SYNOPSIS:
Ah
Chat is a 27 year old assassin. He has experienced the cruelty
and violence of the underworld since a tender age of 7. His
experiences made him ruthless in all his missions. In one
of his missions, Ah Chat was recognised as the killer. In
order to avoid being caught, he escaped to Taiwan to look
for his buddy. However, money and woman led to the breakup
of his brotherhood and eventually, betrayal and death.
MOVIE REVIEW:
In my memory, Julian Cheung (I know him more affectionately
as “Chilam) is a Hong Kong singer whose love songs are
a favourite at karaoke sessions. His clean-cut look and tender
voice was at its most popular during the early 1990s.
Fast
forward 10-odd years later, and he is playing a cold and heartless
assassin? Doesn’t quite fit the image, if you ask me.
In
this Hong Kong production about mobsters and their obligatory
thirst for revenge and all things violent, Cheung plays an
angry hit-man who escapes to Taiwan to escape his enemies.
Cheung Tat Ming (House of Mahjong, Iron Lady Chef) plays his
childhood friend who becomes involved in the brouhaha of things.
If
you have some knowledge about films that come out of Hong
Kong, you probably won’t find this one too innovative.
Themes of vengeance, loyalty and treachery are explored in
familiar images of blood being splattered and skulls being
crushed.
The
story isn’t anything refreshing, and the constant voiceover
narrations do come across as pretentious, tiresome and uninspired
at times. Note to filmmakers: This trick does not work anymore.
Director
Herman Yau brings crime and romance together in this 85-minute
movie with some very nice cinematography. Having helmed the
camera lens for other Hong Kong movies like Dennis Law’s
Fatal Contact (2006) and Tsui Hark’s Time and Tide (2000),
Yau does display an eye for lush images and well-framed shots.
There
are also some appropriate flashy fast and time-freeze edits
which helped to set the mood for the dangerous world the mobsters
live in.
Other
than that, the formulaic movie does not offer anything new
or particularly worth noticing. Except for Chilam’s
rather unconvincing turn as a mobster, of course.
MOVIE RATING:
Review
by John Li
|
