously found the following school year by a male teacher who has replaced her. Let’s see how soul baring confessions on paper manifest into an emotional bond so powerful that two star-crossed people who have never met before are able to fall madly in love.

Movie Review:

The Teacher’s Diary is one of those South East Asian movies that remind people that you don’t need a Hollywood-sized budget to make a good movie. All you need are the basics – a tight script that balances sentimental moments with witty lines, sound technical work, good direction and fine acting from the leads (okay, it’s a pretty tall order but The Teacher’s Diary manages to somehow fulfill all of it). 

Based on the premise of how two strangers who have never met, bond and connect through a shared diary containing their experiences of teaching a small group of primary school children at a floating boathouse-school, The Teacher’s Diary easily charms the audience right from the beginning with its humorous scenes. Witty lines aside, the tight script manages to balance the romance and steer it firmly away from being mawkish while remaining sentimental. The fairy-tale like romance that grows between Song (portrayed by Sukrit Wisetkaew) and Ann (portrayed by Laila Boonyasak) is balanced by the reality of the betrayal both faced in their previous relationships where their partners’ hearts wandered in their absence. The poignant moments are deftly balanced with the funny moments where the school children say and do the darnest or ,sometimes,  the sweestest things.

The leads’ fine acting also gives life to characters who could easily have been portrayed as stereotypes, doing justice to the script.  You find yourself rooting for the bumbling but good hearted Song who has to hide away as he figures out how to solve primary level math problems so that he can teach the children how to solve the same problems two days later. Similarly, you feel Ann’s pain when her tough exterior gives way and she shows her softer side to the children she care so much about or when she cries at her boyfriend’s betrayal. In the hands of lesser actors, Song would easily have been portrayed as a clown while Ann would have just been a domineering woman who suddenly cracked.

Romance aside, the movie is also inspirational as it captures Song’s and Ann’s personal growth as they rise above the daunting challenges they face and discover that they are capable of more than what they originally thought they could do. They find out what it is that they are truly passionate about and the values that they hold dear. And it is through chronicling and sharing these life experiences with each other through a diary that they relate to and grow to love each other. Similarly, it is through watching them grow that the audience end up rooting for the two of them and their romance.

Movie Rating:

(The Teacher’s Diary is a heartfelt love story that isn’t sickeningly saccharine with a witty script to boot, making it an ideal movie to watch with practically anyone)

Review by Katrina Tee

Genre: Drama
Director: Chhay Bora, Eysham Ali
Cast: Eunice Olsen, Oun Dyna, Leang Honglee
RunTime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some disturbing scenes)
Released By: The Arts House
Official Website: 

Opening Day:  1 – 4 May \ Weekdays: 7.30pm; Weekends: 3pm & 7.30pm \ Post-show Q&A with the film's creative team on 3 May, 7.30pm \ $10; $8.50 (Conc.) \ Tickets from bytes.sg

Synopsis: When a young Cambodian village girl is sold off into prostitution, a brash American documentarian ventures into the underbelly of Phnom Penh to pursue her story, as she crosses paths with various other lives affected by the unspeakable terrain of the country’s sex trade. Inspired by real events, 3.50 is a dramatic thriller that tells the story of a brash documentary filmmaker, Rebecca, who stumbles onto the story of Jora, a 15-year-old village girl who was sold into prostitution. Rebecca investigates Vanna, the cruel female pimp that operates in the lucrative virginity trade, where young girls are sold off to the highest bidders. Venturing deep into Phnom Penh’s sex industry with reckless abandon, Rebecca spirals into a trap with deadly consequences. 3.50 is a multi-layered story that follows a foreign journalist, an underground doctor, a tuk-tuk driver, a street peddler, and a prostitute as they navigate the socio-economic tensions that allow poverty and its problems to flourish. Filmed in English and Khmer, 3.50 is the first feature film co-produced between Singapore and Cambodia.

