Genre: Romance
Director: Hong Ji-young
Cast: Kim Kang-woo, Yoo In-na, Yoo Yeon-suk, Lee Yeon-hee, Lee Dong-hwi, Chen Du-ling, Yeom Hye-ran, Choi Soo-young, Yoo Teo
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 11 February 2021
Synopsis: 4 different couples spend 1 romantic week over New Year's Eve.
Both coming out of failed marriages, Ji-ho and Hyo-young are not open for the possibilities of new love. A week before the new year, will they be able to get over the trauma and embrace this new love? # Revive the Thrill of Romance
Heartbroken after being dumped, Jin-ah heads to the other side of South Korea and encounters Jae-hun who also has left Seoul behind. A week to the new year, can they find a turning point in their lives and love? # Refresh from the Burned-out Past
Yong-chan and Yaolin are an international couple soon to get married. But their already- growing marriage blues begin to get worse as Yong-chan is swindled out of his wedding savings. A week to the new year, will they be able to finally set up a real family? # Reset your Love-Translator
A Paralympic snowboarder Rae-hwan pops a question to his long-time girlfriend Oh-wol. They are a perfect match in their eyes, but not in other’s point of view. A week before the new year, can this long-term couple keep their love strong? # Remember the Moment She Said “Yes”
ONE WEEK TO THE NEW YEAR Stories of anxiety and hope unfold following four couples wishing a handful more of happiness for the new year.
Movie Review:
Presented as a series of romcom vignettes, New Year Blues is mould in the same manner as Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve. Since this one comes from Korea, don’t expect Ashton Kutcher, Halle Belle or Julia Roberts to turn up in this ensemble drama.
Paralympic snowboarder Rae-hwan is ready to walk down the aisle with his girlfriend, gardener Oh-wol. But because of his handicap, Rae-hwan feels he will never be able to match up to Oh-wol and society’s expectations of him. The next guy Yong-chan runs a small tourism company and when his Chinese girlfriend, Yaolin plans to hold a lavish wedding in both Korea and her hometown, Yong-chan feels the mounting financial pressure especially when his staff has recently absconded with his savings.
The third guy is a cop named Ji-ho who is being assigned to protect a physiotherapist, Hyo-young who has a stalking ex-husband. The last happened to be a young lady, Jin-ah who has been dumped by her long-term boyfriend and is now on her way to Bueno Aries to clear her mind.
The whole point of having the movie being set five days before New Year is plain gimmicky. Nothing worthy or relevant to the entire movie. In fact, there are no apparent reasons to do so however since National Liberation Day of Korea Blues don’t sound catchy or right, we have to stick with the universally related New Years’ Eve.
Out of the four love stories, the most entertaining one goes to Yong-chan and Yaolin. Not that their love story is the most captivating or special. But Yong-chan has a lovable elder sister played by veteran Yum Hye-ran that constantly has us in giggles with her antics. The love story of Ji-ho and Hyo-young can probably spin-off to a full-length feature given that Hyo-young’s creepy husband likely has more tricks up his sleeve while the fumbling Ji-ho who has been divorced for the past six years deserve more screentime besides doing pottery with Hyo-young.
Who needs Niagara Falls when you can afford to go all the way to Argentina? The money shots of the entire movie no doubt go to Jin-ah’s story. There’s nothing like a romantic trip to watch the magnificent Iguazu Falls with conveniently, a Korean oppa who worked locally as a wine delivery man as your companion. The least inspiring of all however is the relationship between Rae-hwan and Oh-wol which falls pretty much flat right from the beginning.
New Year Blues is a gathering of various characters caught in a week where Cupid is clearing his annual leave. The entire cast members did a decent job trying to live up to its theme and their respective mini stories of hope and love. Though there are no A-list Korea superstars to be spotted here, Super Junior’s Choi Si-won has a cameo as Jin-ah’s nasty ex.
