Genre: Comedy
Director: Huang Hsin-Yao
Cast: Cres Chuang, Bamboo Chen, Leon Dai
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes and Some Coarse Language)
Official Website: http://sgiff.com/browse-all-films/great-buddha/
Opening Day: 26 November 2017 (28th Singapore International Film Festival)
Synopsis: Pickle is a night security guard at a Buddha statue factory owned by rich playboy Kevin. There, he is frequently visited by his best friend Belly Button, a recyclables collector, and together they endure the dull nightshift by watching television – until it gets broken one night. Hoping to find some drama, they stumble upon Kevin’s dashboard camera, where they find footages which contain their boss’ ugly secrets that will change their lives forever. Mixing radiant black-and-white cinematography with colour footages from the dash cam, director Huang Hsin-Yao’s first feature film is a tragicomedy about the ironic making of contemporary Taiwanese society. The film’s deadpan humour is biting, fresh, and the collection of good-natured eccentrics at the heart of the story are as comical as they are brutal and real.
Movie Review:
What better way to reveal the dark side of human nature through a comedy? This is the approach taken by Taiwanese director Huang Hsin-yao for his debut narrative feature. Based on a short film of the same name that he made in 2014, this film takes on a cheeky “+” version (like the iPhone, get it?) and is upgraded into a 104 minute movie.
The story follows a night security guard and a recyclables collector as they uncover a horrible truth behind a rich playboy. While watching his car’s dash cam footage in a construction site of a great bronze Buddha statue, the two men (who are obviously at the bottom of the social ladder) are horrified when their voyeuristic journey into the playboy’s sex life reveals a murder. What follows is a series of misadventures that culminates into a thought provokingly disturbing finale.
The film aptly shows how ugly people can get through hilariously set up scenes. There is power exploitation, corporate corruption and gender manipulation. Through wittily plotted sequences, Huang gets his viewers to think further about how the world has morphed into a rather undesirable state. Scenes are gorgeously played out in black and white (it was an ingenious idea to showcase the camera footage in full colour to show how ‘upper class’ that world is to the two men), and the director interjects scenes with cynical voiceover commentaries to guide audiences along.
Performances are top notch – Cres Huang is deeply affecting the dejected security guard, Bamboo Chen (The Crossing) provides the comedic moments is the idealistic recyclables collector, the ever reliable Leon Dai (The Assassin) is gleefully evil as the movie’s main antagonist. Familiar celebrities like Na Dow (The Rooftop) and Lin Mei-hsiu (Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast) also portray supporting characters. Yeh Ju-feng and Chong Mong-hong, who made similarly interesting films like The Fourth Portrait (2010) and Soul (2013) take on the roles of producer.
With such poignant themes fleshed out innovatively through the filmmakers’ visions, it is no wonder the movie is a hit back in Taiwan. The film won the top prize at the 19th Taipei Film Festival and received 10 nominations at the 54th Golden Horse Awards (it took home five, including Best New Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Huang). We are guessing that it will also be well received at international film festivals for its edgy yet relevant take on society.
Movie Rating:
(Amidst the laughs, the stingingly brilliant dark comedy also explores humanity's shady side)
Reviewed by John Li at the 28th Singapore International Film Festival
Genre: Drama
Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Cast: Chermarn Boonyasak, David Asavanond, Vithaya Pansringarm
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scene)
Official Website: http://sgiff.com/browse-all-films/samui-song/
Opening Day: 27 November 2017 (28th Singapore International Film Festival)
Synopsis: Viyada is an actress whose fame is built around playing bitchy sirens in prime-time television. In her personal life, she’s frustrated with having to play the good wife to Jerome, a believer of a bizarre religious cult. One day, she meets Guy, a slick drifter who proposes a radical solution that will free her from the unhappy marriage. The two strangers soon become accomplices in a crime that sets them up against violent, influential men. Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s latest feature sees the Thai director return to his familiar trope – an eccentric crime noir populated by oddball assassins and desperate souls in search of meaning in life. As Viyada (played by Chermarn Boonyasak) plunges deeper into chaos, the film stares straight into the lurid nature of revenge and becomes a study on how women carve out their places in a patriarchal world.