Movie Review:

If you have visited our neighbours in the region, it’s no surprise that these Southeast Asian countries are (this writer hates to use this word, but here goes) infested with non-Asians (read: our friends from the “West”). It is of this columnist’s view that they enjoy visiting countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar because everything seems oh so exotic.

Okay, we digressed. The above point was raised to illustrate how convenient it is to insert a “Western” character in a movie set in “our” part of the world. The recent Malaysian movie The Journey by Chiu Keng Guan comes to mind. And we are sure images of “Westerners” walking around in a forested/ rural/ crowded area in Southeast Asia can be easily conjured in your head. While this is not the main point we are trying to raise in this review (maybe we’ll get another opportunity another day), it is exactly the same setting the filmmakers have set up for this drama thriller.

Directed by Cambodian veteran film-maker Chhay Bora and Singaporean Eysham Ali, the heroine is an American documentary filmmaker (there you have it, a “Westerner) who goes deep into the dark alleys of Phnom Penh to rescue a young village girl sold into prostitution. She crosses paths with other characters whose lives are affected by the country’s virginity trade.

The title “3.50” comes from the interesting but sad fact that many young girls are bought and sold for their virginity - $500 to $800. This is because many men believe that having sex with a virgin has some miraculous effect of curing them from AIDS. What’s even more alarming is that, after a young girl's virginity is taken by these men, sex with her can cost as low as $3.50.

Bet you didn’t know such a thing is happening outside your comfortable home, did you? This 107 minute film has very good intentions of increasing awareness about human trafficking in the region, with some very powerful social messages told through the various characters, including an underground doctor, a tuk tuk driver, a street peddler and the prostitutes whose lifestyles we can only imagine in our part of the world.

Above all these, we have the American documentary filmmaker played by former Nominated Member of Parliament Eunice Olsen, whom we believe is an apt choice to play the role. While she brings nothing groundbreaking to a character that we’ve seen in other movies (a “Westerner” visiting a poorer part of the world to change things for the better), the fact that Olsen was an ambassador for aid group World Vision lends a certain impact to the story. It also helps that she is a former Miss Singapore Universe, so the character does come across as someone who is genuinely interested to save the poor girls from human trafficking.

But we all know how movies work. We walk out of the theatres, eager to go back to our comfortable lives, checking our Facebook and Whatsapp to feel connected. Do we really care about the dire situation out there? We do not want to speak on anyone’s behalf, but we believe you know what the filmmakers of this well intended production want you to do. 

Movie Rating:

(A well intended production with powerful social messages)

Review by John Li

SYNOPSIS: They were chosen...to become the ultimate weapons. The chosen five...Man's last defines against evil. Set in the near future in Tokyo, Japan. The evil terrorist organisation Galactor has declared war on the world. The group possesses more advanced technology than governments and occupies over half of the planet. Dr. Kozaburo Nambu of the International Science Organization gathers together 5 superhero ninja agents known collectively as Gatchaman to stop Galactor.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Gatchaman was one of my favourite animations when I was growing up in the eighties. In case you have no idea who they are, the superhero team consists of five members each having their own unique skills and abilities and dressed in colourful bird-like capes. This live-action version reboot of the classic anime series unfortunately ends up looking like a generic sci-fi fantasy flick instead of being Gatchaman.

Ken (Tori Matsuzaka), George (Go Ayano), Jun (Ayame Gouriki), Jinpei (Tasuomi Hamada) and Ryu (Ryoheo Suzuki) are members of the International Science Organization (ISO) formed to fight against terrorists from outerspace known as “Galactors”. Within minutes after the opening credits, an exhilarating 15 minutes of action, which featured the five members demonstrating their ninja combat skills against some invading Galactors in downtown Tokyo starts to unfold. Just when you thought there’s more to come, the story by Yusuke Watanabe (Gantz) spent the next hour or so on plot exposition and more exposition.

