So Close
Director: Corey Yuen
Year: 2002
Rating: 8.5
Hsu Chi walks into
the building with a mysterious breeze that follows her and blows her long
hair at just the right photogenic moments. Dressed in an immaculate white
pantsuit that looks as if it has never had a day of trouble in its life and
lips so glossed that they belong on the cover of a fashion magazine for women
without enough romance on their plate, she is ushered into the chief executive's
office after a close security check that she smiles through like a Cheshire
cat about to lap up some cream. Hsu Chi hasn’t come for cream or a fashion
show though, she has come to kill and she tells him so that he knows its
coming. Her mission accomplished and the bodyguards taken care of with a
stiletto heel into the ceiling that allows her to hang upside down and shoot
them, she turns the syrupy old ballad “Close to You” on her headphones and
calmly shoots her way out of the building and to the roof top where she jumps
off and calls home on the way down to get dinner ready. It’s all absurd of
course but very cool in the way only Hong Kong professional killers can be
cool.
Though the overarching plot of this film couldn’t fill a thimble and is
more than a little silly, there are more than enough good scenes that stand
on their own and make this film a constant pleasure and visual delight. Looking
good is admittedly the main thing here – but nothing wrong with that if you
bring some feelings along with it and if you look this good. The film has
style and throws it at you in gobs and never stops to apologize for it. I
hadn’t really expected much from this film but it delivers in a number of
surprising ways.
It takes itself seriously for one thing. With three women – Hsu Chi, Vicky
Zhao and Karen Mok – taking center stage in an action film there were many
pre-release comparisons to Charley’s Angels – but other than having three
women who are action figures there is really nothing in common. While Charley’s
Angels was all jiggly breasts, cleavage and come on camp, So Close keeps its
sexuality at an intriguing simmer – its more glamour than sex here – and
the three actresses try and give their characters a sense of being real (or
as real as one can be under the circumstances!) as opposed to male fantasy
figures. Not that I didn’t find Charley’s Angels fun for what it was, but
I was glad to see this film for the most part avoiding the “aren’t we adorable
and don’t we have great asses” factor.
There are two romances in this film and though one of them is primarily
used as a plot convenience, the other is very innocent but has a sexually
hungry undercurrent that was more than a bit intriguing. Hsu Chi meets an
old boyfriend (Korean actor Song Seung Heon) and some damp sparks try to
light up the night – but it fortunately takes up only a few minutes of the
running time and really goes nowhere. Apparently, there was a love scene
shot with them (a glimpse can be seen in the trailer), but it was edited
out of the film. Never thought the day would come when I would say that I
was glad to see a Hsu Chi love scene end up on the editing floor, but it
would only have distracted from the real love stories here. As a note, in
an interview Hsu Chi stated that she was very annoyed that the scene had
been shot and then discarded – “why make me shoot it then?” – well Hsu Chi
- maybe because the film crew was all male?
The real romance here takes place between Vicky and Karen – there is more
understated chemistry and playful flirting going on here in their attempts
to escape, catch or kill one another than in most romance films I see these
days. There is a lovely small scene in a record store in which Vicky comes
face to face with Mok for the first time and almost melts and feels a need
to leave Mok a hint as to who she is. At one point Vicky asks Karen “if you
weren’t a cop and I wasn’t a killer, would you love me” to which Mok can only
remain stoically silent. Later when they fight side by side, they protect
each other like old lovers – knowing each other’s moves like sexual clockwork.
The other love in the story that hits a nice chord is the one between the
two sisters, Hsu Chi and Vicky. Brought up together after their parents were
killed, there is a bond between them that is very strong, loyal and loving.
The film also has some neat technology that I want for Christmas this year.
The father (Henry Fong Ping) of the sisters invented this gizmo that will
let you connect up to any camera security system anywhere and watch what is
going on. It comes in very useful in the field of professional assassins as
Vicky stays on the computer at home and guides Hsu Chi through a minefield
of dangers and enemies and allows her to stay a step ahead all the time. I
would have so much fun with this!
The action in the film is excellent and plentiful. Sure, in real life these
three could not fight off a persistent mosquito – but its clear that they
put in a lot of time and effort to make their action scenes look damn good.
Director Corey Yuen also makes sure that they look as good as one could expect.
Their moves are fluid, graceful, imaginative and the camera tracks it all
very well. There is a good mix of gunplay, acrobatics, hand-to-hand, sword-to-sword
and CGI and most of it had a real zing to it. I would venture to say that
of the New Age action films of the past few years, this might have the best
choreography of any of them. There are three big set pieces and a few minor
ones. The final twenty minutes of the film is nearly non-stop action that
begins with a car chase through Hong Kong, intermixed with Hsu Chi fighting
off hordes of killers while helping her sister escape capture and ends with
an incredible blast as the bad guys bring in two authentic movie fighters
to take them on – Ben Lam and Yusuaki Kurata. The match up against Kurata
in particular is impressive and brutal as he shows that he hasn’t lost much
and the swordplay is well filmed.
Lets not forget of course that these are beautiful actresses. Hsu Chi has
rarely if ever looked lovelier – she just glistens with glamour – and some
of the close ups of her legendary face are ten car pileups in the making.
She owns the screen for the first half until her little sister comes into
her own and Vicky just melts your heart with her fleeting smile and big-doe-eyed
capriciousness. Mok has never in truth been a favorite of mine, but she is
terrific here – a very physical performance and much less flashy than the
other two – but her intelligence and determination is what gives the film
its substance.
The film certainly has a myriad of weaknesses as well – the main one being
that their motivations for being professional killers is never very clear
and secondly they just don’t make very good fodder for this game – they are
so sweet and tender that one has to suspend belief for the entire film that
they can kill without a second thought or remorse. It also has its share of
plot holes and unlikely co-incidences, but for me these are easily outweighed
by the positives and certainly every time I hear “Close to You” from now on
I’ll envision Hsu Chi in chic white, gun in hand and Vicky on roller skates
with a hungry twinkle in her smile.
As a note of caution – the VCD of this film is fullscreen and only has the
Cantonese track. Avoid it. I saw it first and thought the film was fun and
a decent “Girls with Guns” film – but after seeing the DVD my opinion of the
film rose considerably. First the widescreen is necessary to capture the
action scenes – but even more important is that you should pick the Mandarin
track. The Cantonese track has both Hsu Chi and Vicky dubbed and it is awful
and really hurts their performances. On the Mandarin track, that is their
voices and Mok’s as well for the most part. It makes a huge difference. And
for those who are terrified by Hsu Chi’s voice – rest assured – that is her
Cantonese voice which for some reason she speaks at a considerably higher
pitch. In her native tongue of Mandarin, her voice is much deeper and to my
ears quite attractive. The DVD though is region 3, but Columbia should be
putting one out at some point.
My rating for this film: 8.5
For more screen captures of this film click here and here.