Released Date: 8 Feb 2005

Synopsis:

Seoul Raiders is the sequel to director Jingle Ma’s hugely successful blockbuster "Tokyo Raiders". Tony Leung Chiu-wai reprises his role as Japanese special agent Lam, this time on an intricate search for a pair of “The Avenger” plates used for the making of counterfeit U.S. notes. During the hunt, he comes across a foxy lady JJ (Shu Qi) and a US Embassy staff named Owen (Richie Jen), who manages to con the plates out of Lam and flee to Korea. Lam and JJ immediately follow Owen to Korea, only to be confronted by the legendary kingpin “Polar Bear,” a top dog of the largest counterfeit organization in Asia. What ensues is an exciting game of cat-and-mouse in an exotic country.

Movie Review:

There was a time when the Hong Kong movie industry churned out unforgettable action blockbusters such as the infamous "Aces Go Places" series whereby high tech gadgets, hair-raising stunts, exotic locations and bone-tickling antics are heavily featured and cinema-goers walked out of the halls highly entertained. Fast forward to the year 2000, a spy theme fast-paced action comedy was launched during the period of Chinese New Year and the movie was none other than the highly successful "Tokyo Raiders". You got the feeling that the long dormant HK movie industry is finally making a comeback.

Director/Screenwriter Jingle Ma is back to helm the sequel to his "Tokyo Raiders" minus the original Kelly Chen and Ekin Cheng from the first. This time round, new additions include the sultry Shu Qi and Chinese pop singer Richie Jen. Unfortunately, the plot falls flat (an easy guess on how's the plot goes) and the repetitive ballet style of action doesn't help in the action department. Pity the cast who are embroiled with lots of aimless running around and fleeting from one scene to another to fill up the 90 minutes duration. There is even a cheesy sequence whereby Tony and Richie's characters brawling in a hot spring bath with a melodramatic Korean song playing in the background.

What's left for Ma is to rely solely on the charismatic Tony Leung to shine the screen with his pair of "electric" eyes and trademark smirk. Though Richie Jen tries hard to be a icy, smart agent, sadly his performance doesn't leave a deep impression, similarly goes to Shu Qi who should be doing better work elsewhere say "City Of Glass".

Jingle Ma who begins his career as a cinematographer and has shot "Rumble In The Bronx" and "Fong Sai Yuk" maintained his skillful cinematography skills. Seoul has never been so picture perfect, every single frame of the city and skyscrapers are embossed with excellent lightings for the night and full of vibrant for the day.

"Seoul Raiders" sadly underperformed in a number of ways. For such a great cast and location shooting, the script was never given a good polish. The boys will be disppointed with the lack of witty dialogue, fancy gadgets but the girls will find the charming Tony Leung worth the ticket admission.

Movie Rating: C+

Review by Linus.T.