There’s tedious explanation on how Galactors came about, something about Virus X in our bodies that caused the mutant change followed by the introduction of Iriya (Shido Nakamura in a cameo), the number two man of Galactors who turned informant and lastly the most tedious of all, a triangular romance affair involving Ken, George and a dead ISO member Naomi. Practically nothing exciting ever happens. You could have switched to doing your housework and yet won’t miss a single thing after a long while because it’s just people standing around on screen talking.

The visual effects are bearable, just a slight notch above the usual Kamen Raiders and Power Rangers TV series even though most of the control rooms in ISO are notably far barren than the desert. The combat fights are passable and hilariously there’s a villain dressed in cartoonish pink and we thought this is serious fantasy stuff since everyone onscreen puts on a somber look. The tweaks to the bird-themed costumes are troubling as it easily passes off as a Hollywood superhero than the original Tatsuo Yoshida’s creations.

It’s hard to like this reimagining live-action version as much as I want to. The flick actually has a promising start but it simply went downhill subsequently. Not an ounce of humour and adventure are detected in the end and those repetitive messages about teamwork and loyalty starts to get on one’s nerves. Once again, this property is in need of another reboot.    

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visual is unexpectedly filled with jarring images and picture clarity is disappointing on a large TV setup. The 2.0 soundtrack is underwhelming as well. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: A group of college students pick a remote cemetery as a filming location for their short film ‘senior year’ project. What was meant to be a sad romantic love story turns into a horror film when the inaugural shooting date coincides with the Chinese Ghost Festival. The real terror happens when Ji (“Apittha” means “Klaiudom”), a mysterious girl who just joined the crew got possessed by a forlorn spirit. The evil spirit wants the crew to help it do something .. or they won’t be able to get out of the place forever.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Because of Pee Mak being the highest-grossing movie of all time, the horror comedy genre seems to be receiving a huge revival at the Thai movie industry. Obviously made on a cheap budget and cashing in the aftermath of Pee Mak’s success, Possessed (Pee Kao Pee Ook) is more on silly laughs than featuring actual scare.

A group of youngsters including a cheaply hire male lead, David Asavanond from Countdown are making a horror short film for their graduate project at the Chinese cemetery on the first day of Hungry Ghost Festival no less. We are told in the beginning that their film is inspired by a real-life tragic love story in which the female ended up hanging herself at the pavilion at the cemetery.

That sounds pretty promising for the setup until almost after 45 minutes into the movie, you realized Possessed is more satisfied at throwing audiences with every trick used in the horror film school of filmmaking instead of telling a coherent story. In other words, there are plenty of cheap jump-scares, cheesy make-up effects and unnecessary amount of characters screaming their heads off to get you through.

As the title already forewarned you, one of the characters expectedly got possessed by a spirit which communicates in halting Teochew! (sorry for those who do not understand the dialect, subs are strangely not provided). Thus the group of students find themselves held hostage by the spirit unless they fulfilled it’s wishes and they are sent on a mission to retrieve it’s body through a Komodo dragons-filled pond!

Ultimately, this Thai horror comedy has nothing new to offer, the laughs are cringing and every plot twist is familiar if not at the back of every seasoned horror fan’s hand. Don’t pee at a tombstone, don’t smear the picture and please don’t disturb a corpse in a coffin. Come on, you must stupid to do the last and this group of moronic students actually did all of the above.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visual is jarring and filled with overly dark levels. Audio is loud if you consider that a must factor for horrors.  

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee
 

SYNOPSIS: After losing their family home in Algeria, three brothers and their mother are scattered across the globe. Messaoud joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement in France and Said moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle. Gradually, their interconnecting destinies reunite them in the French capital where freedom is a battle to be fought and won.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Through the eyes of three brothers, we are treated to a slice of history, one which recounts the events leading to Algeria’s independence. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory), Outside the Law (Hors-La-Loi) is overall an well-made historical drama with plenty of action bits thrown in.

