Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, So Ji-Sub, Song Joong-Ki, Lee Jung-Hyun, Kim Suan
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence and Nudity)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 August 2017

Synopsis: As World War II nears its end, the small island of Hashima (nicknamed "Battleship Island") off the coast of Nagasaki is the site of a massive coal mine where 400 Koreans lead bleak lives as conscripted laborers. Tensions run high between the Japanese soldiers who maintain order with shocking cruelty and violence, and the Koreans from all walks of life who were tricked or forced into coming there. Then, just as the island's dark secrets are revealed, the Koreans plot a dramatic escape.

Movie Review:

Just about everything you’ve probably read about ‘The Battleship Island’ screams blockbuster – not only does its budget of US$22 million make it one of the more expensive Korean movies, the war epic was filmed for six months on a gargantuan outdoor set in the city of Chuncheon in Gangwon Province. The ambition is no doubt admirable, but Ryoo Seung-wan’s massive undertaking comes off a little less impressive than its credentials.

Chiefly, Ryoo, who co-wrote the fact-based story with Shin Kyoung-ill, fails to develop a compelling fictional narrative or characters around the facts. As far as the latter is concerned, hundreds of Koreans were indeed brought to the titular island (so nicknamed because its shape resembled that of a Japanese war vessel) during World War II, the males forced to work as labourers in the undersea coal mine while the females as ‘comfort women’ to the Japanese men in charge of the factory.

Everything else however is make-believe. There is no such person as jazz bandmaster Lee Gang-ok (Hwang Jung-min) or his young daughter Sohee (Kim Su-an), who were duped into thinking that they were on their way to perform in Japan before landing up on the island. There is also no such person as gangster Choi Chil-sung (So Ji-sub), who was as brash as he was empathetic in challenging the cruel, sycophantic Korean foreman oppressing his fellow countrymen. And last but not least, there is no such person as the US-trained independence fighter Park Mu-young (Song Joong-ki), who was sent by the Office of Strategic Services on a mission to retrieve the de facto community leader Yoon Hak-chul (Lee Kyoung-young) his bosses had identified as a possible unifying figure for the country by the time the war was done and fought.

But perhaps most significantly, there is no great escape, which forms the piece de resistance of Ryoo’s film. Oh yes, after detailing the humiliation that the Koreans had to endure, the horrific inhumane conditions they were subject to and the resilience they displayed in the process, Ryoo brings it home with a bombastic prison break sequence where the hundreds of Koreans on the island attempt to scale the high walls of the compound, get onto a coal transport ship below and make it back to Korea. Plenty of lives will be lost or sacrificed in the process, Korean and Japanese alike; plenty of bullets exchanged amidst the desperate last-ditch attempt; and plenty of blood shed as befitting the intensity of a war epic in typical ‘Saving Private Ryan’ style.

That grand finale is undoubtedly thrilling, putting to good use the scale of the outdoor set on which the movie was shot as well as some expert technical contributions by Lee Mo-gae’s cinematography and Jung Doo-hong’s action choreography. Ryoo’s flair in crafting audacious set pieces as evident in his previous blockbusters ‘Veteran’ and ‘The Berlin File’ is undiminished here; so too is his knack for buildup, beginning with a plan that Mu-young sets in motion to sneak Yoon off the island, to a bombshell discovery of Yoon’s complicity with the Japanese, to the decision by the Japanese to kill all Korean witnesses on the island in the face of the Allies’ impending victory, and last but not least the hastily improvised plan coordinated by Mu-young therefore to escape. The pacing is breathless, and the stunts and gunplay well-executed from start to finish, which just about makes up for the underwhelming plot and character work.

Despite granting himself the liberty of creating a set of characters suited for the movie, Ryoo fails to develop any of them fully. Gang-ok is depicted as a jester during the first half of the movie and is therefore responsible for most of the lighter moments, but his flaky attitude and self-serving ways don’t make him much of a role model for us to identify with. The father-daughter between him and Sohee is also underdeveloped. Chil-sung is cast as the stereotypically tough-on-the outside-but-gentle-on-the-inside gangster. Mu-young is even more thinly written, and besides being a quick-witted, agile and well-trained agent, all we know about him is covered in a few brief minutes of exposition just before he is dispatched. As much as the stellar leading cast try to inject gravitas into their roles, they are undeniably let down by their respective one-dimensional characters, so much so that how much we care for who lives or dies is pretty much determined how big a fan you are of the actor.

Even as it fails as a character-driven film, ‘Battleship Island’ barely succeeds on the terms of its plot, which ends up comprising of a series of disparate story threads that are neither sufficiently developed nor engaging in their own right – an explosion in one of the mines due to a freak accident portends a potential clash between the Korean prisoners and their Japanese masters after the former manage to escape, but ends up amounting to nothing; so too is a threat to send the adorable Sohee to Japan to be adopted by the owner of the coal factory; last but not least, a midway twist surrounding Yoon’s true allegiance that feels forced and distracting. Yet though the story advances in fits and starts, Ryoo’s skill as a visual filmmaker sustains a strong mise-en-scene that keeps you watching.

In spite of its mechanized plotting and thin characterization, there is still much to enjoy about this bombastic action-war spectacle. It is to Ryoo’s credit that his movie looks and plays every bit as blockbuster as it’s been touted to be – not just the showy battle set-pieces but also the sense and scope of the living and working settings that the Korean prisoners were subject to on a day-to-day basis. If it isn’t yet apparent to you, this isn’t the sort of movie that you should expect subtlety or nuance, so expect good-evil depictions of the Koreans vis-à-vis the Japanese and plenty of handwringing melodramatic moments. There is no denying it is cathartic though, and by the time a grime-covered Sohee looks straight into the camera with a look of confusion, pain and relief, you’ll find your heart stirred by the display of heroism, determination and tenacity onscreen, notwithstanding that it never actually happened. 

Movie Rating:

(Every bit as blockbuster as it screams, 'Battleship Island' delivers fist-pumping, heart-stirring and flag-waving war spectacle in spades, in spite of a weak narrative and thin characterisation)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Dante Lam
Cast: Zhang Yi, Huang Jingyu, Hai Qing, Du Jiang, Jiang Luxia, Yin Fang, Wang Yutian, Guo Jiahao, Henry Mak, Zhang Hanyu
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 February 2018

Synopsis: The Chinese Navy’s Jiaolong (“Sea Dragon”) Assault Team is famed for its skill in getting the job done. After its success in rescuing a cargo ship hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast, the team is assigned an even more perilous mission. A coup in a North African republic has left local Chinese residents in danger, circumstances further complicated by a terrorist plot to obtain nuclear materials. The situation could prove fatal to the hostages and disastrous to the entire region, and presents Jiaolong with a challenge that threatens the very existence of the team and its members.