Movie Review:
Crime and passion seems to be consistent themes in Thai film director Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s works. In his debut feature film Fun Bar Karaoke (1997), a hitman falls in love with his target’s daughter. The flair for crime comedies continues in Ruang Talok 69 (1999) where a young woman gets into trouble with a motley crew of mobsters. There’s also Last Life in the Universe (2003) which sees a Japanese man fleeing from the yakuza in Thailand, and Invisible Waves (2006) which features a Japanese chef who escapes to Thailandafter committing a murder.
Things are not going to get any simpler in Ratanaruang’s latest film: Viyada (the equally beautiful Chermarn Boonyasak) is a gorgeous soap opera actress who takes things into her own hands when she realises there’s a way to free herself from her pressurising French billionaire husband (visual artist Stéphane Sednaoui). Elsewhere, there is a hitman (a very slick looking David Asavanond) who loves no one more than his ailing mother and a cult leader (veteran actor Vithaya Pansringarm) who isn’t the noble man he seems to be.
Knowing Ratanaruang, who is considered one of the pioneers of Thailand’s New Wave Cinema, knows better than to give his viewers a simple and straightforward story. Expect a fair share of plot twists and turns that may either leave you intellectually stimulated or mentally drained.
You do not know where to devote your emotions on. Should you feel for the long suffering female protagonist, the sexually frustrated foreign husband, the devious religious leader or the cranky assassin? Ratanaruang must have had fun working on this film – watch out for his cameo appearance, as well as a reference to Invisible Waves. Film enthusiasts may be able to spot more of such instances.
Ratanaruang, who studied at the Pratt Institute in New York from 1977 to 1985 seems to have been inspired by classic Alfred Hitchcock titles with his latest entry to an already impressive filmography. There are several visual clues in this 108 minute film that will leave viewers guessing.
The film also makes social commentaries on local issues that may be plaguing the country. On the surface, it may seem like a statement on how women are treated in society, but it is more – organised faith, impotence and the superficial value of consumerism are some of the themes featured as the movie progresses.
Boonyasak carries the film with her portrayal of the conflicted protagonist, Asavanond is believably smooth in scenes where he sweet talks his co star, Sednaoui does a decent job as the seemingly misunderstood husband, while Pansringarm effortlessly plays the role as a cult leader.
The titular Samui Song is a nod to the last segment of the film where things take a strange turn and sets the story on the beautiful island of Koh Samui. How and why does the film take this direction? We won’t spoil the fun for you here: let’s just say viewers have to wait till the last few minutes for the answer.
Movie Rating:
(Expect twists and turns as the crime thriller leaves you guessing till its last few minutes)
Reviewed by John Li at the 28th Singapore International Film Festival
Read our interview with director Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Genre: Drama
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan
Runtime: 2 hr 1 min
Rating: M18 (Some Nudity)
Official Website: http://sgiff.com/browse-all-films/killing-sacred-deer/
Opening Day: 29 November 2017 (28th Singapore International Film Festival)
Synopsis: Steven, an eminent cardiologist, finds his fate entwined with Martin, a fatherless 16 year-old. As secrets are revealed, Steven finds himself caught in an eerie web that threatens his wife and two children. But they cannot run from the looming consequence of Steven’s actions and the terror that is to follow. In a modern Greek retelling of the Iphigenia myth, acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos serves up signature riddling dialogue that obscures the true nature of the film with a subversive tension, which pulls further and further apart with each revelation. Lenser Thimios Bakatakis’ cold construction of each frame, paired with a distressing Kubrickian score, portends the weight of the catastrophic things to come. With powerful performances from Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and newcomer Barry Keoghan, it is a Greek-gothic horror where myths turn into nightmares.
Movie Review:
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster (2015) is one of the most bizarre films we have ever subjected ourselves to. The black comedy starred Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as a single man trying to find someone so he can remain human. Yup, you heard right – his character lives in a dystopian society where single people are given 45 days to find a romantic partner or otherwise be turned into animals.
