CURSE OF THE DESERTED (2010)

RATING: 0.5/5

After laying low for three years since his last movie, KIDNAP (2007), it's a relief to see director Lo Chi-Leung has finally returned to his INNER SENSE (2002)-like supernatural horror roots with his highly-anticipated comeback genre, CURSE OF THE DESERTED. And at the first glance, the movie sounds like a promising setup -- a supernatural horror in the vein of M. Night Shyamalan-style with a dash of romantic angle. But (very) surprisingly, the movie is a major disappointment it's almost hard to believe this is the work of a veteran filmmaker like Lo Chi-Leung.

Shawn Yue is Gene, a successful writer who recently publishes a highly-popular novel called "The Deserted Village". It's a horror-romance story about a village in the form of a remote mansion which has been cursed for the past 500 years and haunted by the jilted widow Rouge (Shi Liuyi). According to the legend, Rouge was once set herself into the fire with her husband after he is burned to death by some superstitious villagers. Although Gene keeps insisting his novel is a work of pure fiction, four college students -- Fanny (Liu Shuhan), Rain (Qin Zihan), Timmy (Dai Xu) and John (Li Zefeng) -- begs to differ and they plan to uncover the truth themselves. Nevertheless, bad things happen to them once they set their foot into the haunted mansion. True to the legend, they are punished with a deadly curse for infidelity against each other. In the meantime, Gene is constantly harassed by someone claiming to be Rouge via online chat and apparently upset over the way he writes the story. But soon the person harassing Gene turns out to be his ex-girlfriend, Gigi (Kitty Zhang) who just wants to freak him out because she's a descendant of the people who own the particular village. When Gene and Gigi starts to find out four college students are meeting their inevitable doom, they decide to visit the village in hope to find the answer with the help of Gene's paranormal scientist, Tru (Yue Xiaojun). Apparently Tru claims there is strong electromagnetic field at the village, and whoever interacting with it able to cause a person to experience delusional illness.

Despite its creepy setting, CURSE OF THE DESERTED isn't particularly scary at all. Here, director Lo Chi-Leung seems to be seriously thinking that throwing cheap gimmicks like amplified sound effects and the typical jump scare will do the trick. While there are few times, Lo Chi-Leung still knows how to place neat camera angles for this kind of genre, none of them really matters since everything appears so lackluster.

The other problem is Cheung Chi-Kwong's schizophrenic plot which tries too hard to bend different genre one after another but doesn't generate enough satisfying payoff. While the horror factor is awfully cliched, the whole "curse of love" angle is even tedious to the point of near intolerance. Perhaps Lo Chi-Leung isn't particularly an ideal filmmaker to spin a story about romance because it's just too corny and melodramatic. The second half is especially a slow drag -- in which we witness how these characters (particularly involving Gene and Gigi in numerous flashbacks) expressing their love for each other; how they will not take each other for granted; and how "love is not a game where it is not meant to be tested". Make no mistake, the romance angle seems like going on forever you'll be looking at your watch all the time.

To make things worst than already is, the climactic ending is a further disappointment with a payoff ala THE RING-style that won't send your heart racing other than putting you to sleep. Topping it off is the filmmakers decide to insult the viewers' intelligence by smacking one of the worst cop-out endings ever seen. It's a kind of sudden twist ending in the vein of THE SIXTH SENSE but totally devoid of logical explanation -- it's just there for the sake of it -- and the ending alone is basically making everything that comes before it is completely irrelevant. What an absolute waste of time that will make you feel cheated and frustrated.

Pity for credible actors like Shawn Yue and Kitty Zhang, who are both wasted with their pedestrian performances. It's really hard to believe but this movie is really one of the worst movies of the year.

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GIRL$ (2010)

RATING: 3/5

Kenneth Bi's controversial follow-up to his 2007's THE DRUMMER, GIRL$ is a gritty Category-III movie that tackles on the current internet-savvy generation of youth prostitution and compensated dating. It's also a rare movie that made good use of its notorious rating system to justify the controversial subject matter and a Hong Kong movie with uniquely local flavor -- something we hardly get to see these days.

The movie follows four different young women and their experiences of compensated dating (where they get paid to date and mostly end up having sex with their client). Among them are Icy (Michelle Wai), who used to delve into compensated dating but now settled as an agent so she can support and spend more time with her online-game boyfriend (Derek Tsang); Ronnie (Bonnie Xian) is a bored rich girl who get to know Icy via online chat room agrees to join the trade except that she does them differently -- by sleeping with selected men she prefers and actually pay her clients instead; Lin (Una Lin) who works at the hair saloon does it mostly for the money, while enjoying the trade as well (in which she rates every guys she's slept with in her little note book) and subsequently falling for one of her regular clients (Eric Tse); and finally there's Gucci (Venus Wong), a 16-year-old high school student who is willing to sell her virginity to the highest bidder so she can pay for her expensive limited edition Gucci handbag. Despite their varied reasons getting themselves in such trade, the four become good friends and frequently hanging out together, while facing difficult and sometimes threatening situation connected by the compensated dating lifestyle.