Movie Review:

Like Wu Jing’s ‘Wolf Warrior 2’, ‘Operation Red Sea’ is loosely based on the Chinese evacuation of nearly 600 Chinese citizens and 225 foreign nationals from the port city of Aden during the 2015 Yemen civil war. Unlike that surprise box-office phenomenon though, it isn’t one person who is responsible for the entire mission but an elite team of soldiers known as the Jiaolong Assault Team. An extended opening sequence which sees the team rescue the Chinese crew of the Guangdong cargo ship seized by Somalian pirates demonstrates the skill, precision and bravery of each one of its members, while providing a cursory title card introduction to their names and roles – including team leader Yang Rui (Zhang Yi), demolitions expert Xu Hong (Jiang Du), machine gunners Tong Li (Jiang Luxia) and Zhang Tiande (Wang Yutian), and last but not least signaller Zhuang Yu (Henry Prince Mak).

As conceived by Hong Kong action maestro Dante Lam, the titular operation begins with an all-out civil war in the fictional African country of Yewaire, instigated by terrorist elements keen on exploiting the unrest to get their hands on nuclear material. In order to rescue the 100-plus Chinese nationals trapped inside, the Chinese government sends the naval frigate Linyi to the country’s port, and the ship’s captain Gao Yun (Zhang Hanyu) further dispatches the Jiaolong team to escort the consul and some other Chinese citizens with him to safety. Alas two others are still trapped behind enemy lines – the French-Chinese reporter Xia Nan (Christina Hai) investigating the corrupt scientist at an energy plant who holds both the raw materials and the technology to make ‘dirty bombs’, and a female employee Deng Mei (Huang Fenfen) who happens to work at the aforementioned plant – so no sooner have they extracted the consul and his convoy are they sent deep within rebel territory in the desert to retrieve both Xia Nan and Deng Mei.

Like his thematic predecessor ‘Operation Mekong’, Lam approaches the narrative as a device to string together a series of balls-to-the-wall action sequences, so there’s hardly any point trying to point out the gaps, inconsistencies or even loopholes. Broadly speaking, there are four huge ones here – the first in the middle of the city with heavy street fighting between Government troops and rebel troops; the second in a valley in the desert where the Jiaolong are ambushed, out-numbered and out-gunned; the third in a rural countryside town where the Jiaolong disguise themselves as rebels to reach Deng Mei; and the final one in the wide open desert where four of the remaining Jiaolong members attempt to seize the dangerous bomb-ready ‘yellowcake’ to avoid it falling into terrorist hands. Each single sequence, staged and choreographed by Lam himself, has its own unique distinction, so you won’t ever find them repetitive.

Oh yes, there is sheer ambition and imagination in Lam’s envisioning and execution of these elaborate military-versus-militia battles, which are so intensely filmed that you’ll find yourself gripping your seats from start to finish. The first street war has the Jiaolong crossing over rooftops and trying to remove a makeshift bomb strapped around the neck of an innocent civilian, while the next one in the desert valley sees the Jiaolong come under mortar fire and playing a cat-and-mouse game with an enemy sniper. The best of the lot is arguably that of the stealth rescue mission, which not only sees the team being forced to improvise as their initial plans unravel, but also confront the loss of some of their members in combat. It also culminates in some truly jaw-dropping tank-on-tank action, with no less than a sandstorm thrown in for good measure. Alas their final big action sequence pales in comparison with the rest, not least because it feels rushed (and therefore seemingly too easily won) and because it lacks the ingenuity and pacing of the earlier ones. Still, there is absolutely no doubt by the end of the two-hour plus duration that Lam has reached a new zenith in his oeuvre, with this latest representing his most accomplished action movie to date.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it is his best – as with his earlier Operation, this one forsakes plot and character work for all-out spectacle. What passes for characterisation is a self-confident sniper Gu Shun (Johnny Huang) teaching his ‘watcher’ Li Dong (Fang Yin) how to steel his nerves, a quirk that Tiande has since childhood around sweets, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss romance between Tiande and Tong Li. It is somewhat ironic that the most defined character is not one of the Jiaolong but Xia Nan, whose reason for her apparent disregard of her safety is revealed in an affecting flashback involving her late husband and child. Though Lam has proven himself to be the Michael Bay of Chinese cinema with his two latest Operations, we’d actually prefer his earlier morally ambiguous cops-versus-robbers thrillers to these Mainland-centric films.

To Lam’s credit though, ‘Operation Red Sea’ is a lot less jingoistic than we were expecting it to be, especially given that one of the production studios is the Chinese military’s P.L.A. Navy Government TV Art Central of China. Sure, there is still the message of how its military stands ready to protect its citizens abroad (or defend its territorial waters), but by and large, this is a modern-day war movie more than it is a propaganda video (which is more than we can say for ‘Wolf Warrior 2’). Much emphasis has been paid to keep it real, authentic and raw, which in turn means it does get pretty violent and gory at times though never gratuitous. This is the very equivalent of ‘Black Hawk Down’ – gritty, tense and thrilling war cinema – so if you need a dose of adrenaline, get ready for a shot to the heart. 

Movie Rating:

(Undoubtedly the most accomplished action movie from Dante Lam, 'Operation Red Sea' is balls-to-the-wall modern-day war spectacle that's gritty, intense and thrilling to watch)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Cast: Huang Xuan, Miao Miao, Zhang Chuxi, Yang Caiyu, Li Xiaofeng, Wang Tiancheng, Sui Yuan, Zhao Lixin
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 1 February 2018

Synopsis: HE XIAOPING faces discrimination because of a family scandal. She hopes to start over in a new place, but finds that the shame has followed her to Chengdu. LIU FENG is well-liked within the group but he has unrequited crush on the lead solo LIN DINGDING. Liu Feng experiences the pain of rejection and is expelled from the group when he makes an unwelcomed advance on her. He Xiaoping is heartbroken because she had secret feelings for Liu Feng… Each of the members of the art troupe all learn lessons in this coming-of-age story. Their paths have led to different places and different experiences.