Two years later, Lanthimos returns with this psychological film that grabs you and never lets go. Based on the ancient Greek play “Iphigenia at Aulis”, Lanthimos pens a screenplay with his co-writer from The Lobster that is absurd, frightening and sad at the same time. The duo was recognised with the Best Screenplay Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Farrell again plays the protagonist. This time, he is a cardiac surgeon who makes friends with a teenage boy and introduces him to his family. A series of unexplained and strange events begin happening. Without giving too much of the plot away, let’s just say there are paralysed people, bleeding eyes and cold, cold revenge.
The 121 minute sees Farrell reuniting with Nicole Kidman, his co star from The Beguiled. The pair portrays a couple who have to make some very painful decisions when things go horribly wrong in the family. Elsewhere, an almost unrecognisable Alicia Silverstone (you thought playing a mother in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul was a one off thing) has a supporting role as a single mum.
The real star here is 25 year old Barry Keoghan, who first caught our attention in Dunkirk. The Irish actor takes on the challenging role of the teenager who befriends the surgeon. The character seems to have a neurodevelopmental disorder, and is definitely not your average kid. As the story unfolds, you realise that he is up to something, and things turn really ugly. Keoghan’s screen presence is strong, and you can’t take your eyes off his eerily engaging performance.
As the film progresses, you wonder how anyone could come up with a story like this. There is an unshakeable sense of dread as the plot develops. There is nothing to feel good about throughout the two hours, and yet you find yourself being addicted to the brutality of the film. It helps that the production is highly stylised, making use of bleakly mesmerising visuals and a desolately brash soundtrack score to breathtaking effect.
We aren’t sure whether we want to experience another two hours of this frighteningly good film which left us shaken long after the credits rolled.
Movie Rating:
(This devastatingly striking film is sad and frightening at the same time, and we can’t seem to get it out of our heads)
Reviewed by John Li at the 28th Singapore International Film Festival
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BOOK REVIEW #19: WONDER WOMAN: THE ART AND MAKING OF THE FILMPosted on 28 Nov 2017 |
Genre: Comedy
Director: Trish Sie
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, John Lithgow, DJ Khaled, Hana Mae Lee, Ruby Rose, Alexis Knapp, Chrissie Fit, Ester Dean, Shelley Regner, Kelley Jakle, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 21 December 2017
Synopsis: Now graduated from college and out in the real world where it takes more than a cappella to get by, the Bellas return in Pitch Perfect 3, the next chapter in the beloved series that has taken in more than $400 million at the global box office. After the highs of winning the World Championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.
Movie Review:
Last call Pitches.This reviewer says, we can hope. In the latest installment, the girls may have left their textbooks, but the scriptwriters seemed to have returned to theirs.
Pitch Perfect 3 sees the harmonising group Bella take on the biggest stage ever - real life.
Things after college is note-acibly not as glamorous, and our well-tuned songstresses, including Beca (Anna Kendrick), who ended the last movie with a sweet deal as a music producer, are finding out that adulting is all about unhappy compromises.
During a reunion with the girls, Aubrey (Anna Camp) senses everyone’s unhappiness and drops a suggestion to perform for the army troops to get that last taste of fame-dom, and hopefully excitement, back into their lives one last time.
Heading the tour is DJ Khaled (as himself), and the ladies soon realise it’s a competition all over again, as they have to pit themselves against three other bands, including Evermoist led by Calamity (Rose Red), to open for DJ Khaled at the grand concert.
If Director Trish Sie had copied the formula from the successful first chapter, maybe Pitch Perfect 3 would have been a decent finish. A copy still, but at least entertaining. What made the movie popular was not just the snazzy covers of trendy favourites, but also the one-up competition tactics revealed as groups go against one another. Showmanship, infectious mixes and the good ‘ol underdog formula always makes for a good holiday treat. Harmonise this girl, but noooooo.
Even though the motivation was already as weak as Aubrey’s lines, the film really went off-key when it introduced all the fluffy range of side-plots. There’s the odd romance between Lily (Hana Mae Lee) and a crew member from DJ Khaled, the awkward one that Chloe (Brittany Snow) insinuates with Chicago (Matt Lanter), and the Beca and Theo (Guy Burnet) love-hate thing.