Still under the control of France in the 1940’s, three Algerian brothers, Messaoud the eldest brother has joined the army and fighting a war in Indochina. The second, Abdelkader is in a prison while the youngest, Said has brought her mother to France in search of a better life after their father and sisters were killed in a massacre by the French police. Years later the brothers finally unite. Upon Abdelkader’s persuasion, Messaoud decides to join him in a revolution against the French. Said on the other hand rather makes money out of boxing than join their resistance.

Bouchareb’s depiction of the relationship between the brothers is what holds the movie together. The inner struggles of the brothers especially Messaoud who has a young son of his own and the recurring themes of family and loyalty to one’s roots are what the script has adequately captured.

Even they may not be approving of Abdelkader’s ways of doing things for the FLN, brotherhood always come first so long any of them is in danger. Messaoud fought the way when it comes to harrowing missions while Abdelkader, the less combat experience brother is the mastermind behind the operations. And Said despite his reluctance manages to save the life of his second brother when an operation went wrong.

Given a handsome budget to work with if you take aside all the political propanganda, Outside the Law is a tremendously enjoyable film that’s populated with believable set pieces and the action choreographed handsomely matching a classic Hollywood’s gangster film. French actors Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila and Jamel Debbouze (all of them have worked on Days of Glory) are excellent in their respective roles. For fans of thought-provoking flicks that take it’s time to tell the story will certainly appreciate a title like this. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Picture quality is surprisingly strong though images are generally softer. Dialogue is clear with burned-in English subtitles and the occasional gunfires offer a loud dynamic listening experience. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Academy Award-winners Joel and Ethan Coen, follows a week in the life of a young folk singer at a crossroads, struggling to make it in the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac)―guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter―is beset by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find, Llewyn journeys from the baskethouses of the Village to an empty Chicago club―on a misbegotten odyssey to audition for a music mogul―and back again.

MOVIE REVIEW:

The latest feature from the award-winning filmmaking siblings is so low-key that it misses out on every single nomination at the Oscars. It’s not that Inside Llewyn Davis is a bad movie in fact it’s a pretty good and enjoyable title.

Unlike a conventional movie which normally tells a story, Inside Llewyn Davis which is inspired by the memoirs of folk singer Dave Van Ronk is much more of character study of a fictitious musician Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) as he struggles his way through the music scene in 1960’s New York.

Davis is a down-on-his luck musician hoping to make it to the big league. He has an ex-girlfriend Jean (Carey Mulligan) who just told him she is pregnant and she needs his money for an abortion. Llewyn himself is hoping his released solo album can help him make ends meet. At the same time he is still coping with the loss of his musical partner who apparently committed suicide.  

For such a cold bleak tale of one man’s survival in the music scene, it’s often funny and the drama brilliantly crafted by the Coens. The dialogue is sharp and spot-on. The stern exchanges between Jean and Llewyn are fine examples of that. Even an orange tabby cat named Ulysses brought a fair amount of cinematic magic to the entire viewing experience.

Being a small indie title doesn’t stop the Coens from attracting talents such as John Goodman (playing a drug-addicted jazz musician), Justin Timberlake (a chance for him to showcase his vocals), Garrett Hedlund (the Tron Legacy star who hardly has any dialogue in the movie) and Carey Mulligan who always impresses despite her limited screentime. Our leading man, Oscar Isaac (Sucker Punch) deserved an acting award for not just for his wonderful live singing but for his enigmatic, sterling performance.