Movie Review:

By placing Youth in the timeline of the Cultural Revolution, it’s inevitable some pundits will expect a form of commentary or advocacy from the film, especially when it’s from a Mainland Chinese director. From the cushy seat of a critic, one should think nothing of asking a native director to turn entertainment into mouthpiece against their country’s “oppression”. 

But then, they shouldn’t.

Feng Xiaogang has built up acclaim across the board, receiving respect and commercial success through his measured way of making movies. For a foreign agent to fault this as a toothless social piece, It’s like asking Michael Bay to be Michael Moore.

Because Youth is really a fine film. A coming-of-age tale rife with tempestuous events that deal with hopes, desires, and ultimately, rejection. Yes, it does wring the sentimentality rag a little much at times, leaving the audience feeling overworked with tropes, but the easy pace of the film softens the aches, and keeps the intimidating 146-minute running time doable.

A new recruit has joined the Peoplés Liberation Party. Her name, He Xiaoping (Mian Mian). With her father a counter-revolutionary, she is eager to prove herself in the military art troupe to see her father’s eventual release. But enthusiasm can often be subject to ridicule.

Other than the exemplary male dancer Liu Feng (Huang Xuan), the rest of the troop makes fun of her boorish upbringing, childishly citing body odour and fake boobs as reasons for her outcast. The clique is headed by the obnoxious Hao Shuwen (Li Xiaofeng), who’s father is in a high-ranking cadres, and includes wilful Lin Dingding (Yang Caiyu) who gets by on her looks.

All this is narrated by Xiao Suizi (Zhong Chuxi), who’s a little bit more sympathetic, and if not, also a little curious as to the reason behind Xiaoping’s inexhaustible determination.

Of course, it’s all very sentimental.

Youth is quite the saga, moving from Mao era to dissolution, to the Reform times; pulling the ensemble apart from their original goals, of which personal and party often misalign. And maybe that is where the message is tucked into. The periods fall around like characters as a backdrop, but the developments have little to do with it - the reminder that there is a disconnect between authority and the people.

But Youth’s greatest asset has to be its cinematography. Luo Pan’s camera work is faultless and effortless. It floats past dancers and snakes pasts soldiers, in long takes that is as alluring as it is compelling. As the dancers finally lose their troupe, so too does the camera stop its footwork, anchoring itself like reality’s grim stamp.

There’s a particular shade of red that is immediately evocative, yet transcendent in symbolism. The Communist red is also seen in blood, furniture, flag and flowers, and though they all symbolise passion, they are also transient - another badge of youth’s quality.

Drenched in golden lighting and shining beads of perspiration and tears, Youth is quietly (and surprisingly) a sensual piece as well. The lithe bodies of the dancers are unmistakably provocative, yet never in a leery manner, even when the slow-mo vignettes of locker room and swimming pool languidly strolls past the screen.

Half of what makes a melodrama a success is its music, and Zhao Lin has scored the film lavishly, befitting the dramatic eras. From luxurious strings to trotting anthems, the music accompanies the film like an expert dancing partner, to explore the themes of Youth - of dreams, regrets and what may come.

Movie Rating:

(An opulent production with stunning technical values, accompanied by a more typical coming-of-age story set in trying times)

Review by Morgan Awyong

Genre: Thriller
Director: Huh Jung
Cast: Yum Jung-Ah,Park Hyuk-Kwon,Shin Rin-Ah, Heo Jin, Lee Joon-Hyuk
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 August 2017

Synopsis: Hee-yeon moves to her hometown near Mt. Jang, wishing her mother-in-law remembers how she lost Hee-yeon’s longing son, Jun-suh. One day, near a cave at Mt. Jang, Hee-yeon meets a girl in tatter and reminds of Jun-suh. Feeling sympathy, Hee-yeon decides to spare a bed until she findsthe girl’s parents. Gradually, the girl mimics Hee-yeon’s daughter, Jun-hee’s name, voice, and look; eventually, calling Hee-yeon, mom. As the girl enters the house, strange things begin to happen to a family and at last, the mother-in-law who suffered from auditory hallucination disappears to the cave with the legend about a mysterious creature. Will Hee-yeon find her son? Will this family find happiness again?

Movie Review:

First off, let’s be honest. There's hardly anything left in horror cinema that can be said to be truly original, and aficionados of the genre will no doubt find many of the images in "The Mimic" familiar. A creepy kid. Slaughtered animals. Sinister forests. awful stuff happening to the main characters, juxtaposed against a couple of requisite side characters: a detective trying to stay on top of investigations into the paranormal incidents, as well as a certain know-it-all enigma who holds the key to explaining the cause of the strange occurrences (but predictably only does so late in the game). Then there are the choice sound effects thrown in for good measure, such as the slow dripping from a leaky tap into murky bathwater and the tinkling of windchimes to generate eerie vibes.

We can deal with a rehash of horror tropes, but we’re more interested in knowing whether the storytelling manages to be engaging or if the scares are effectively delivered. On both counts however, director Huh Jung’s latest feature film displays occasional flashes of promise but ultimately feels like a whole lot of unrealised potential. Fans of Kim Jee-woo’s "A Tale of Two Sisters" may recognise Yum Jung-ah, who plays the lead character of Hee-yeon, a distraught mother of two who has not given up looking for her young son who disappeared five years ago. Her mother-in-law, who appears to be suffering from some form of dementia, was the last to see her son. As a result, the entire family has uprooted from Seoul to the Mt. Jang countryside, the hometown, in the hopes that the soothing surroundings will aid the elder in recalling the events of that fateful day.

Mt. Jang is of course the setting for all the creepy action that ensues, in particular a cave walled up with bricks, accessible through a clearing in the woods, from which evil forces seems to beckon. The family take in a dishevelled, young girl they find in the forest (played by a precocious Shin Rin-a) - because what would a horror flick be without unwise decisions? - who increasingly exhibits an uncanny ability to parrot the voice of and even adopts the same name as Hee-yeon's daughter. Midway, the plot sags somewhat, as the film potters around the family's tolerance of the juvenile's increasingly unsettling presence and correspondingly bizzarre events in the household (once again, conveniently explained away by Hee-yeon's fragile state of mind and protective maternal instincts). Needless to say, and without giving away more, the movie builds up to a dizzying frenzy involving the main characters (predictably, so it's hardly a spoiler here) traipsing down to the good old Mt. Jang cave and learning about the shamanistic origins of the diabolical entity wrecking havoc upon just about everyone.