Movie Rating:
(No blues at all; just predictable fluffy romcom stuff)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Rao Xiaozhi
Cast: Andy Lau, Xiao Yang, Wan Qian, Cheng Yi, Huang Xiaolei
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Nudity & Violence)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 February 2021
Synopsis: Chen Xiaomeng is a theater actor who just can’t catch a break in life. His career is in shambles, his love life is depressing, and he can’t even properly commit suicide. Before he takes another attempt at suicide, he decides to visit the local bathhouse so he can die with dignity. In the bathhouse, Xiaomeng accidentally causes a man to slip on a piece of soap and falls into a deep coma. In a split second, he decides to switch places with the comatose man, only to discover that the man is a renowned professional assassin. Under his new identity, Xiaomeng is forced to undertake the assassin’s missions. Meanwhile, the assassin wakes up in the hospital with no memory of his identity. Believing that he’s the failed actor, he begins piece together his “past life” with the help of single mother Li Xiang. As he tries to “continue” his life as an actor, the amnesiac assassin and Li Xiang develop a bond. But when the assassin regains his real memories, our three heroes become entangled in messy and complicated ways.
Movie Review:
Endgame no relation to Avengers is a remake of a little-known 2012 Japanese movie, Key of Life which in turn also spawned another remake, the 2016 Korean version, Luck-Key.
Adapted to the screen by director Rao Xiaozhi and stars Heavenly King Andy Lau with one half of Chopstick Brothers, Xiao Yang, Endgame tells the story of how a contract killer, Zhou (Lau) switches identity with a down-and-out extra actor, Chen Xiaomeng (Xiao).
In the opening sequence, we see how Lau’s character expertly carried out his killing and shortly after, we cut to Xiaomeng failing to kill himself before visiting the bathhouse for a shower. And it’s there at the bathhouse, the two met and Xiaomeng assumed the identity of Zhou after he fell and suffered from amnesia. Zhou woke up thinking he is just a poor actor living in a dilapidated rental unit while Xiaomeng spent and enjoyed Zhou’s riches not knowing that he is an assassin for hire.
The first hour of the comedy is candid and amusing with Xiaomeng enjoying the wealth of others to the fullest and Zhou romancing a single parent, Li Xiang (Wan Qian) and trying his best to learn how to be an actor or extra in this case. Needless to say, there’s more coming up especially when an underworld figure, Sis Hui engages Xiaomeng to kill the partner of her infidelity husband.
There’s no exaggerated or over-the-top performances from both Lau and Xiao Yang because the plot doesn’t require them to do so. Instead of doing a fantastical body-swap liked Big and Freaky Friday, Endgame keeps things (almost) relatively grounded. Lau puts in a subdued performance in general and despite the fact that he is well over his fifties, he still looks remarkably well-maintained opposite his 38-year-old co-star, Wan Qian. Xiao Yang has proven he is much more than a comedian after Sheep Without A Shephard. As Xiaomeng, he is convincingly awkward, awfully funny without being overly cringy.
The very obvious flaw is that the movie tends to be overly complicated and busy in the final act. Zhou regains his memories. Li has her son kidnapped. Sis Hui wants to kill Xiaomeng. And that is the general description of the finale without resorting to revealing the so-called big twist. Honestly, there’s close to none if you are looking for some action-oriented bits although Rao did throw in two pop-cultural references in the form of A Better Tomorrow and A Moment of Romance, those too young however might not catch it though.
We got to admit while Rao’s version is more restrained, it also has a lot of heart. The movie largely fulfils the expectation of a body-swap comedy but without any grossed-out body gags and offensive humour. Endgame offers a lightweight escapism experience for everyone in the family this Lunar New Year. As with any other CNY titles, all’s well end’s well.
Movie Rating:
(Genuinely sweet and good-hearted, Andy Lau and Xiao Yang help liven things up this CNY!)
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Every few hundred years a powerful immortal demon awakens. The four Yin-Yang Masters come together to summon the guardians of the realm and push back the demon. When one of the Masters is murdered, the other three must find out who is responsible for his death and replace the Master in order to keep the realm safe. The Princess of the kingdom has her own plans for the demon and its power to grant eternal life. She and the head of the royal guard conspire behind the Yin-Yang Masters' backs to claim this power for their own purposes.
MOVIE REVIEW:
As lavish a sword-and-sorcery fantasy as it gets, ‘The Yin Yang Master’ sees the titular protagonist play a Detective Dee-like character named Qingming who is summoned to the Imperial City to protect the Empress from an evil serpent. The same serpent is responsible for the death of his beloved master in the opening scene, and with his dying breath, tells Qingming that he needs not only to know how to attack but also to defend aggressively, and to find the one thing he would risk his life protecting in order to summon his true potential.