Subject matter that tackles in this movie is definitely nothing new, but director Kenneth Bi manages to make the picture absorbing enough to keep the viewers interested. There are plenty of cinematic style and kinetic rhythm, with sharp editing and of course copious nudity and sex scenes (courtesy mostly from Una Lin). It helps too especially the four up-and-coming young actresses actually perform surprisingly well. Of all the girls, Michelle Wai and Bonnie Xian are both standouts for their edgy performances.

The story, in the meantime, is slickly paced and especially interesting when Kenneth Bi successfully reflected today's game-changing society where young women and men trade for sex online and via text messaging with a believable manner. Bi's favor to film his picture with semi-documentary style creates all the more involving atmosphere.

Still, the movie is not without its few flaws. There are some plot holes hardly resolved here -- among them are the depraved killer who is out killing and dismembered working girls, which featured in the beginning of the movie but quickly thrown out of the window; subplot about Gucci's horny brother (Deep Ng) is half-developed which also get lost in the midway; and lastly the ripped-from-the-headlines HIV storyline (about a client posting a list of possibly infected girls online) is wasted with little impact.

Overall, GIRL$ isn't much an accomplished effort that could have used more depth to the scenario but as far as a rare Category-III movie like this one goes, it's fairly recommended guilty pleasure with social relevance.

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LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN (2010)

RATING: 2/5

At the first glance, the heavily-anticipated LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN looks like a surefire winner -- especially the movie is boosted with a star-studded cast including Donnie Yen, Anthony Wong and Shu Qi, director Andrew Lau and writer Gordon Chan. What's more, the filmmakers made a bold and somewhat inventive decision to offer more than just a rehash of Bruce Lee's 1972 martial-art classic, FIST OF FURY -- by crafting an all-new sequel and made the legendary Chen Zhen character as a masked superhero as well. All this does sounds great on paper, but unfortunately what could have been a modern classic-in-the-making turns out to be shockingly dull in almost all department.

The movie is actually a continuation of the 1995's hugely-popular TV series, FIST OF FURY where we last left off with Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) being gunned down by a band of Japanese soldiers after avenging his teacher, Huo Yuanjia. Everyone presume he's already died but under (unexplained) circumstances, he has somewhat survived and been laying low ever since. At the beginning of the movie, we learn that Chen and other Chinese laborers are fighting alongside the French in 1917 by carrying ammunition boxes. After witnessing most of his fellow laborers injured and died, he makes a lightning-quick moves, running and leaping in parkour-style and single-handledly takes down a small band of German soldiers with knife and fisticuffs. No doubt the opening scene itself worth the price of admission, and certainly one of the most exhilarating action set pieces ever choreographed. At this point, Donnie Yen has simply outdoes himself as a remarkable martial-art superstar.

Too bad once the movie shifts to the different time frame, circa 1925 in Shanghai, everything goes unexpectedly downhill from here. Chen -- or Qi Tianyuan is now hiding behind a fake mustache as an entrepreneur and occasional pianist at Casablanca nightclub, owned by Liu Yiutian (Anthony Wong) who immediately welcomes him as friend and business partner. At the same time, he also lay eyes on the club's most popular singer/hostess, Kiki (Shu Qi). Not long after, he is pursuing a romantic relationship with her, but he doesn't know that Kiki is actually a spy and a Captain in the Japanese army working for General Chikarishi (Ryuichi Kohata), who also happened to be the new leader of the Honkou Dojo. Part of Kiki's job is to spy against Qi Tianyuan, while keeping an eye on potential British rabble-rousers as well as Vivian (Huo Siyan), girlfriend to General Zeng (Shawn Yue). When Japanese assassins begin targeting Chinese and British nationals on a widely announced "death list", Chen moonlights as a superhero by donning a black mask and saves the day on behalf of an underground network of Chinese spies and resistance fighters.

Gordon Chan, Cheung Chi-Sing, Lui Koon-Nam and Frankie Tam's meaty screenplay is no doubt very ambitious but it's a terrible shame that despite the would-be credibility of director Andrew Lau, the movie is bogged down by uneven pacing, patchy and unfocused storytelling and long-winded expositions. The middle part of the movie is especially a letdown and surprisingly tedious, with too many plot squeezed one after another until there's little room for proper development. Gordon Chan, who once wrote and directed the 1994's FIST OF LEGEND (one of Jet Li's best action movies of all-time), should have opted for straightforward approach instead.