Unfortunately, the script's greatest flaws lie in the way the story is told - too much is foreshadowed, leaving very little to the imagination. Clues are liberally littered from the get-go, from the opening scene, which lays bare that sinister forces are at work in the cave, to the detective's parallel uncovering of old photographs and case files, right down to the portentous stylings of its characters. The pay-off at the end is scant, exacerbated by a somewhat hackneyed storyline and an ending that falls slightly flat. Somewhere buried in the film's conclusion is a vague underlying statement about the lengths a mother will go driven by the love for her child, but audiences are not likely to feel emotionally invested enough to feel for it, since we see Hee-yeon moping around far more than we witness the bond she shared with her missing son. The result - an intentional attempt to wrap things up on a novel note comes across as unintentionally haphazard.

When it comes to director Huh's set pieces for churning the scares, to his credit, there are some genuinely terrifying moments, mostly involving the strategic framing of mirrors and wardrobes, all of which accompanied by a sparse but effective soundscape that calibrates its intensity when the visuals call for it. However, quite often, the build-up of dread in several scenes don't culminate in the sort of hair-raising climaxes they ought to. For a film titled "The Mimic", it sure feels like a lot more could also have been milked from the idea of mimicry (although here, we should probably point out that the Korean title literally translates to "Mt. Jang Tiger").

That's not to say it isn't a competently-made film. Huh's flair manifests itself in the film's deliberate framing and dark, clean aesthetic. The main cast does its best with the cards they have been dealt, with both Yum and Park Hyuk-kwon turning in individually credible performances as the distressed parents struggling to cope with family tragedy. Shin's doe-eyed child persona manages to evoke either spookiness or pity, depending on the situation, although she probably won't be remembered among the legions of creepy kids competing in the junior category of horror's hall of fame. Moviegoers will probably have a decent time with this flick, but it's not going to be long before most of them cannot recall they ever did.

Movie Rating:

(The Mimic is decently made but ultimately unmemorable, owing to its misguided investment in telling a story that isn’t particularly original, all at the expense of going full throttle with its scares)

Review by Tan Yong Chia Gabriel

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Sir Elton John, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/KingsmanMovie

Opening Day: 21 September 2017

Synopsis: “Kingsman: The Secret Service” introduced the world to Kingsman - an independent, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion, whose ultimate goal is to keep the world safe. In “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” our heroes face a new challenge. When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman, dating back to the day they were both founded. In a new adventure that tests their agents’ strength and wits to the limit, these two elite secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy, in order to save the world, something that’s becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy…

Movie Review:

As is typical for a sequel of this nature, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ succumbs to the tendency to do everything its predecessor did bigger, louder and wilder.

That pretty much sums up the rollicking car chase scene which kicks off the movie, as our teenage protagonist Eggsy (Taron Edgerton) finds himself attacked by a former turncoat Kingsman agent Charlie (Edward Holcroft) whom he thought had perished. Besides their close-quarter skirmish in the back of a retrofitted London cab careening down the streets of London at night, Eggsy also finds himself shot at by heavily armed gunmen on three other vehicles, which he eventually takes out with a trio of miniature missiles in the middle of a park.

Soon after, the entire Kingsman is nearly wiped out, save for Eggsy and his handy tech guru Merlin (Mark Strong), triggering the so-called ‘doomsday’ protocol that has both of them travelling to Kentucky to seek the help of their US counterpart called the Statesmen. There is now not one but two espionage organisations, and consequently a surfeit of secret agents joining the fold, including Statesmen head Champagne (Jeff Bridges), trigger-happy Tequila (Channing Tatum), tech nerd Ginger Ale (Halle Berry) and Burt Reynolds-style Western hero Whiskey (Pedro Pascal). Oh yes, the other audience favourite Harry Hart (Colin Firth) whom was shot point-blank in the head in the first movie is back too, courtesy of a McGuffin that inadvertently sucks any sense of real-life peril from the proceedings.

But then again, the same can be said of the cartoonish villain this time round – a nefarious drug kingpin named Poppy (Julianne Moore) who lives in her ‘50s ‘Happy Days’ vision of Middle America, complete with movie house, hair salon and diner, right in the heart of a remote Cambodian jungle village she calls ‘Poppy Land’. Using her global domination of the drug business, she threatens to kill millions of people infected by her poisoned ‘weed’ unless the US President (Bruce Greenwood) legalises drugs. The caricature doesn’t stop there; she has two killer robot dogs to protect her as well as a kidnapped Elton John (no kidding!) for her own entertainment/ amusement. It’s silly all right and even more kiddish than before, notwithstanding Poppy’s penchant for turning her disloyal subjects into cheeseburger filling using a heavy-duty industrial meat-grinder.

There is indeed a lot going on at the same time – on top of taking down Poppy and her henchman Charles, Eggsy has to contend with a somewhat off-form Harry who doesn’t quite have the same aim, reflexes and worse, occasionally experiences fluttery butterfly hallucinations (before he chose military service, Harry had ambition to be a lepidopterist); a third-act turn also has Harry suspecting that Agent Whiskey has been working against them all along; and last but not least, a US President who has schemed to let millions of infected people, including his own Chief of Staff (Emily Watson), perish in order to fulfil his personal agenda of ending the war on drugs in one fell swoop. Yet even at close to two-and-a-half-hours, director Matthew Vaughn and his long-time screenwriting collaborator Jane Goldman struggle to tie all the strands together compellingly, resulting therefore in a narrative that has a lot of ideas spinning around but not quite cohering fully with one another.