Qingming is not alone in his mission. He is accompanied by Boya (Allen Deng Lun), a master archer who grows immediately suspicious of Qingming when the latter stops him from vanquishing a demon he caught stealing a sacred pipa from the city; Longye (Jessie Li). Rounding up the quartet is Longye (Jessie Li), whose skill is in discerning motivations and disguises, and Shouyue (Duo Wang), a near-expressionless priest who bears an uncanny (and deliberate) resemblance to Qingming’s late master. These pugilists find their lives threatened by a demon who has already murdered Shouyue’s predecessor by strangling him around the neck, and must figure out who is plotting the release of the serpent before it is released into the world.
Styled after Tsui Hark’s ‘Detective Dee’ series, writer-director Guo Jingming’s plotting unfolds like a murder mystery, with each of the four masters taking turns to be at the centre of suspicion. It isn’t hard to guess though that the machinations have to do with the seemingly young and innocent Princess (Yang Ziwen), whose life Qingming saves by extracting the worm demon from under her skin. Neither would it come as any surprise that it has something to do with Shouyue, who behaves from the very start like he wants us to know that he is up to no good.
To be fair to Guo, the story turns out a lot more nuanced than we had assumed, especially as it dives into the relationship between Qingming’s late master and the Princess, ruminating on how grief and joy, partings and meetings, and life and death are inevitabilities in life. We dare say it gets unexpectedly poignant during the last half-hour, giving the characters depth and meaning that had hitherto been absent from the mix of slick costumes, impressive production design and exciting swordplay which made it more a visual treat than anything else in particular.
It is clear that no expense has been spared to make the visuals look absolutely gorgeous; indeed, presented in Dolby Vision, those with a 4K TV will probably agree that the images look even more stunning and remarkable than if you were to watch it in the cinemas. But is also equally clear that Guo has drawn from Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’ in designing the action, with Qingming’s use of portals to travel from one point or location in time to another especially reminiscent of the latter’s powers of sorcery – and if you know the controversy that had led to the movie being pulled from Mainland Chinese cinemas just 10 days into its release, you’ll probably be even more sensitive to the similarities.
Notwithstanding that, we must say the pleasures of ‘The Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity’ remain undiminished. This is as sumptuous a period action fantasy as it gets, and though the pacing could have been tighter, there is still enough intrigue and mystery in the plotting to keep you engaged. Like we said earlier, it does also muster enough profundity to be more than just a pretty but shallow picture. We haven’t said much about the actors in their roles, because frankly the performances here, even that of Chao in the titular role, is just passable. Still, for the scale, effort and sheer grandiosity, it is as entertaining, transporting and moving as dreams should be..
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Chasing after space debris and faraway dreams in year 2092, four misfits unearth explosive secrets during the attempted trade of a wide-eyed humanoid.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Space Sweepers marks the second collaboration of Song Joong-ki and director Jo Sung-hee after A Werewolf Boy and also Song’s first movie after his much-publicised divorce. Touted as Korea’s first big budget space epic, it was delayed by Covid-19 but was subsequently acquired by Netflix for a worldwide streaming. Not a bad deal considers the somewhat mediocre result.
In the year 2029, Earth has become so polluted that the rich and smart have all allocated to an orbiting home in space led by the head of UTS corporation, James Sullivan (Richard Armitage from The Hobbit). In the meantime, a crew of junk collectors, Captain Jang (Kim Tae-ri), Tae-ho (Song Joong-ki), Tiger Park (Jin Seon-kyu) and Robot Bubs (voiced by Yoo Hae-jin) discovered a young android girl nicknamed Dorothy, a mass destruction weapon wanted by both radicals and Sullivan in a cargo compartment.
Tae-ho proposed to sell away Dorothy in order to earn enough cash to search for his missing adopted daughter and the same time pay for the maintenance of their spaceship, Victory. But as the story goes, the crew members start to develop a liking for Dorothy especially Tiger Park and when they discover the dark secrets behind Sullivan and his intention to detonate Dorothy, the crew of Victory decides to bend together to fight against the advancing enemy force and reunite Dorothy with her scientist father.