The authenticity of that period is replicated faithfully onscreen and lastly, the incredible soundtrack produced by the renowned T-Bone Burnett, which consists of mostly folk songs, is pretty addictive and might simply turned into earworms after the credits rolled. If you have always been a Coen fan, then Inside Llewyn Davis shouldn’t disappoint.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visually, the DVD smoothly conveys the melancholic tone and dark textures and the audio always involving and clear

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: An intense power struggle between an icy advertising executive and her timid assistant turns deadly in director Brian De Palma's stylish remake of Alain Corneau's Love Crime (2010). A cultivated beauty with expensive tastes and a serious kinky streak, Christine holds a top office at one of the world's biggest international advertising agencies. She didn't get ahead by shrinking into the shadows so when her coy but incredibly creative assistant Isabelle dreams up a wildly popular marketing campaign, Christine takes full credit for the idea. Simultaneously repulsed and intrigued by her boss' shameless candour over the incident, Isabelle ignites an all-out war by sleeping with Christine's lover. Later, when Christine turns up dead after humiliating her assistant in front of an entire company, the perceptive Inspector Bach struggles to sort through the clues as Isabelle grows increasingly unstable and her story seems to change with each new interview.

MOVIE REVIEW:

The marketing team tried their very best to sell this as an erotic-lesbianism thriller but Passion is just a cheap exploitation flick that generates little steam and mystery.

A remake of Alain Corneau’s Love Crime, Passion tells the story of a top advertising exec Christine (Rachel McAdams) and her assistant, Isabelle (Noomi Rapace). Christine is a manipulative, scheming and sultry woman who loves kinky sex or for lack of a better word, a BITCH. After taking credit for Isabelle’s idea and humiliating her in front of the company, Christine is found mysteriously dead. Based on initial superficial clues, Isabelle is being suspected of murder. Is Isabelle truly the murderer? Or is it Christine’s boyfriend, Dirk or could it be Isabelle’s assistant, Dani?  

It’s a surprise that one of the most lauded directors of all time, Brian De Palma is responsible for this atrociously boring movie. To go back to his roots of doing a psychological thriller seems like a bad idea. To watch it materializes on the screen is even worse. The first hour details the cunning characteristics of Christine. And do you know Christine and Isabelle actually shared the same boyfriend? Of course it’s refreshing to watch the usual sweet demure McAdams acting like a slut and Noomi Rapace acting all stressed out and crashing her car into a vending machine. Unfortunately the two ladies failed to salvage the sinking mess.

Without any hint, the movie proceeds into a whodunit mystery thriller in the last 30 minutes. Discarding all the prior corporate backstabbing and introducing his trademark spilt screen and a rush Hitchcock ending to the affair, Passion is narratively incompetent proving the veteran director has indeed lost his magical filmmaking touches in the last decade.  

Whether it’s intentional or not, the music cues sound so dated and irritable. The bizarre mask wearing antics only provides a silly topic to discuss during supper. And the entire movie is shot like a trashy old-fashioned thriller that is far suited to be watch in the eighties than the year 2014. This is not a so-bad-it’s-good movie, it’s plain bad and macabre.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD looks fine equipped with a low-key 2.0 soundtrack which works absolutely fine considering the material. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee
 

Genre: Comedy/Action
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Chen Tianwen, Eva Cheng, Tosh Zhang, Wang Wei Liang, Noah Yap, Maxi Lim, Charlie Goh, Bao Er Cong, Celyn Liew Zhi Lin, Ngeow Zi Jie
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 June 2014

Synopsis:  The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown picks up after Mikey (Wang Weiliang)’s and Babyface (Maxi Lim)’s superb performance in the first round of the competition. Shi Shen (Tosh Zhang) becomes jealous of Mikey, especially after he discovers Mikey’s feelings for Xiao Yu (Eva Cheng). More determined to succeed, Shi Shen spends every waking hour in training and neglects Xiao Yu. Even ignoring her efforts to cook a meal for him. As the finals approach, Xiao Yu begs Shi Shen to withdraw from the competition after he is nearly injured in a sabotage attempt. Matters worsen when Xiao Yu is kidnapped during the finals. Shi Shen and Mikey are both torn between the competition and their love for Xiaoyu. Who will step up to save her?