That many characters and storylines also means less time for Eggsy or for that matter, Eggsy and Merlin as well as Eggsy and Harry, the sum of which arguably gave the first movie genuine poignancy alongside its madcap action. Without a similarly robust emotional anchor, Vaughn predictably ratchets up the scale and tempo of the big action set-pieces, although none quite matches the same breath-taking audacity as the piece de resistance from the previous movie (remember the church massacre?). There is a bar fight which sees Agent Whiskey teach some sneering local troublemakers a lesson with his electric lasso (which is intentionally reminiscent of an iconic sequence in the last movie when Harry was in much better shape), followed by a wild shootout at a deserted lodge high up in the snowy Italian mountainside (which is also intentionally reminiscent of the classic James Bond flick ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’), and finally the climactic showdown at Poppy Land that sees Eggsy and Harry (with Elton as an unlikely ally, no less) confront their arch nemesis and her array of gadgets. To be sure, Vaughn hasn’t lost his imagination, verve or irreverence in the able blend of high-octane action and tongue-in-cheek humour, and these aggressively stylised sequences are undoubtedly the highlight of the film and worth the price of admission alone; but the generous use of blood and gore doesn’t disguise the fact that the loss of danger diminishes the thrill and edge in the original.

If therefore your intent is to enjoy more of the same stylistic pizazz which Vaughn brought to the breathless fight scenes, then ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ will surely satisfy – not only in its audacious defiance of the law of physics but also in its signature trick of making them sequences look like one single, long, unbroken shot. As with its predecessor, this sequel is firmly rooted in Vaughn’s vision of the Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons’ comic-book series as an over-the-top James Bond pastiche that cranks up the graphic violence while retaining the classic spy franchise’s classy air of sophistication. To be sure, we never expected the sequel to feel as fresh and original as its predecessor, but by trying to do so, it inadvertently turns what made it unique into sheer overkill, further exacerbated by a bloated plot that feels busy yet laboured at the same time. It is still plenty of fun all right, but it is nowhere as exciting, lively or distinctive as its claim to fame. 

Movie Rating:

(Even more over-the-top than its predecessor, this overlong and overstuffed 'Kingsman' sequel still offers plenty of fun in its kinetic action sequences but is also a lot more cartoonish and a lot less lively)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Romance/Thriller
Director: Paul Currie
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Michiel Huisman, Maeve Dermody, Sam Reid
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: PG13 (Scene of Intimacy)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 3 August 2017

Synopsis: New York City air traffic controller Dylan Branson (MICHIEL HUISMAN) is the embodiment of a guy at the top of his game, until one day at 2:22pm, a blinding flash of light paralyzes him for a few crucial seconds as two passenger planes barely avoid a midair collision. Suspended from his job, Dylan begins to notice the increasingly ominous repetition of sounds and events in his life that happen at exactly the same time every day. An underlying pattern builds, mysteriously drawing him into Grand Central Station every day 2:22pm. As he's drawn into a complex relationship with a beautiful woman who works in an art gallery, Sarah (TERESA PALMER), disturbingly complicated by her ex-boyfriend Jonas (SAM REID), Dylan must break the power of the past, and take control of time itself.

Movie Review:

‘2:22’ builds a mystery around a repetitive series of events that surround our lead protagonist Dylan (Michiel Huisman), a former hotshot air traffic controller whose savant ability to see patterns in everyday life is disrupted one day, resulting in a near collision between two passenger planes at New York’s JFK International Airport and his subsequent suspension from his job. Pretty soon, Dylan starts experiencing recurring visions of the immediate moments preceding a murder at Grand Central station – a businessman, a pregnant woman, couples hugging and a group of schoolchildren – that occurs at the titular timestamp. These quickly become  pattern of recurrences in the hours preceding that critical moment in time – a drop of water, a bug crushed, a minor vehicular crash followed by an altercation etc. As he learns of a murder that happened at the exact same time in Grand Central three decades ago, Dylan becomes convinced that the signs point to something in his near future, no matter how crazy that may sound to his newfound art curator girlfriend Sarah (Teresa Palmer).

If the premise of Todd Stein and Nathan Parker’s screenplay sounds somewhat familiar, that’s because films like Jim Carrey’s ‘The Number 23’ or Nicolas Cage’s ‘Knowing’ had also explored how clues in the present portended a certain impending calamity for their respective protagonists, with perhaps the only exception here being how that concept is developed around a love story. Oh yes, even though Dylan’s budding romance with Sarah (whom he meets after attending a modern-day ballet performance for the first time in his life) may seem incidental to his visions, it soon becomes clear that she is instrumental to them, especially as she is the link between Dylan and Jonas (Sam Reid), a visual artist whose latest exhibition Sarah is curating just happens to be a 3D holographic representation of the very scene at Grand Central that has been playing back and forth in Dylan’s mind. The connections don’t end there – Sarah is not only of the same age as Dylan, she also shares the same birthday as him; and oh, Jonas also happens to be Sarah’s ex-boyfriend, and despite what he says, you can see in his eyes that he is still a jealous ex-lover.

As with such movies, you’ll need a certain suspension of disbelief in order to get into its rhythm. Most fundamentally, you’ll have to believe that there is one version of the future that is predetermined, i.e. that version which Dylan has premonitions about and races against time to avoid, and another version which can result if he manages to take the necessary preventive measures. Inevitably, such movies fall victim to the logical fallacies of the causal loop, which often makes you cynical that the many coincidences along the way are in fact no more than just narrative conveniences. Some movies like Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Arrival’ earn your benefit of the doubt by being deliberately and meticulously realistic; while others like Australian director Paul Currie’s film here opts instead for slick visuals and brisk enough pacing to distract you from asking too many questions.

To Currie’s credit, he does succeed in maintaining a fair bit of intrigue throughout the movie, keeping you guessing just what it all means for Dylan as well as how a certain point in his future is somehow written in the events of the past. Notwithstanding, as much as we had wanted to be sold on its ‘the-clues-to-our-future-lie-in-the-events-of-the-past’ concept, it just is too far-fetched for us to buy into the fact that Dylan is not just gifted with the extraordinary ability to recognise patterns in seemingly ordinary circumstances but also with the skill of reading how the stars align in the sky to foretell our fates past and present. To say that the science behind it is hokey is probably an understatement, and it doesn’t get any better by the time all the pieces of the puzzle come together for the revelatory finale, which is arguably a lot less fascinating than you’re expecting it to be.

‘2:22’ is further undermined by middling performances from its barely committed leads. Best known for his role on ‘Game of Thrones’, Huisman comes off bland and oddly detached, and aside from being good-looking and therefore easy on the eye, never quite manages to get you invested in his character’s fate. Meanwhile, Palmer makes the best of an underwritten role, but her scenes with Huisman hardly exude chemistry for us to believe that the pair would have fallen so deeply in love with each other after a brief few dates together. Despite an intriguing premise, this science-fiction mystery/ romance/ thriller struggles to develop its ideas or connect the dots in a meaningful and significant way, ultimately leaving you with a sense of frustration over its missed opportunity and unsatisfying execution. If the payoff after one and a half hours is simply how the past repeats itself, there’s hardly any mystery why you’ll want to reset the clock back to ‘0:00’. 