For a sci-fi piece which Jo Sung-hee has planned for more than a decade, it does seem kind of dated with more than half of the ideas being done to death in other similar movies. Dying Earth? Checked. Egomaniacal billionaire. Checked. Brave ragtag crew? Checked. A wisecracking robot? Checked. For a movie that runs more than two hours, you can’t help feeling it’s just old stuff recycling. Hilariously in Jo Sung-hee’s planet, all the Koreans in the movie are somehow the good guys and the foreigners on the other hand, well you know who you should avoid in space.
To their credit, the writers did provide a decent background to the various crew members with Tae-ho having a more substantial backstory than the rest. It turned out Tae-ho is a former commander of UTS space force but was forced to leave by Sullivan after refusing to kill. Captain Jang is also a former space force member but left to become a pirate. Tiger Park is a wanted criminal on earth though he has a heart of gold and Robot Bubs being the comical element wishes to earn enough money to undergo a skin transplant to become a true human lady.
For an action sci-fi flick, Space Sweepers has no lack of dogfights and gunfights. While the effects are reasonable well-done by local VFX company, Dexter, it often lacks clarity, tension and overwhelmingly busy for audiences to catch what’s happening onscreen. Consider these with scenes that feature the interaction between Dorothy and the crew, the latter is more emotionally rewarding and satisfying.
Despite the anticipation, the storytelling is hardly inventive and it never feels like a sci-fi movie that came out of the usually reliable Korean movie industry. You know like how they shake up the monster genre in The Host, zombie genre in Train to Busan or even the disaster genre, Ashfall. Space Sweepers is simply too safe and way too long to make an impression. Similar to what the crews of Victory did for the living, this is merely collecting and recycling space junks.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (1930 - 2021)Posted on 06 Feb 2021 |
SYNOPSIS: Just as they decide to separate, Linda (Anne Hathaway) and Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) find life has other plans when they are stuck at home in a mandatory lockdown. Co-habitation is proving to be a challenge, but fueled by poetry and copious amounts of wine, it will bring them closer together in the most surprising way.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Premiering on HBO is this romantic heist movie set during the pandemic and shot over 18 days in London. Featuring Anna Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Doug Liman, the director behind The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith and The Edge of Tomorrow.
Big names. Small movie though.
Linda (Hathaway) and Paxton (Ejiofor) plays a couple who is on the verge of ending their relationship with constant bickering and quarrelling about their past and present during their lockdown. Linda as the CEO of a marketing company spends her days on Zoom liked firing her staff online for a start. Paxton on the other hand is trying to find a decent job after assaulting someone years back and is currently losing his mind because quarantine doesn’t help isn’t it?
One day, Paxton gets a job transporting jewelries from Harrods and it so happens that Linda’s company has a prize diamond that has to be returned back to New York. So Linda hatched a crazy plan of swapping the real one with a replica and intend to make off with a diamond that is worth $3 million pounds.
Despite the selling point of it being a heist movie, it takes a long, long way just to get there and even that, it fares like a failed experiment. For the most part, it’s merely Linda and Paxton yakking. Paxton complaining about his predicament and mouthing religious quotes with his boss (Sir Ben Kingsley in a cameo), Linda ranting about her near breakdown which caused her to fall back on cigarettes. Paxton reading poems to the whole neighborhood, smoking opium while Linda getting disillusioned with her job by the days. Its stuff liked these that took up more than half of the runtime.
While Anna Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor has lots of chemistry and charisma to share, there’s only so much an audience can take in. The Covid-19 setting is just a gimmick not exactly something that steer the narrative. Steven Knight who also wrote and directed the 2019 flop, Serenity seems to be writing a stage play rather than a well-panned out movie. This is genuinely material that works best on the stage. Imagine two incredible actors and their powerful monologues. Assemble all these elements in a feature film and that is Locked Down.
And when it comes to the finale, Liman didn’t even bother to have the leads do anything other than more talking and arguing across the gorgeous aisles of Harrods. At least break a lock or something. Other than a repetitive gag about Edgar Allen Poe and stars liked Ben Stiller, Stephen Merchant and Mindy Kaling calling in via Zoom for a few minutes of humorous chat, there’s practically nothing of importance and interesting to talk about.
