Raped by an Angel 5:
The Final Judgement
Director: Billy Tang
Year: 2000
Rating: 4.5
Sometimes there is
an implicit understanding between a filmmaker and the audience about what
a film should contain. This is particularly true when it comes to a series
of films whether it is Die Hard, Scream or in this case the Raped by an Angel
series. There is a formula that the audience expects to be followed by the
filmmaker. It may be trite, it may be predictable – but there are rules to
be followed.
The expectations from the audience for a Raped by an Angel film are not especially
high – some titillation, some non-PC comedy, a sense of the absurd, a pinch
of tension and for the rapist to have a bloody, deadly ending awaiting him.
Certainly every film does contain a rape – but for the most part they are
simply cinematic devices in which to build a ridiculous plot around and feature
some beautiful women. Little more is asked from the audience than this.
What the audience is not asking for is to be continually hit over the head
with a story that is amazingly down beat and depressing, that contains no
humor and manages not to titillate at all. By the time the end credits began
scrolling down I felt numb and tired and wondered why I had spent money and
time to watch this – there must be medication that works a lot faster than
this in bringing you down.
One might expect more from a young and seductive
cast that includes Pinky Cheung, Gigi Lai, Kelly Lam, Anita Lee and Li Fei,
but director Billy Tang (Run and Kill, Red to Kill, Sexy and Dangerous) simply
misses the boat. He veers too much towards Red to Kill territory when he
should have been aiming for a more lighthearted Sexy and Dangerous approach.
In the opening scene a young girl is raped by an unseen assailant and her
grandmother – Helen Law Lan – hires Gigi Lai to find the culprit and bring
him to justice. Gigi rounds up four other women to help her out whom all
have one thing in common – they are all rape victims - which allows Tang
to utilize a number of grim flashbacks. Gigi is a psychiatrist, Kelly a lawyer,
Pinky a street vendor, Anita a Mamasan at a Hostess bar and Li Fei is a judo
instructor – but none of them are particularly bright it seems. Not only
does it take them forever to figure it out (when it takes the audience only
a glance), but when Gigi finally confronts the rapist with her accusations
she does so in an unprotected environment and seems quite surprised when
this madman starts strangling her.
The rapist – Jimmy Wong (no big spoiler believe me) – is the coke snorting,
Nazi worshipping brother of the girl and so he knows immediately that the
girls are after him. So he begins playing with their heads – seducing them,
playing them against one another, raping them and killing some of them. Yes
– not all five of these sweeties make it to the end. The film plays out like
falling into the black hole of someone’s disturbed psyche.
On the positive side! – the girls look lovely
(while they are alive) - and Pinky has quite an in-depth tongue session
with another female (could this be where her nickname originates!). From Sanney’s
site I got the following quote from Pinky “That was the first time I've ever
kissed a woman on film. She is a Taiwanese actress. Because of a language
barrier, we didn’t communicate too well. She was avoiding me and we ending
up having to re-shoot the scene four times before getting it” Sure Pinky.
Stick with that story.
And its nice seeing Li Fei once again. I think she has a strong resemblance
to a young Kara Hui Ying-Hung - and from what I have seen of her in a few
films, she has some of Kara’s action moves as well. Now she just needs a
better vehicle than this to present them.
(All pictures taken from Sanney's site)
My rating for this film: As much as I hate giving
it to a Pinky film - 4.5