Movie Review:

Was anyone looking forward to the sequel following the terribly disappointing “The Lion Men”? Certainly not us. But as commercial necessity would have it, here is the second part of the action comedy duology, which pits Wang Weiliang’s Mikey against his cocky senior Supreme (Tosh Zhang) who had parted ways with their master to form his own lion dance troupe when the latter played by Chen Tianwen objected to his hip hop infusions into the traditional art form. Oh, to make matters worse, there is a girl involved - Master He’s own daughter Xiao Yu (Eva Cheng) - whom both Mikey and Supreme are competing for the affections for.

Picking up right after the events of the first film, Mikey’s troupe (known as the Tiger Crane Lion Dance Association) had barely qualified for a major lion dance competition, directly pitting him against Supreme’s The Storm Riders. As you probably have guessed, writer/ director Jack Neo reserves the finale for the showdown between these two opposing troupes, a clash if you have it between tradition and modernism which is briefly flirted around as an ideological concept but is barely developed. Anyhow, if you’re wondering about this titular ‘ultimate showdown’, our advice is to approach it with the barest expectations, for Neo barely puts in any effort to piece together a coherent sequence that at least looks realistic and is engaging to watch.

Instead, with lights, sound and some quick edits, Neo pomps up the razzle dazzle of the finals between Tiger Crane and The Storm Riders without paying attention to the dances themselves - so much so for getting Hong Kong veteran stunt choreographer Ma Yuk Sing to design the moves. And indeed, one could draw a parallel with that of Neo’s own filmmaking, which is too enamoured with VFX pomp that it can scarcely be bothered with the fundamentals of scripting and directing. Simply put, this is an atrociously made movie, perhaps one of the worst local movies in recent memory - and if we were to be even more cynical, we would go so far as to proclaim it as no more than an attempt by Neo to cash in on the popularity teenage stars that he built with ‘Ah Boys to Men’ just one year ago.

Those who have seen the first movie will tell you - Neo is practically running on fumes here. His story of brotherhood and loyalty is no different from that which he preached in ‘Ah Boys to Men’, but lacking in even the meagre character development of the latter. Because he can’t quite translate the professional rivalry between Mikey and Supreme into something compelling, Neo decides to work on the angle of the romantic triangle, filmed in some truly cringe-worthy, repetitive and even frustrating scenes that has Xiao Yu vacillating between the two guys despite clearly knowing just whom she truly loves.

After having his audience endure some truly cloying moments, Neo subjects us to an utterly ridiculous plot twist ripped from his ‘I Not Stupid’ movie. Yes, if you haven’t yet seen the trailer, Xiao Yu gets kidnapped, which promptly gets Mikey to spring into action to rescue her. Contrived as that may sound, it cannot quite match the CGI-ed dream sequence where the mechanised lion from the earlier instalment gets to fall in love with the Merlion (nicknamed ‘Mer Mer’) in a terrible spoof of the Korean drama ‘My Love from the Star’. There is absolutely no point to that dream sequence, except for Neo to brag that he has yet again tried to incorporate some cutting-edge special effects technology into local cinema - to which our polite response would simply be ‘thanks, but no thanks’.

If the scripting is all over the place, Neo’s direction is no better. Indeed, his strength as a filmmaker has always been his spot-on observations about social issues in Singapore; but the material unfortunately affords him none of that opportunity to exercise his powers of social observations. Rather, Neo’s ineptness is glaringly on display here, as he shows how he is yet able to craft compelling sequences out of individual scenes. What’s worse is how he tries to blend different genres here - action, comedy, drama, romance - into one coherent whole, which only comes off as several disjointed parts melded into one thoroughly unwieldy combination.

The cast, spirited though their performances may be, barely save the day. Tosh is sadly given little to do but play the cocky bastard to Supreme in this follow-up, so much so that one forgets that he had left the Tiger Crane troupe in the first place to assert that there is a need for traditional art to innovate in order to stay fresh with the times. Weiliang is still appealing as ever, though his low-key charm can’t quite match up to that in ‘Ah Boys to Men’ no thanks to an underwritten character. The rest of the actors are stuck playing caricatures, and make an impression that lasts only as long as their scene does.