On top of that, there’s Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) who seems like she’s about to announce something the whole movie through, the occasional mention by Aubrey about her absent father, as well as Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) trying to reunite with hers.
If you think any of those are going to be nicely resolved at the end - spoiler alert - yes. But it’s so half-hearted, it’s clinically dead. This can be summed up by the lead antagonist, Calamity’s, acting-school look of begrudging approval.
Maybe the cast felt it, because it clearly showed in the lack of energy throughout the movie, but the lines like the acting, are elementary and beyond contrived. For a key example, note the party scene and apiary mention.
It’s a good thing that near the end of the movie, we were gifted with Fat Amy’s espionage on a yacht scene. Wilson hammed it up in possibly the only funny sequence, timed to Britney’s Toxic, and pranced her way to an explosive finish that was all good cheesy fun.
At the finale when the group sang, I rejected all the lyrics and accepted only one word from George Michael’s anthem. Freedom.
Movie Rating:
(Not enough mixing of tunes and voices, too much shuffling of plot focus. This show cannot go on)
Review by Morgan Awyong
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HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR 2018!Posted on 15 Feb 2018 |
Genre: Comedy
Director: Hsieh Chun-Yi
Cast: Liu Yi-hao, Vivian Sung, Pipi Yao, Peter Lee, Chih Tian Shih, Vera Yen
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References and Coarse Language)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 December 2017
Synopsis: It’s 1997. Six high school buddies get together to form a band. Pei, the feisty lead singer, is the heart of the group, and Xiang, the guitarist, harbours a crush on her. On the eve of their graduation, Pei gets to fulfil her dream of moving to and becoming a singer in Japan. Years later, Xiang garners the courage to follow and confess to Pei, only to realise a cruel secret between dreams and reality. The high school buddies gather again in 2017 at a friend’s funeral. After the reunion, Xiang wakes up transported back to 1997, three days after their graduation, and is given the chance to change everyone’s fate.
Movie Review:
It started with You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011). Besides being well received by film critics, the Taiwanese romance movie also set impressive box office records in Taiwan, Hong Kongand Singapore. The success of the film directed by Giddens Ko prompted the making of other similar productions like Café. Waiting. Love (2014), Our Times (2015) and At Café 6 (2016).
While each of the abovementioned titles has its own draws, are audiences going to embrace yet another film dealing with pursuing dreams and living with regrets? The answer is yes – simply because these are universally faced issues that are poignantly close to our hearts.
It also helps that this movie directed by Hsieh Chun Yi is inspired by the songs of the late Taiwanese singer songwriter Tom Chang Yu Sheng. The talented musician, who is known for his reflective and thoughtful songs, died in 1997 at age 31 after a car accident. This movie is also an apt tribute to Chang 20 years after the unfortunate incident.
There is some creativity injected into the story. The protagonist young man reunites with the members of his high school band and recalls the fun times they had. The irony is how they have gathered at the funeral of the lead singer of their group, who had died after leaving Taiwanto chase her dreams of being a singer in Japan. After an encounter with a mysterious old woman, our protagonist is transported back in time, where he is determined to stop the tragedy from happening.
Arcade games! Neo prints! Idol cards! Japanese manga! Those familiar with the 1990s’ pop culture will adore this film as it takes viewers on a nostalgic filled journey. Chang’s songs are also prominently featured throughout the movie. Emotions will swell for audiences who grew up listening to tunes like Take Me To The Moon (带我去月球), Thinking of You Everyday (天天想你), My Future is Not a Dream (我的未來不是梦) and Longing (我期待). Watch out for the particularly moving scene where the leads attend a specially recreated version of Chang’s final concert.
Thirty one year old Jasper Liu, who was a model before stepping into showbiz, takes on the lead role and is surprisingly refreshing to watch (we’ve had quite enough of the rebellious type). The good looker rightly grasps the world weariness of the adult character, as well as the idealism of the high school student character. After gaining popularity with Café. Waiting. Love and Our Times, Vivian Sung takes on another youth dramedy. While this isn’t very different from the 25 year old’s previous roles, she does a decent job of portraying a character who has to abandon her dreams.
