Chow Yun-Fat plays Chang Ching, a CIA agent sent to China to recover a 'National Treasure' for the USA, but when he reaches its location at a Shaolin Temple, he discovers that it is a woman with supernatural powers and it soon becomes apparent that there are sinister motives at work. He himself has more pure ambitions and decides to protect the woman at any cost...
The woman in question is played by Chien-lien wu who makes a longer appearance in this than in the Return of the God of Gamblers, and again has considerable on screen chemistry with Chow Yun-Fat.
The tone and style of Treasure Hunt is extremely uneven, which will be familiar to fans of Hong Kong cinema, with violence entwined with a surprisingly lengthy romantic subplot and some comedy. The action scenes are limited, but well choreographed by Phillip Kwok, who appeared with Chow Yun-Fat in Hard-boiled and doubled for him at some points in Once a Thief. He also has an amusing role as an irate taxi driver and enjoys probably the best fight scene of the film. The gun play scenes fall short of films such as The Killer, A Better Tomorrow or Flaming Brothers, but that is not to say they are terrible.
The setting of the Shaolin Temple is unusual in a piece set in the modern day and the location is used to its best effect by cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer) who does a typically excellent job in the clearly freezing conditions. The special effects are very primitive for such a recent film, but this can be easily overlooked as they are wisely kept to a minimum.
Overall, Treasure Hunt is not one of Chow Yun-Fat's greatest or well-known films, but it gives him a chance to show more range than in most of them. Fans of his will know that he excels in roles with less than constant violence (e.g. Anna And The King). The patchy tone leads to some frustration as this film never really seems to know what genre it wants to belong to. However it is definitely worth a look.
The woman in question is played by Chien-lien wu who makes a longer appearance in this than in the Return of the God of Gamblers, and again has considerable on screen chemistry with Chow Yun-Fat.
The tone and style of Treasure Hunt is extremely uneven, which will be familiar to fans of Hong Kong cinema, with violence entwined with a surprisingly lengthy romantic subplot and some comedy. The action scenes are limited, but well choreographed by Phillip Kwok, who appeared with Chow Yun-Fat in Hard-boiled and doubled for him at some points in Once a Thief. He also has an amusing role as an irate taxi driver and enjoys probably the best fight scene of the film. The gun play scenes fall short of films such as The Killer, A Better Tomorrow or Flaming Brothers, but that is not to say they are terrible.
The setting of the Shaolin Temple is unusual in a piece set in the modern day and the location is used to its best effect by cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer) who does a typically excellent job in the clearly freezing conditions. The special effects are very primitive for such a recent film, but this can be easily overlooked as they are wisely kept to a minimum.
Overall, Treasure Hunt is not one of Chow Yun-Fat's greatest or well-known films, but it gives him a chance to show more range than in most of them. Fans of his will know that he excels in roles with less than constant violence (e.g. Anna And The King). The patchy tone leads to some frustration as this film never really seems to know what genre it wants to belong to. However it is definitely worth a look.