It’s a pity but not a surprise to see how limiting Locked Down turned out to be despite the sheer enthusiasm of Anna Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It seems clear that everyone involved is having a bit of fun doing this project during a pandemic. Fun for them perhaps but definitely a miss for us.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Robert Lorenz
Cast: Liam Neeson, Katheryn Winnick, Teresa Ruiz, Juan Pablo Raba, Jacob Perez
Runtime: 1 h 48 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence & Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures and Encore Films
Official Website: https://www.themarksmanmovie.com
Opening Day: 25 February 2021
Synopsis: Hardened Arizona rancher Jim Hanson (Liam Neeson) simply wants to be left alone as he fends off eviction notices and tries to make a living on an isolated stretch of borderland. But everything changes when Hanson, an ex-Marine, witnesses 11-year-old migrant Miguel (Jacob Perez) fleeing with his mother Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) from drug cartel assassins led by the ruthless Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba). After being caught in a shoot-out, an injured Rosa begs Jim to take her son to safety to her family in Chicago. Defying his step- daughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), Jim sneaks Miguel out of the local U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station and together, they hit the road with the group of killers in pursuit. Jim and Miguel slowly begin to overcome their differences and begin to forge an unlikely friendship, while Mauricio and his fellow assassins blaze a cold-blooded trail, hot on their heels.
Movie Review:
It’s only been four months since we last saw the man with a particular set of skills on the big screen in the disappointing Honest Thief. Liam Neeson is back playing Jim Hanson in The Marksman. Not the famous late puppeteer Jim Henson just to be clear but a former marine turned rancher.
As a lonely rancher trying to make ends meet, Hanson also patrols the Arizona-Mexican border for illegal trespassing. On one such occasion, he meets a mother and her young son, Miguel (Joe Perez) being chased by a ruthless drug cartel led by Maurico (Juan Plabo Raba). A shootout between Hanson and Maurico’s gang occurred shortly which led to the death of Miguel’s mother. Before she passed, she entrusted Miguel to Hanson hoping that her son can safely reached her relatives in Chicago. Being the unwilling righteous hero, Hanson begins a dangerous road trip to Chicago in his trusty old truck with Maurico and gang trailing shortly behind.
Neeson’s compelling presence is the only thing that helps keep The Marksman mostly afloat. His character misses his late wife. He is quiet, stout and determined despite his insistence to Miguel that he shouldn’t embark on this thankless mission. The lanky actor is probably the last Irish man on earth to convincingly don a cowboy hat and play a cowboy with a heart in Arizona.
The entire narrative on the other hand feels tired and generic. The hackneyed plotting is a derivative of Rambo: Last Blood which itself is a derivative of Neeson’s Taken. There’s no wild twists or elaborate setups, it’s mere an old-fashioned cat-and-mouse game that leisurely takes its time to unravel the finale which sees Jim gearing towards a climatic showdown with Maurico at a farm.
The Marksman is directed and co-written by Robert Lorenz (Trouble with the Curve), longtime collaborator of Clint Eastwood which explains the subdued, less than tense pacing. In another alternate time line, Clint Eastwood might be the one playing Jim Hanson, a cantankerous old rancher ready to blow your toes off. In this case, it’s Liam Neeson playing his version of Eastwood.
In Lorenz’s world, the entire policing world in the states seem corrupted and non-existent. The border police force is corrupted same goes to the patrolling police force in Arizona. Nearly everyone in the force is bought over by the cartel. Even a harmless sales girl at a petrol kiosk is killed by Maurico without any dire consequence. Perhaps Lorenz is hinting at the recent Capitol attack but we doubt so. The cartel is so advanced that they can track down Jim’s credit card purchases. Plot holes or plain lazy writing? You decide.
There’s a border agent named Sarah (Katheryn Winnick) who is on friendly term with Jim and is in constant contact with him over the phone but in the end there’s no real development of the character. Thus it’s just Miguel and his guardian (sorry there’s Jim’s dog as well) making their way slowly to Chicago. There’s very little excitement going on here as Lorenz obviously fails to acknowledge the fact that audiences are buying a ticket to catch Neeson delivers some serious damage. Well, it does delivered in the end but it’s just too little and too late for a movie that runs close to two hours. Perhaps it’s time for Neeson to be a little picky over his scripts. A biography on Jim Henson isn’t that bad to begin with.