Elsewhere, other fresh faced actors Pipi Yao, Peter Lee, Chih Tian Shih and Vera Yen fill up roles of the remaining band members. Veteran Lu Hsueh Feng, who won the Golden Horse Award for her performance in Thanos, Drunk (2015) lends weight to the teenage drama as the woman with seemingly supernatural powers.
The 101 minute movie is well paced, and there is never a dull moment. More importantly, it reminds us that life is worth living because it is inevitably filled with dreams and regrets.
Movie Rating:
(A fitting tribute to Tom Chang Yu Sheng and a bittersweet portrayal of life’s dreams and regrets)
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama
Director: Amanda Evans
Cast: Sarah Dumont, Tom Ainsley
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins
Rating: NC16 (Scene of Intimacy)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 December 2017
Synopsis: A romantic escape into nature turns into the ultimate moment of reckoning when a husband and wife are trapped in a tent with a deadly snake. Unable to escape and with certain death looming, the tent becomes a heated confessional to a cataclysmic truth. Betrayed, the couple finds themselves spiraling into a dark and dangerous space of which only one can survive.
Movie Review:
There is a simple, even simplistic, premise at the centre of ‘Serpent’: a young married couple at the crossroads of their marriage find themselves trapped in a tent with a venomous snake, while camping out in the remote South African wilderness outside of Cape Town.
It’s not hard to recognise the Biblical metaphor that first-time writer-director Amanda Evans has translated quite literally – and indeed, the opening scenes before Adam (yes really) and Gwynneth go hiking into an area called Suicide Gorge establish how Gwynneth is trying to end an affair by ignoring her lover’s incessant texts. In fact, rather than to accompany her conservationist husband’s trip he has just received funding for to discover a new species of beetle, Gwynneth has quite impetuously suggested to go along with Adam just so she can detangle herself from reality.
Despite some tension along the hike, Adam and Gwynneth eventually settle into their tent with wine and some seemingly long overdue intimacy. It’s not clear why she never thought of doing it before, but Gwynneth decides to step out in the middle of the night while Adam is fast asleep to delete the incriminating texts on her phone, inadvertently letting in the titular snake in the process. That’s no ordinary serpent mind you – the black mamba is no less than the world’s fastest land snake, the second largest venomous snake, and one of the deadliest apex predators known to man.
The next hour sees Adam and Gwynneth try to find a way to escape the confines of the tent, though not before Adam learns the truth about Gwynneth’s infidelity and confronts her about it. Those expecting some man (or woman)-versus-snake action will most certainly be disappointed; as it should be apparent by now, Evans intends for a meta-thriller that leans heavily on symbolism – shots of Adam reading the texts are intercut with the said serpent slowly slithering its way up Gwynneth’s legs; Adam’s physical outburst at Gwynneth at her betrayal is juxtaposed with the black mamba preparing to strike; and last but not least Gwynneth’s hallucinations after getting bitten on her forearm allude to Eve’s own confusion after the temptation in the Garden of Eden. Oh yes, the imagery does get pretty heavy-handed, and is further emphasised by Evans’ use of classic horror movie tropes.
That it remains an engaging watch is credit to her two performers, Dumont and Ainsley, who pretty much carry the entire film on their shoulders. You may remember Dumont from the funny satirical ‘Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, and the actress proves just as magnetic here – not just in how she wears her emotions on her sleeves but also how she puts her sexuality to good use playing the woman whose physical desires had led the metaphorical serpent into her marriage in the first place. Next to Dumont, Ainsley comes across slightly bland, though the last third of the film that adds some complexity to his character does afford him more room for character play.