While the story leaves little to be desired for, the same cannot be said with the subsequent action sequences as well. After the groundbreaking action-packed opening scene, it's really surprising that the rest of Donnie Yen's martial-art choreography (especially the one when he dons the all-black superhero costume) is lackluster and frequently ruined by Andrew Lau's shaky camerawork. Unlike, say, Wilson Yip who directed some of Donnie Yen's best action movies in recent years, Lau eschews wide angle composition in favor for jerky shot -- all flashy movement but little kinetic flair in display. The only exception for Lau's flashy cinematography works best for its lovingly-detailed Shanghai of the 1920s. And if anyone is holding their breath for a would-be classic showdown will be sorely disappointed by short-lived and unimaginative excitement displayed during Chen Zhen's one-man battle against a large group of dojo fighters, and of course General Chikarishi who is easily beaten down to a pulp.

The cast is a mixed bag, with Donnie Yen's multifaceted role as both tough fighter and suave gentleman proves to be too much for him to handle properly. He's an equal bore when he requires to act romantic, especially his many scenes with Shu Qi but remains an engaging presence once in an action mode. Anthony Wong and Shu Qi does their best with their underwritten roles, while Huang Bo provides some decent comic relief as the bumbling Inspector Huang.

LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN is a colossal misfire that could have seen better days. One of the most disappointing Hong Kong movie blockbusters of the year.

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DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010)

RATING: 3.5/5

For almost a decade, the once-maverick director Tsui Hark has increasingly lost his creative touch he once known for, especially back in his heydays of '80s and '90s. His so-called "comeback" movies ranging from 2001's THE LEGEND OF ZU, to 2005's SEVEN SWORDS and most recently 2008's MISSING and ALL ABOUT WOMEN were all heavily anticipated but fell short of target. Frankly, his last best movie was 2000's TIME AND TIDE, and his directing effort has never been recovered ever since.

Fortunately, at long last, Tsui Hark has finally made a true comeback and returns to form with this year's much-anticipated DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME. The movie is a vintage Tsui Hark stamped all over the place while breathes a refreshing change of pace to the current trend of wuxia genre by mixing a fascinating blend of Agatha Christie-like detective mystery, historical pulp, Chinese folklore fantasy and exhilarating action set pieces. No doubt this is quite possibly the most inventive Chinese movie blockbuster ever made in a long time.

Set in 689 A.D. on the eve of the coronation of Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau), the first and only female emperor in Chinese history, the film opens with a bang where a series of bizarre circumstances that caused two high-ranking court officials mysteriously died of spontaneous combustion after being exposed to sunlight. One of the death happened inside the construction of a Towering Buddha, in which the one-armed construction supervisor Shatuo (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) claims it might caused by some divine intervention. But the relentless albino judicial officer Pei Donglai (Deng Cao) begs to differ, claiming it could have been something else entirely. Soon Empress Wu takes advice from her trusted imperial chaplain (who appears in the shape of a talking deer -- no, I kid you not) and decides to set free of prisoner Dee (Andy Lau), who once an imperial court judge before sentenced for eight years in the jail following from his rebellion. Wu enlists him to investigate the mysterious deaths and hope to solve the case as soon as possible before the coronation takes place. Together with Pei Donglai and Wu's beloved protege, Shangguan Jing'er (Li Bingbing), they must race against time to nab the murderer as well as uncover the hidden agenda behind the possible rebellion against the crowning of the very first female emperor in China.

Chen Kuo-Fu and Zhang Jialu's screenplay is no doubt over-convoluted and chock-full of red herrings at each passing moment but there's no denial that such narrative thrust proves to be a blessing in disguise where Tsui manages to make everything as tightly-paced and compulsively watchable without missing a beat. Not only that, Tsui also excels in term of delivering an eye-catching blend of visual imagination that propels this movie -- something we have sorely missed from his touch after all these years -- ranging from elaborate production design by James Chiu (particularly the wildly inventive design of the murky underground city of Phantom Bazaar) to the richly-tailored costumes by Bruce Yu. But the biggest awe-inspiring set piece seen here is none others than Sammo Hung's magnificent art direction for its 80-metre height of the Towering Buddha which cost a hefty $12 million to design and decorate.

Action set pieces, in the meantime, are visually engaging and entertaining enough to sustain the viewers, thanks to Sammo Hung's unique wire-fu choreography. The highlight is of course, the elaborate fight scene in the Phantom Bazaar against the shape-shifting, red-cloaked Chaplain and a band of masked assassins. Aside from the usual gravity-defying fight sequence, each respective characters have their own fighting style and choice of weapons -- Dee's mace which comes with a tuning fork of a device capable to exploit weakness in metal and lead to break the opposition weapons; Shangguan's whip; and Pei Donglai's throwaway war-axe.

The cast are equally top-notch, with Andy Lau excels in a charismatic and engaging role as the titular hero, while both Li Bingbing and Deng Cao shine in their roles with physical aplomb and credible performances. Carina Lau, on the other hand, marks a rare appearance with an unforgettable performance as the ruthless and cold Empress Wu. Not to forget are delightful cameo appearances by Richard Ng and the long-missed Teddy Robin Kwan.

While DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME remains a flawed piece of work -- uneven special effects and sometimes erratic storytelling -- the movie is Tsui's most entertaining effort ever made in a decade. Welcome back.

READ MORE - DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010)