Movie Rating:

(An intriguing premise that unfolds in messy fashion and ends with a middling payoff, this sci-fi mystery-thriller-romance mishmash is hardly worth two hours of your time)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Paul King
Cast: Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, and the voices of Ben Whishaw, Imelda Staunton
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 December 2017

Synopsis: Paddington, the world’s favourite bear, returns in PADDINGTON 2, the hilarious and action-packed sequel to the 2014 worldwide hit which became the highest grossing non-studio family film of all time. Happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens, Paddington has become a popular member of the community, spreading joy and marmalade wherever he goes. While searching for the perfect present for his beloved Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, Paddington spots a unique pop-up book in Mr Gruber’s antique shop, and embarks upon a series of odd jobs to buy it. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief...

Movie Review:

‘Paddington 2’ is that rare sequel which is as much of a sheer delight as its predecessor – and that is no easy feat, mind you, for the red hat-clad marmalade-chomping ursine had made his big-screen debut back in 2014 with wit, inventiveness and an irrepressible burst of good cheer.

Having established how the endearing Peruvian resident had made his way down to London’s Paddington Station (hence the name) and found himself into the hearts of an unassuming middle-class family known as the Browns, returning writer-director Paul King spins a colourful mystery here around the theft of a pop-up book which Paddington (voiced with perfect innocence by Ben Whishaw) is wrongfully accused of. His beloved Aunt Lucy’s (Imelda Staunton) 100^th birthday is approaching, and Paddington thinks the vintage book is saving up to buy – by first working as a barber’s assistant and later on a window cleaner for his fellow residents on Windsor Gardens where he lives with the Browns – from Mr Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop would make an excellent gift.

Unbeknownst to Paddington, his newest neighbour on the block has more nefarious designs. A vain, washed-up acting thespian who now spends his days fronting ‘dog food’ commercials, Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant) believes that the book holds the clues to some lost treasure which will enable him to reclaim his former stage glory. As Paddington bides his time in an imposing Victorian-style prison and the Browns scramble to clear Paddington’s name, Phoenix slinks across town in various disguises – among them, a vagrant, a knight and a nun – to piece together the parts of a puzzle that have been left behind more than a century ago.

Even though it is no secret just who the villain is or that Paddington will eventually make a few friends in prison who will help clear his name, the joys and thrills of watching either are undiminished. Grant is absolute riot playing an actor way past his prime yet utterly full of himself; not only does he passionately throw himself into multiple ridiculous disguises and eye-popping tweed outfits, Grant has no qualms upping the has-been ham interacting with his old costumes from his theatrical past – and we might add that you should stay till the end for his show-stopping musical number. There is also great fun watching Paddington win over the gruff prison head chef Knuckles McGinty (Brendan Gleeson) as well as the rest of his fellow inmates with marmalade, leading up to an ingeniously conceived old-school jailbreak.

That is but one in a sequence of enormously fun set-pieces. There’s one with Paddington messing up a haircut and another with him washing windows with his entire furry being; there’s a breakneck chase with him astride a trusty Irish wolfhound; a laundry incident with a red sock that turns all the inmates’ uniforms pink; an elaborate plan by the Browns to break into Phoenix’s residence to prove his culpability, and last but not least a climactic finale with two speeding vintage steam trains racing parallel to each other. You can tell just how much thought has gone into even the seemingly throwaway gags by the surprising number of call-backs – an extreme form of yoga called ‘chakrobatics’ that we see Mr Brown taking up during the opening credits while suffering from mid-life crisis is put to good use during the climax; and an incident with a stick of toffee apple at a carnival gives Paddington the idea of using them to walk on the roof of a hurtling locomotive without getting blown away.

That intricacy is also keenly felt in the richly designed fairytale London setting full of whimsical and wonderful, where you’ll see working red telephone boxes, school newspapers printed on actual presses and even Victorian steam fairs. There are plenty of details that you couldn’t and wouldn’t catch in one sitting, but that just speaks to the thought and inspiration that has been poured into these 100 minutes. What will certainly be felt is its brimming heart, warmth and humanity, not just through Paddington’s undimmed goodness and courtesy for others but also in the love between Paddington and the Browns that makes them truly family. Not often in this day and age do you see such wholesome family entertainment devoid of any hint of cruelty and cynicism, and that is part of the movie’s winning charm.

Really, there’s so much to love about ‘Paddington 2’, a splendid sequel that packs delightful bits of physical comedy, distinctively British wit and plenty of warm, tender emotion into an enchanting concoction. Like we said at the start, it is as magical as the first movie, and every reason to hope that the late Michael Bond’s lovable creation will always be around. 

Movie Rating:

(Packed with enormously fun action, sharp British wit and heartwarming emotion, 'Paddington 2' is utterly delightful entertainment you won't bear to miss)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Apple Chan, Joshua Tan, Tosh Zhang, Wang Weiliang, Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Charlie Goh, Ryan Lian, Jaspers Lai
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Clover Films, J-Team Productions, mm2 Entertainment and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 9 November 2017

Synopsis: Singapore's most successful movie franchise is back! After leaving the military, Lobang, Wayang King, Sergeant Ong, and Ken Chow are all busy with their respective career as civilians. That's until they are called back to serve the nation again under the Singapore Armed Forces' Armoured Formation. Now they must juggle between work and their reservist duties. What hilarious situations will happen as they train together and their military roles are reversed? There'll be new enemy threats and their brotherhood will be put to the test.

Movie Review:

Thanks to the commemoration of 50 years of National Service (otherwise known as ‘NS50’), Singapore’s favourite band of brothers is back to remind NSFs, NSmen and the rest of the Singapore resident population just how fundamental NS is to the survival of the nation. Oh yes, make no mistake, the ‘Ah Boys to Men’ (ABTM) films were first and foremost great PR for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and its mission to ensure peace and security – true enough, that message is repeated in the first few minutes of this fourth instalment – for there would otherwise be no raison d'être for the SAF to lend its facilities, trainers and most importantly equipment for the filming of these movies.