Like we said in our review of the first part, ‘The Lion Men: Ultimate Showdown’ is even more a letdown considering how Neo had just reached a critical and commercial high with his ‘Ah Boys to Men’ duology. There is hardly enough material here to justify a two-part movie, and what passes off as filmmaking is really a sloppy hodgepodge of different genres and questionable use of CGI. That is pretty much encapsulated in the horrendous new-fangled lion dance routines we see in the finale, which try to meld lion dance, hip hop, rock and acrobatics into one gaudy display of garish showmanship. It’s inevitable this sequel had to be released, but it’s another reminder of an embarrassment we’re pretty sure both Neo and his ‘Ah Boys’ wish to be over and done with sooner than later. 

Movie Rating:

(As messy, overindulgent and underdeveloped as the first part, this is truly one of Jack Neo’s worst moments as a filmmaker)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Alan Mak, Felix Chong
Cast: Sean Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo Daniel Wu, Zhou Xun, Alex Fong, Michelle Ye, Kenneth Tsang, Lam Ka Tung, Huang Lei, Ng Man Tat, Dominic Lam, Huang Yi
RunTime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Scorpio East Pictures & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 May 2014

Synopsis: Five Years ago, LAW (Louis KOO) was jailed for killing a major land owner in a car accident. At that time LAW worked as a chauffeur for the rural tycoon LUK (Kenneth TSANG). It was rumored that LUK was behind such land owner’s death, which gave LUK a competitive edge in the native apartment development deal.

Before the Hong Kong handover in 1997, every native, male resident in the New Territories was granted the right to build a house. Yet it had caused social unrest over the land right, until recently the government decided to gather all of the remaining land rights from these residents and plan to build taller apartment buildings. LUK wished to swallow the enormous project and this started the fights between LUK, the land owner and other real estate developers.

When LAW gets out of prison five years later, the world has changed. LUK’s corporation has grown more powerful, while LUK’s right-hand man Keung (LAU Ching Wan), sworn brother of LAW, has his own agenda to pursue.

But things take a surprising turn. With the help of LAW’s prison mate and computer whiz Joe (Daniel WU), LAW drugs Keung and his brothers in the drinks, then modify their mobile phones for wiretapping. Joe gets acquainted with the materialistic single mom Eva (ZHOU Xun), who turns out to have a dark history with both LAW and KEUNG. Through the eavesdropping, LAW realizes Keung’s ultimate plan, which may change Hong Kong’s land development forever. 

Movie Review:

Like its predecessor ‘Overheard 2’, this trilogy capper to writer-directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong’s surveillance crime thriller franchise employs the same trio of actors – Sean Lau, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu – albeit in different roles and a different story. This time, Mak and Chong employs the format to dish out some dirt on Hong Kong’s property syndicates, essentially sham companies run by local thugs who had set themselves up to take advantage of the Government’s redevelopment of the New Territories.

The subject is timely – like Singapore, many ordinary Hong Kong citizens have found themselves increasingly out of reach of a place to call home, no thanks to speculators and investors who have caused prices to skyrocket in the property market – and as veteran screenwriters who are best known for conceptualising the ‘Infernal Affairs’ trilogy, Mak and Chong demonstrate a firm grasp and understanding of the subject matter. In the prologue, they lay out the precursor to their premise, i.e. the gifting of land rights by the British colonial rulers in the 1970s to the male heir of each indigenous family living within the New Territories, and over the course of the next two hours, chart just how greedy profit-driven businessmen try to outdo each other in securing these rights from their landowners.

