This is the first Chinese made, Mandarin film that I saw in China. Before I continue let me just say that watching a movie in China is like going to A Night at The Apollo Theater. People come in late and walk in front of you 15 minutes after the start of the movie, people are giving live commentary throughout the movie, people are talking on their phones and checking their social networks on FULL brightness throughout the movie. It doesn't help that more often than not, you'll get someone who smells like he/she hasn't bathed in a week sitting next to you. I've seen a lot of Hollywood movies over here, including Chinese dubbed versions. I thought that this was understandable for Hollywood films in China since they only read the subtitles but the Chinese do this for all movies. I saw it in Guangzhou and if you're ever over here, I suggest watching movies at home because if you do otherwise, your patience and sanity will be sorely tested. OK, now on to the movie.
I know the director is fairly young and this movie took something like 4 years before being released, but it should've been locked away forever. To avoid wasting 2 hours of your life, here are some reasons why you should skip this piece of junk:
* The lead actor is someone with whom we share no sympathy for. He's a professional but immoral lawyer who is unlikable and he is the person responsible for causing all the grief throughout the movie. We have to have a scene where the lead cries to show his desperation over his ineptitude (actually most of the characters in the movie are inept).
* The female lead feels as out of place as Indiana Jones at a Hitler Youth rally. She is clean and pretty, yet she's been married to a rest-stop hobo in the Wasteland straight out of Mad Max for who knows how long. Her constant nagging is annoying to bear. We get the usual damsel-in- distress lady who cries and screams and begs.
* At times in the movie it feels like the director didn't know what he wanted to do with the film - make it a dark comedy or thriller or horror or apocalyptic Road Warrior film? There are scenes throughout points in the movie that seem so out of place, like when the frail scared lawyer gets on a horse and we get a minute's montage of him riding across the land like a warrior swinging his briefcase.
* We get the usual hyper-dramatic scenes of actors looking at each other making over-the-top facial expressions over something trivial (a staple in Asian shows) and long shots focused on their eyebrows that amount to nothing. For example, I say "Hey let's go get coffee". You say, "Sure I can't wait". Now we stare at each other with serious expressions like the world is going to end and the director holds his shot on our faces for 2 minutes. Then we both say "Let's go", end scene.
* In Chinese TV shows and movies, when it comes to drama, there's a considerable amount of pitying going on. Usually if the character has enough self pity and gets others to take pity on him/her, he/she gets ahead in life as crazy as that sounds.
* Usually when a film starts with a character narrating the events throughout the movie, that character survives to the end (spoiler!) but that's not the case here. And the last 5+ minutes of the movie? What the heck was that about? The story already concluded and we get treated not to the relief of leaving the theater but an attempt at pitying the female lead and her new job at a dance studio - WTF?! It's a completely different movie, it felt totally tacked on just like that scene from Iron Man 3 with the doctor and Fanbingbing to push a Yili milk ad.
* The scenes drag on and on and on. Just when you think you've reached a point where a character's arc can be gracefully concluded, the director manages to keep going and drag it out even further. Although this movie was 2 hours long, it felt longer than all of the Lord of the Rings movies COMBINED. I felt like walking out of this movie several times throughout the screening because the story was so dull, predicable, and the acting was terrible - like they hired street vendors to play some of the roles.
Some other mentions:
* There's the protagonist's car that's a direct ripoff of the Honda Accord and a long lingering shot on a cigarette brand (yes smoking is highly prevalent in China).
* Keep in mind that I've ignored things like the protagonist being able to survive after getting shot twice and surviving without a scratch after flipping over a police car going at over 100 kph (that's 62+ mph). Or how the girl managed to lock herself in the trunk with her luggage while there were people next to the car running around. Or how characters come in deux-machina style at the right time and at the right place.
* The only person that I cheered for was the antagonist because he was the only capable person in a movie filled with numskulls. Couldn't the casting director have found people who looked less weaselly?
Summary: oh my God, never again.
I know the director is fairly young and this movie took something like 4 years before being released, but it should've been locked away forever. To avoid wasting 2 hours of your life, here are some reasons why you should skip this piece of junk:
* The lead actor is someone with whom we share no sympathy for. He's a professional but immoral lawyer who is unlikable and he is the person responsible for causing all the grief throughout the movie. We have to have a scene where the lead cries to show his desperation over his ineptitude (actually most of the characters in the movie are inept).
* The female lead feels as out of place as Indiana Jones at a Hitler Youth rally. She is clean and pretty, yet she's been married to a rest-stop hobo in the Wasteland straight out of Mad Max for who knows how long. Her constant nagging is annoying to bear. We get the usual damsel-in- distress lady who cries and screams and begs.
* At times in the movie it feels like the director didn't know what he wanted to do with the film - make it a dark comedy or thriller or horror or apocalyptic Road Warrior film? There are scenes throughout points in the movie that seem so out of place, like when the frail scared lawyer gets on a horse and we get a minute's montage of him riding across the land like a warrior swinging his briefcase.
* We get the usual hyper-dramatic scenes of actors looking at each other making over-the-top facial expressions over something trivial (a staple in Asian shows) and long shots focused on their eyebrows that amount to nothing. For example, I say "Hey let's go get coffee". You say, "Sure I can't wait". Now we stare at each other with serious expressions like the world is going to end and the director holds his shot on our faces for 2 minutes. Then we both say "Let's go", end scene.
* In Chinese TV shows and movies, when it comes to drama, there's a considerable amount of pitying going on. Usually if the character has enough self pity and gets others to take pity on him/her, he/she gets ahead in life as crazy as that sounds.
* Usually when a film starts with a character narrating the events throughout the movie, that character survives to the end (spoiler!) but that's not the case here. And the last 5+ minutes of the movie? What the heck was that about? The story already concluded and we get treated not to the relief of leaving the theater but an attempt at pitying the female lead and her new job at a dance studio - WTF?! It's a completely different movie, it felt totally tacked on just like that scene from Iron Man 3 with the doctor and Fanbingbing to push a Yili milk ad.
* The scenes drag on and on and on. Just when you think you've reached a point where a character's arc can be gracefully concluded, the director manages to keep going and drag it out even further. Although this movie was 2 hours long, it felt longer than all of the Lord of the Rings movies COMBINED. I felt like walking out of this movie several times throughout the screening because the story was so dull, predicable, and the acting was terrible - like they hired street vendors to play some of the roles.
Some other mentions:
* There's the protagonist's car that's a direct ripoff of the Honda Accord and a long lingering shot on a cigarette brand (yes smoking is highly prevalent in China).
* Keep in mind that I've ignored things like the protagonist being able to survive after getting shot twice and surviving without a scratch after flipping over a police car going at over 100 kph (that's 62+ mph). Or how the girl managed to lock herself in the trunk with her luggage while there were people next to the car running around. Or how characters come in deux-machina style at the right time and at the right place.
* The only person that I cheered for was the antagonist because he was the only capable person in a movie filled with numskulls. Couldn't the casting director have found people who looked less weaselly?
Summary: oh my God, never again.