But under Singapore’s most commercially successful director Jack Neo’s hands, they have also become an opportunity for anyone and everyone who has gone through NS to reminisce about their own one-of-a-kind life-changing experience, as well as to compare notes on the evolution of the NS experience through the years. It is for this reason that all three ABTM films sit on the top-ten box-office list of most successful local films of all time, which in turn has become de facto formula for this entry set within an SAF Armour reservist unit. Think that Infantry has it much easier than Armour? You haven’t seen how ‘river crossing’ was done in the 1970s. Unfamiliar with what a ‘blanket party’ is? You’ll need to ask someone who’s done NS in the 1970s. Even better, two flashback sequences featuring Wang Lei as an Armour sergeant will demonstrate just how things have changed in four decades.

Like the previous chapter, this sequel is only a continuation from the earlier films in the loosest sense of the word. The cast, characters and their personalities remain the same – among them, Joshua Tan’s self-absorbed Ken Chow, Maxi Lim’s earnest and eager-to-please Aloysius Jin, Wang Weiliang’s street-smart Lobang King, Noah Yap’s brash IP Man, and last but not least Tosh Zhang’s stern but caring platoon sergeant Alex Ong – but their vocations have been entirely switched out (surely you weren’t expecting them to go from ‘frogmen’ to Armour troops?). Neo has also added here Ryan Lian’s stoic Keng Long, Ben Logan Sng’s arrogant C E Oh (he is also Alex’s boss at work – get it?) and two token minority characters played by Hafiz Aziz and Kishan J. who deserve way more screen time than they get. Except for Lobang (whom you can count on to deliver the wise-cracks) and Alex (who gets a thankless side plot involving his loving grandmother’s efforts to find him a girlfriend), the rest are intended as stock types of the kinds of people you meet in army, so there is even less character development here than in any of the earlier three movies.

While the first two movies were structured around the ten-week Basic Military Training and the third around the Naval Diving Unit training, this one is built around a two-week In-Camp Training (ICT) – or more accurately, the fourth such call-up for SGT Alex and his men. Within that, Neo and his co-writer Ivan Ho build the narrative around three issues – one, the cavalier attitude that NSmen bring to their ICT training; two, the commitments that NSmen need to juggle outside of camp (i.e. work and family) during ICT; and three, the ‘culture shock’ that NSmen would probably have to adjust to if they were under the authority of a female officer, played here by Apple Chan’s by-the-books LTA Zhuang Xinyi.

Even with a generous two-plus hour runtime, these are hefty themes to juggle at the same time, and true enough, the storytelling doesn’t flow as coherently or as fluently as it should. In particular, the character dynamics are somewhat awkward and unwieldy – a disagreement that starts between IP Man and Keng Long that escalates to involve Lobang is too easily resolved; IP Man’s sexist bias against LTA Zhuang plays out in cartoonish ways and comes to a head in a contrived kickboxing match; and last but not least, Ken’s conflict with Aloysius is re-ignited then doused all too conveniently after an unfortunate encounter with a swarm of bees. Notwithstanding, Neo does manage some poignant moments, such as the display of brotherhood that eventually wins over LTA Zhuang and the latter’s own professionalism that eventually wins the respect of the men.

More significantly, ABTM4 offers a never-before-seen display of SAF armour drills, outfield training and firepower on the big screen. To be fair to Neo, it would not have been possible to construct a hypothetical war scenario in order to show the full tactical response of our armoured regiment (you can imagine for reasons of sensitivity why the SAF would not agree to that at all), but there is enough that he tries to demonstrate within a highly abbreviated ‘war game’ to impress. It should however be said that those looking forward to watching the tanks deployed in urban warfare (which, to be fair, the promotion for the movie had teased) would be sorely disappointed, as these scenes are left to an epilogue that is honestly redundant and pointless. Where he has been given leeway – and which he does capitalise to the movie’s advantage – is to film within the confined interiors of an actual SAF armoured vehicle, capturing intimately the sweat, discomfort and even claustrophobia of the men squeezed shoulder to shoulder inside.

Yet coming after the series high-water mark of ABTM3: The Frogmen, this succeeding instalment is more than a little underwhelming. Sure, Neo has gotten better at weaving the inevitable (and copious) product placements into the story, but apart from that and the novelty from watching our SAF armoured vehicles in action, everything else feels like an inferior rehash from the earlier trilogy. We’ve seen the personality conflicts done better, we’ve seen their camaraderie expressed much more stirringly, and we’ve heard the PSAs in every one of the past three movies before. What about the bit on gender equality you say? Well that’s a little disingenuous we say, considering how Neo inserts an offensively sexist sequence where the boys fantasise being at a waterpark with booby babes in bikinis, much like how Lobang daydreamt of being in a hot tub with equally skimpily dressed females in the first movie. The chemistry between the boys is still just as infectious, but the unfortunately scattershot plotting and the clumsy character work make ABTM4 a disappointing sequel on the whole. Because NS is so close to people’s hearts, there will be bits that resonate with the male citizen demographic, and in that regard and that regard alone, ABTM4 has just about enough reason to justify its otherwise superfluous existence. 

Movie Rating:

(Not nearly as accomplished as the series high-water mark that was ABTM3: The Frogmen, this slapdash follow-up with its scattershot storytelling and clumsy character work still boasts poignant moments that will resonate with any and every NSman)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Michael Cuesta
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Scott Adkins, Taylor Kitsch, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Shiva Negar, Trevor White, Navid Negahban, David Suchet
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 18 October 2017

Synopsis: AMERICAN ASSASSIN follows the rise of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien), a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch) intent on starting a World War in the Middle East.

Movie Review:

Comparisons with Jason Bourne or Jack Reacher are inevitable, though not necessarily for the worse.

Adapted from the late Vince Flynn’s hugely popular series of novels, ‘American Assassin’ sets up yet another one-man CIA killing machine in the form of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien), who is driven – at least at the start – by a deep-seated sense of vengeance more than professionalism and/or plain obedience. In the novel of the same name, it was the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack that shatters him emotionally; in the movie though, it is a fictional (though clearly mirroring the 2015 Sousse attack in Tunisia that left 38 beachgoers dead) attack at a beach resort that claims his fiancé which triggers his transformation from fresh-faced male ingénue to stone-cold killer. Within 18 months, Mitch has taught himself guns and martial arts, learned fluent Arabic, and made contact with the very terrorist cell that was behind the attack.