Movie Rating:
(Since he never hits his mark here, we think it’s about time Liam Neeson the action hero rides into the sunset)
Review by Linus Tee
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HAPPY "牛" YEAR!Posted on 11 Feb 2021 |
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Paul Briggs and John Ripa
Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Alan Tudyk, Gemma Chan, Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim, Ross Butler, Benedict Wong, Patti Harrison, Lucille Soong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website:
Opening Day: 5 March 2021
Synopsis: Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well.
Movie Review:
Raya may not strike you as a Disney princess, so kudos to the Mouse House for trying to break its own mould and diversify its representation. Billed as its first Southeast Asian heroine, Raya gets a story which draws from a mash-up of our continent’s folklore – including water taxis, shrimp congee and naga (or semi-divine beings in Buddhism that can shapeshift between human and serpent form) – and sees her set out on a quest to unite five widely scattered pieces of a magical gemstone across the fictional land of Kumandra.
As we learn from a prologue, the land used to be one until the arrival of the Druun – shapeless, smoke-like monsters which turned people into stone – led to the noble sacrifice of a couple of benevolent dragons as well as the unfortunate fracture of the community thereafter. Each of the five tribes came to be named after the part of a dragon which they occupied on the map of the so-shaped territory: Fang, Spine, Talon, Tail, and Heart. Raya hails from the kingdom of Heart, which is also tasked with protecting the magical gem which the last dragon Sisu had used to vanquish the Druun and restore those who had been turned to stone back to humans.
After an ill-fated attempt by Raja’s father Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) to reunite the five warring lands, the gem is shattered and the Druun are set free once again, thus setting the stage for Raya’s formative journey of courage, perseverance and most important of all, trust. Oh yes, as scripted by ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ screenwriter Adele Lim and Vietnamese American playwright Qui Nguyen, trust is ultimately what forged the gem in the first place, and will be what is needed to restore it.
It is a powerful, poignant and resonating message, not least because those who know their Southeast Asian history will surely recall how countries such as Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos were still warring with each other in the last half-century; and here, Raya is called not just to trust the titular dragon Sisu (Awkwafina) whom she awakens, but also her sworn enemy Namaari (Gemma Chan), who had pretended to befriend her in order to steal the gem at Benja’s reunion session.
Raya’s quest takes her to each of the other four warring tribes in order to retrieve the part of the gem which they possess, allowing us to indulge in the beautifully animated landscapes of craggy deserts, floating markets, snowy bamboo forests and monumental temples. Some may no doubt criticise the depiction for not being culturally specific enough, but we would argue that the filmmakers had clearly done their homework and in order not to alienate a global audience whom this film is meant for had blended real-world details into a nonetheless richly realised fantasy land with clear Southeast Asian influences.
In fact, the film feels no need to oversell its representational elements, focusing instead on telling a story with universal appeal. Indeed, it is not hard to identify with Raya, a flawed but genuine heroine whose greatest battle is within herself; or for that matter, would it be difficult to embrace Sisu, whose abilities have been trumped up by myth and now has to prove her worth or die trying. Whereas Kelly Marie Tran brings Raya to life with pluck and determination, Awkwafina makes Sisu pop with sass, snark and humour, and the to-and-fro between the Asian American voice actresses makes the dynamic between Raya and Sidu among the best buddy comedy in recent years.
No Disney animation is complete without an ensemble of cute supporting characters – these include Raya’s part-pill bug, part-armadillo companion Tuk Tuk (Alan Tudyk) which plays the role of both pet and transportation; the congee-slinging kid ship captain Boun (Isaac Wang); the gruff warrior Tong (Benedict Wong) from the land of Spine; and last but not least, a baby con artist and her trio of monkey friends from the land of Talon. Each is fused delightfully into the storytelling, and thanks to the smart scripting, adds plenty of humour and heart.
Just as wonderful is the action, comprising of vigorous sword fights and chase sequences snappily edited to James Newton Howard’s punchy soundtrack. Besides being a playwright, Nguyen is also a martial arts choreographer, and here helps define both Raya’s pencak silat style of fighting and Namaari’s Muay Thai style. It is thrilling stuff all right, and we dare say that the movie is consequently as much an action movie as it is a fantasy adventure.
