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Starring
:
Tony
Leung Chiu Wai
Richie
Ren
Shu
Qi
Meme
Tian
James
Kim
Saki
Seto
Jo
Su Hyun
Lee
Ji Hyoung
Producer
:
John
Chong
Director
:
Jingle
Ma
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SEOUL
RAIDERS (2005)
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
Female
thief JJ (Qi) breaks into a guarded office building to steal a
pair of highly coverted plates used for printing U.S. dollars.
However, suave private detective and self-proclaimed mercenary
Lam (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is already on the scene and is just
in the process of blowing up the safe when she arrives. After
the ensuing altercation with the guards and having managed to
give JJ the slip, Lam makes his way to the U.S. Embassy to
claim his sizeable reward. Unfortunately things do not go to
plan and the plates are stolen from Lam by Embassy worker Owen
who then flees to Korea to find a buyer. While interest in the
plates is expressed by a number of parties, Owen agrees to
sell them to Korean kingpin 'Polar Bear' though neither one if
them fully trusts the other. Meanwhile Lam is hot on the
trail, backed up by his shapely assistants and utilising his
knack of being one step ahead of those he chases. Lam and Owen
clash on more than one occasion, but there is more to each man
than the other is aware of.
With
Jingle Ma's name lacking the commercial lustre it once
garnered, it's little surprise to see the former
cinematographer returning to one of his biggest hits for
inspiration. 'Tokyo
Raiders' was a breezy experience with an exotic location,
a fine cast and an enticing mixture of comedy and passable
action. 'Seoul Raiders', sadly, is like a diluted version of
the hugely successful original, taking very similar set-pieces
and ideas, then squeezing the energy out of them until there
is only a bland hint left. To see a film as anaemic as 'Seoul
Raiders' coming out of an industry once lauded for its action
cinema is an especially bitter pill to swallow.
'Seoul
Raiders' has assets to call on. Tony Leung returns to a
character who he clearly relishes playing; the supercilious,
narcissistic Lam is different enough from the characters who
usually populate the genre to make him a welcome sight. Richie
Ren (or Richie Jen as he apparently now prefers) is another
actor who, while not of Leung's calibre, has a screen appeal
that is consistently improving. Recent films have seen Ren
exploring slightly different roles, but he always retains that
cheery disposition. 'Seoul Raiders' gives him a flat character
that is nigh on impossible to fully expand upon even though
Ren performs admirably. The Seoul location is also a bonus,
though cynics may argue it is an attempt to attach themselves
to the currently thriving Korean cinema scene. Nonetheless,
Jingle Ma gives his location a veneer of glamour and glitz,
though the sweeping camera shots he used a decade ago are
looking distinctly tired now. This 'Tokyo Raiders' sequel is
not completely devoid of hope therefore.
The
real deficiency in this glossy production is the vapid
choreography and somnolent, almost apologetic action
sequences. The countless fight scenes have an eerie similarity
to an am-dram production of 'Cats', full of flailing legs,
pointless somersaults and tiresome posturing. It's about as
far removed from the beloved glory days of Hong Kong action
film-making as 'Police
Story' is from 'Fame'. It's not even as if the absence of
real on-screen fighters can be pin-pointed as the main cause;
many other productions have used clever doubling and
intelligent choreography to make even the stiffest actor look
convincing. Reminiscent of Jingle Ma's equally pale 'Silver
Hawk', 'Seoul Raiders' turns potentially intriguing 'one
v. many' confrontations into play-fights where our heroes and
heroines repeat the same few moves against a group of very
uninterested looking extras - hardly what Hong Kong cinema
needs at this time.
As
even the grandest Hong Kong production can never compete with
the riches of the average Hollywood blockbuster, it would be
expected that film-makers would try to utilise local skills to
compete with their rivals. Hong Kong has a veritable excess of
skilled action orchestrators, many of whom work on local
television productions. Calling on their skills to ignite some
kind of spark in the film's most important department seems
too obvious to a simple critic like me. Instead, 'Seoul
Raiders' takes the aforementioned fight scenes and just
recycles them move-for-move moments later with only the
location changing. This repetition slowly dulls the senses.
Only briefly are there moments that really seem to expand upon
the promise inherent within the concept and location.
The
partial redemption of 'Seoul Raiders' is the few moments of
real chemistry between Tony Leung and Richie Ren. As stated
earlier, both actors have enjoyed a fruitful past couple of
years and 'Seoul Raiders' allows them to have fun with the
material. Of course the fact that the lead actors do not take
the film seriously does little to create real tension.
However, far more problematic in this area is the notable
absence of a real villain. There is never a feeling that our
protagonists are in real danger and that there is any need to
worry about their well-being. Naturally the lacklustre
choreography is also detrimental to the atmosphere that good
action films need to thrive.
'Seoul
Raiders' is not only a disappointment in comparison to 'Tokyo
Raiders', but also a worrying reminder of the recent lack of
sparkle in Hong Kong action cinema. Films like 'New
Police Story' and 'Kung
Fu Hustle' showed that Eastern film-makers can still call
on a collective imagination that still has no rival in the
West. Unfortunately, 'Seoul Raiders' comes across like a
second rate imitation of a Hollywood imitation of a production
from Hong Kong's glory days. Mildly diverting then, but as
shallow as a toddler's paddling pool.
Rating:
 
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