Despite its flaws therefore, ‘Serpent’ remains a sufficiently interesting filmmaking debut. Evans doesn’t entirely succeed in converting her B-movie premise into a compelling psychological study, but it is still a relatively intriguing watch for the most part. At least it never does outstay its welcome (coming in at just under one and a half hours) or over-stretch its slim story, so while it lasts, you’ll be kept under its well-coiled spell. COMING SOON
Movie Rating:
(A young married couple on the rocks trapped by a black mumba in their outdoor tent - it's as simple and symbolic as it sounds)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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MARK L. SMITH EMERGES AS FRONT-RUNNER TO WRITE TARANTINO'S R-RATED STAR TREKPosted on 05 Dec 2017 |
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Brian Smrz
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Paul Anderson, Rutger Hauer, Liam Cunningham, Xu Qing
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: NC16
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 December 2017
Synopsis: “Travis Conrad” (Ethan Hawke) is a former elite soldier devastated over the recent tragic deaths of his wife and young son, when his old army buddy “Jim Morrow” (Paul Anderson) shows up with an offer he can't refuse. Morrow now works for a powerful and highly secretive private military contractor, Red Mountain, who hires Travis for an extremely dangerous ? but extremely lucrative ? assassination job, but everything goes wrong.
Movie Review:
A bedraggled Ethan Hawke plays a hitman who is brought back from the dead and given an additional 24 hours to live in this disposable B-thriller from veteran stuntman Brian Smrz. Why bedraggled? Because the after-effects of the experimental procedure which his private military outfit Red Mountain had developed will degrade his faculties and leave him suffering from hallucinations, which in Hawke’s former elite soldier turned murky mercenary Travis Conrad’s case means having visions of his late son whom he feels guilty not being around for as much as he should have.
So rather than simply doing Red Mountain’s bidding, Travis decides to use that extra day of life to atone for his past missteps, turning against not just the company but also his old buddy/ colleague Jim Morrow (Paul Anderson) by coming to the rescue of his targets – company whistleblower Keith (Tyrone Keogh) and his Interpol protector agent Lin Bisset (Xu Qin). Keith had been assigned by Red Mountain to get rid of tens of civilians it had experimented on to develop its procedure, and is now willing to go on record to testify against the independent contractor, which explains why its head Wetzler (Liam Cunningham) is bent on doing whatever is necessary to prevent him from giving that testimony.
It’s a fairly complex setup for a series of vehicular chases and gunfights unfolding on the streets of South Africa where this was shot, but neither Smrz or the trio of writers to whom the script is credited to have any illusion just what their key demographic is here for – and in that regard, there is no doubt that the film does deliver. Highlights include two thrilling chases, one through the busy streets of downtown Cape Town and another through a shantytown, as well as the climactic showdown between Travis and a whole bunch of Red Mountain militia at their corporate headquarters which seems inspired by the sort of no-holds-barred style that the two ‘John Wick’ movies had turned into art.
On his part, Hawke brings just enough human charm to make us root for his anti-hero character. As much as he’s been in such genre pieces, Hawke doesn’t simply phone it in; rather, he injects both humanity and vulnerability into Travis, with just the right wryness to make the whole macho act less obtuse than it could otherwise have been. His Chinese co-star Xu isn’t given enough to do, but the two actors whom you probably want to see much more of are Cunningham and Rutger Hauer, the latter playing his father-in-law whom we see Travis bonding with on a beach in the Florida Keys at the start. Oh yes, Hauer has barely five minutes of screen time in total, but that one scene he has with Hawke at the beginning makes it almost seem as if this were striving to be an A-grade picture.
Alas, the pleasures here are ultimately in B-grade territory, so if you’re simply looking for some old-school action, then ’24 Hours to Live’ will no doubt be satisfying. Like we said earlier, it does make good use of the South African locations where it was filmed, and Smrz’s experience with choreography certainly ensures that the sequences here are slickly shot. Other than that, the fact that there are hardly any twists in the story mean that it is straight-up cat-and-mouse stuff from start to finish. At least it never does feel as long as its title suggests, and if you’re looking for some undemanding thrills in one and a half hours, you could frankly do a lot worse.
Movie Rating:
(No more - but no less - than a straight-up action thriller that delivers some well-shot vehicular chases and gunfights)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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