So bravo to directors Don Hall (from Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6’) and Carlos López Estrada (from ‘Bridgespotting’), who have crafted a dazzling fantasia which advances not just the Disney princess canon in new and exciting ways but also the studio’s mission of greater diversity. Any product intended for a global audience will inevitably have to tone down its cultural specificity in order to be universally relatable, so while some may criticise it for watering down its influences, we’d rather celebrate its ambition as well as its achievements. This is through and through a stirring adventure, gorgeously animated, and packed with an all-too relevant message of trust; in short, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ is magical and must-see.
Movie Rating:
(As glorious a Disney animation as they come, 'Raya and the Last Dragon' is a stirring fantasy adventure of humour, heart and martial arts, gorgeously animated, and wears its Southeast Asian influences proudly)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Moritz Mohrn
Cast: Jessica Rothe, Bill Skarsgard, Isaiah Mustafa, Michelle Dockery, Famke Janssen, Andrew Koji, Yayan Ruhian, Sharlto Copley, Brett Gelman
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Gore)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 18 July 2024
Synopsis: Targeted for death by a cruel totalitarian regime, a boy left orphaned, deaf, and voiceless is rescued by a mysterious shaman who trains him to become the ultimate killing machine.
Movie Review:
German director Moritz Mohr might be a big fan of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill that he made a bloodier, gorier version of it- in the form of Boy Kills World. While it’s true Mohr’s flick is also a blood-soak revenge tale full of pop-culture references, influences of grind house cinema and shot in a frenetic video game style, there’s something lacking in the storytelling that makes it a lot less satisfying than the rousing Tarantino vehicle.
The story is as bare bone as it gets. Instead of the bride, we have the boy (Bill Skarsgard) who lives in an unnamed dystopian city with his mother and younger sister, Mina. Every year, the evil ruler, Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen) gathers twelve people from the city to participate in the culling. Think the Purge or Hunger Games. The boy’s mother and sister ended up dead with the boy being made mute and deaf though he managed to escape from the clutches of Hilda in the end.
Taken under the refuge of a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian from The Raid), the boy took up martial arts hoping to exact revenge on Hilda one day. When the time comes, the boy is joined by two resistance members, Basho (Andrew Koji) and Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) to infiltrate the Van Der Roy’s bunker hoping to take on Hilda and the rest of her evil family members.
Boy Kills World seems rooted in its desire to showcase a nutty blend of fight choreography, severed limbs and countless amount of carnage. Credit needs to go to action designer Dawid Szatarski for staging some amazing fight sequences especially one that made good use of a kitchen grater. Of course, the bloodshed is relentless and Mohr definitely gets too carried away to tell a proper story that it ends up more like a video game.
Another distracting issue is the “voice” of the boy. Strangely, the inner-monologue by the lead character isn’t voiced by Skarsgard but the voice of H. Jon Benjamin (Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers). There’s supposedly a “clever” explanation to it but somehow it takes away the authenticity of the character. Unlike the typical good-looking, toned leading man, Bill Skarsgard possess the x-factor and acting range to impress in whatever characters he is blessed with. Be it Pennywise, the upcoming The Crow and the boy, Skarsgard rules the screen despite the under-developed script and characterisation.
And talking about under-developed script and characters, Sharlto Copley (District 9) appears in an extended cameo role as Glen, husband of the ambitious Melanie Van Der Koy while Brett Gelman from Stranger Things appears as one of the Van Der Koy siblings. And then there is June 27 (Jessica Rothe), a Van Der Koy enforcer who should have a more expansive role.
Furthermore, it’s hard to appreciate the context of the culling or how or why the Van Der Koy ruled the dystopian city with an iron hand. Perhaps the filmmakers feel there isn’t a need to do so. Mohr also stuffed the movie with lots of cartoonish humour that it’s hard to take things seriously. The endless battles between the boy and the Van Der Koy armies led to an overstuffed twisty finale that most will call a fitting end to all the mayhem. Yes it is unbelievable. At the minimum, all of us can finally walk out of the theatres with a closure after watching two hours of insane killings.
Movie Rating:
(A super bloody if not tedious revenge flick)
Review by Linus Tee
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