Sean Lau plays one such businessman, Keung, who gets his start as the right-hand man of Uncle To (Kenneth Tsang), one of the pioneers if you will of such a criminal enterprise. Keung is assisted by his three brothers, Fu (Alex Fong), Paul (Gordon Lam) and Chuck (Dominic Lam), who find themselves aligned against Mainland investor Wan (Huang Lei) and Uncle To’s daughter Yu (Michelle Ye) when the latter two take their company public without giving the former quartet any share of the shareholdings. Their business rivalry gets more complicated as Keung’s former buddy Jau (Louis Koo) is released from prison five years after taking the fall for killing another rival (Chin Kar Lok) in a staged DUI accident.

Turns out Jau isn’t quite as loyal to the Luk brothers after spending that time in the slammer; instead, he teams up with Joe (Daniel Wu) to spy on the Luks, his motive wholly personal – not only were Jau and Yu lovers, Jau remains bitter for having received scant compensation from the Luks for taking their fall. Instead of law enforcement, it is a computer hacker who happens to possess the high-tech equipment necessary for the comprehensive surveillance in order for Jau to plot and plan his game of revenge against the Luks. Admittedly, that is a stretch, even more so considering the range of equipment in his possession that seems engineered for narrative convenience than for anything else – and Mak and Chong do themselves no favours by inserting Vincent Kok in a bit role as an equally tech-savvy expert whom Keung visits late into the movie after suspecting that he might be tapped.

More so than in the earlier movies, the concept of surveillance appears contrived, in equal parts lacking in both realism and significance. Indeed, Mak and Chong want their audience to believe that Joe is able to install hidden cameras in Keung, Fu, Paul and Chuck’s offices, turn the counter-surveillance devices they carry on them into listening devices, and tap on their phones to rely on both the front and back cameras to spy on them. It requires a significant suspension of disbelief to think that Yu is able to pull off something on that scale, especially how he operates as a lone outfit. Yes, it suffices to say that Mak and Chong have taken the omnipresence of being watched a little too liberally – and nowhere is that more evident than in a dues-ex-machina where Yu finds the tables have turned on her and Wan.

Compared to its predecessors too, the storytelling goes bogged down in way too much exposition particularly in the middle segment. As Uncle To makes an unannounced return halfway into the movie, Mak and Chong make the proceedings unnecessarily convoluted with talk of double-crossings, shifting loyalties and even triple-crossings. What also proves lacking is character development, and besides Joe who stays pretty much a blank slate throughout the film, the rest of the characters whether Keung or Jau remain the one-note villain they begin the movie as. The fact that Mak and Chong are better writers than directors only exacerbates the faults of their screenplay, so much so that the film lacks the narrative momentum to keep you engaged from scene to scene.

Not even an ensemble cast can quite redeem this lethargic exercise. Lau is believably conniving, but that’s as far as his character goes throughout the movie. Koo fails to convey the scorn his character must possess in order to turn against his sworn brothers, and thereby comes off a weak counterpoint against the Luks. Joe comes off even more humdrum, his rationale for assisting Jau in the first place never even discussed. Fong and the other two Lams add some colour as scoundrels, but the only character that manages to be anywhere near appealing is Zhou Xun’s widow Moon, whom both Keung and Joe happen to have a crush on. Xun underplays her character’s grief nicely, and is a welcome contrast to the overacting of many of the other characters.

Still, compared to the earlier two instalments, ‘Overheard 3’ ends the franchise on a tepid note. The themes of brotherhood, loyalty, greed, betrayal and corruption are intact, the premise fitting and prescient, but the execution this time round both in the scriptwriting and directing department unfortunately falling short of its predecessors. As a drama, it isn’t quite as engaging or as compelling as it needs to; and as a thriller, let’s just say it doesn’t fit the description. It is even more a letdown if you consider how Mak and Chong pass a vehicular standoff in a scrapyard as the only action that ensues, leaving audiences looking for some good-old Hong Kong-style crime action wanting much, much more. 

Movie Rating:

(Not even the A-list trio of Sean Lau, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu can disguise this third instalment in the surveillance crime thriller franchise from being its weakest one yet)

Review by Gabriel Chong