But before he gets to exact sweet revenge, the CIA interrupts his vendetta by whisking the cell leader Adnan Al-Mansur (Shahid Ahmed) away. The agency’s deputy director of counter-terrorism Irene (Sanaa Lathan) is impressed though and makes him an offer to join an elite black-ops unit called Orion that is headed up by former Navy SEAL and Gulf War fighter Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). And wouldn’t you know it – someone has just stolen weapons-grade plutonium and plans to make a nuclear bomb! It so happens too that the person behind it is one of Stan’s former proteges named Ghost, who bears perhaps an even more deep-seated grudge against Stan and the US Government, and therefore has no qualms to detonate the said bomb on thousands of American citizens.

What follows is a trot across the European continent that sees Mitch team up with a Turkish operative Annika (Shiva Negar) to pursue a trail from Istanbul to Rome which will hopefully lead to Ghost. Along the way, the team of four screenwriters inject some tension between Mitch and Stan by playing the former as a wild card who is first vulnerable to his own emotion (as a result of the anger and trauma from his tragic past) and then prone to disobeying the latter’s orders in the field; though in the case of the latter, these instances are in fact driven not by his own self-interest but an innate doggedness and determination to prevent their trail from going cold. There is also some attempt to throw in modern-day politics into the action –  seeing as how the buyers of the nuclear bomb turn out to be a group of Iranian hardliners incensed by their country’s agreement to the 2015 denuclearisation deal – but that in itself never quite develops into anything compelling.

Chiefly therefore, this spy thriller plays as a cat-and-mouse game between Mitch/ Stan on one side and Ghost on the other, complete with a disturbing scene of torture that tries to justify its existence as befitting the enmity between Stan and Ghost. To his credit, director Michael Cuesta makes the most of a predictable script by keeping a brisk pace from start to finish and staging a couple of pretty intense close-quarter fights. He has also assembled a competently engaging lead in O’Brien, channelling both grit and vulnerability in his best ‘Jason Bourne’ impersonation. O’Brien is supported by a very effective Keaton, who despite being the go-to guy of late for playing the wise grizzled veteran, is clever enough to make his cardboard tough-guy character here a little more interesting.

In truth, it is probably not reasonable to expect ‘American Assassin’ to be as stunning as any one of the first three ‘Jason Bourne’ movies, but this is meat-and-potatoes B-grade spy thriller fare that should do well to entertain those looking for a bit of thrill. As the first chapter of a potential Mitch Rapp franchise (there are 16 books in total in Flynn’s series), it is admittedly a little underwhelming, lacking somewhat in wit, character and even plot – at least though that kicker of an ending promises that the sequel might make a sharper ‘kill’.

Movie Rating:

(As far as spy thrillers go, this is efficient, workman-like fare that won't make 'Jason Bourne' or 'Jack Reacher' lose their job anytime)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Cheng Wei-Hao
Cast: Rainie Yang, Hsu Wei-Ning, Francesca Kao, River Huang, Lung Shao-Hua, Wu Nien-Hsuan
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Horror)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 August 2017

Synopsis: Social worker Li Shu-Fen (Rainie Yang) is often overwhelmed by her heavy workload and neglects her daughter Li Ya-Ting. When she discovers that Ya-Ting has gone missing, she realises there is a past demon hidden at the bottom of her heart. Shu-Fen tries everything to find Ya-Ting, and encounters many horrifying mysteries. One mother, Lin Mei-Hua (Francesca Kao), keeps her own daughter in a strange room surrounded by walls covered in written spells. Meanwhile, Shen Yi-Chun (Hsu Wei-Ning), a pregnant woman who was reported missing several months ago, is found on the mountain. In order to rescue Ya-Ting, they must return to the mountain where the little girl in red is trapping Ya-Ting. Shu-Fen finally realises the deepest fear comes from love…

Movie Review:

It won awards for the two leads and topping The Conjuring, was also the highest grossing horror film in a decade for Taiwan. So it’s not surprising that the 2015 The Tag-Along spawns a sequel from director Cheng Wei Hao.

The Tag Along 2 is more of the familiar, following the predecessor’s key devices but amping it up just that little bit more. This works in several scenes, where creepy sets and Taiwan spiritual practice gets more screentime, but is let-down in the CGI department where amateur efforts reduce horror to awkwardness.

Worried about a child abuse case, social worker Li Shu Fen (Rainie Yang) visits the home of Lin Mei Hua (Francesca Kao), who has locked up her child in a room, both covered in talismanic writing. They are obviously warding off something but Shu Fen gets distracted from the investigation by her own discovery of her teenage daughter Ya Ting getting pregnant.

After arguing about the decision to abort, Ya Ting runs away from school and winds up missing. Shu Fen enlists the help of local rangers and even the boyfriend of her daughter, Lin Jun Wei (Wu Nien Hsuan) to search for her daughter. Their only clue - video evidence of Ya Ting led away by a girl in red.

The search leads Shu Fen to the discovery of the first film’s protagonist Shen Y Chun (Hsu Wei Ning) in an abandoned hospital, seemingly deranged and lost. This closes the triad of mothers who have a dysfunctional relationship with their children - a core theme in this horror flick.

The Tag Along 2 doesn’t fall under the sequel curse, and manages to land some decent scares. The premise has a big part to play in this, and Cheng has left home and forest in exchange for a mouldy hospital and creepy theme park. The colour grading and cinematography plays up the mood, while maintaining plenty of visual interest and leading scares in.

What works the best for me is the inclusion of a Tiger Deity, who is channeled by the young Lin and led by his temple chief and grandfather (Lung Shao Hua. The mediumship sequences will no doubt feel uncomfortable to some as a religious method, but it is authentic and compelling, while providing another level of the supernatural to the works, all the way except the end where the lacklustre CGI becomes more of a distraction than an asset.

And that’s really the biggest sore point about The Tag Along 2. The special effects come across cheap and detached from the shots, softening the edge and tension from the otherwise great production values. From scenes of insects flying out of the mouth to the titular character appearances, it reminds me of efforts more in line with movies in the mid 90s. Cheng might want to do collaborate with another team to elevate his promising material to another level, if number three (again likely) is in the works.

Movie Rating:

(Scares are slightly hampered by bad effects, but story devices and great cinematography keeps the horror fan satisfied in this sequel)

Review by Morgan Awyong