This is the third in the Jingle Ma Raider
series - Tokyo Raiders (2000), Seoul Raiders (2005) and now this one some
fourteen years later. All three star Tony Leung Chiu-wai as I think the same
character but if not a carbon copy of one another. Whether an action film
or one of his many romances (Fly Me to Polaris, Summer Holiday, Para Para
Sukura) Ma's films are always easily identifiable and have certain traits
that they share. They are as sleek as a high-end race car, as smooth as 30
year-old Vermouth, slick like an ice storm and as glossy as a wealthy man's
bank account. There are no dark corner's in his films - it is all bright
and shiny full of beautiful people, designer clothes, stunning backdrops,
great location shooting and is as light as a helium balloon floating high
in the air. His films look great and in fact he is perhaps more famous for
his cinematography work than his directing. Besides shooting his own films,
some other credits are Prison on Fire, The Iceman Cometh, Fire Dragon, Drunken
Master II, Viva Erotica, Comrades, Almost a Love Story and Fong Sai Yuk.
His films though rarely deep are generally fun. As is this one.
Usually when Hong Kong films go international
and try to copy Western type of stories, the plots don't really ring true
- they seem like just a poorly scripted over blown Hollywood film with Chinese
actors. And that is certainly true here but they throw in enough nonsense,
humor, gobs of charm and cute romance to call it their own. In many ways
this is very Hong Kong (produced by Jet Tone - Fallen Angels, Eros). Still
it has an absurd plot that feels very end of the world Bondian or Mission
Impossible like - but it is saved by a lovely twist. And the CIA are the
bad guys so it can't be all bad!
Tony Leung and his crew (all veteran kung
fu actors Yuen Qiu (landlady in Kung Fu Hustle), Lau Ka-yung and the legendary
Lo Meng) are bounty hunters and rescuers. In the opening scene that takes
place a decade before the present they rescue Mercury (another veteran, George
Lam) and his two children from a kidnapping. Jump ahead to the present and
a lot has passed in that time - Mercury built a complex surveillance system
called The Hand of God for the CIA and then came to regret it and after being
harassed by the agency he dies. The two children grow up - Sophie (Du Juan)
seeking revenge and Rocky (Kris Wu) becoming a hacker and thrown into jail.
Sophie steals a copy of The Hand of God and promises to release it to the
world unless Rocky is set free. The CIA bring in Tony Leung and another famous
bounty hunter (the lovely Tiffany Tang) to find Sophie and retrieve the program.
There is more high end technology and gizmos
here than at an Apple convention - the kind that you always get in these
sorts of films nowadays - lipstick that tracks someone, gum that blows up
when you blow it up, surveillance up the wazoo. I can do without that really
- but the film also has a ton of action. Well choreographed action - but
as pretty as the prom queen. Beautifully graceful, good use of wires, imaginative,
varied but never really to be taken seriously even when people are killed.
People die but they never bleed because I expect that would ruin Jingle Ma's
pastel controlled pallet and hurt his color schemes.
This is at most a slight diversion but
a nicely shot one and if you have had enough grim angst in the movies, this
is a bit of break. Though used minimally, you can spot the wonderfully talented
but so rarely put to good use, Jija (Chocolate) from Thailand. As White Mantis
she gets to fight near the end but it is not enough - the same could be said
of the three cohorts of Tony - which is unfortunate - but this is Tony time
- the people pay to see him and they get a lot of him, though admittedly
he looks bored at times and not as young as he used to be.
