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Starring
:
Shu
Qi
Vicky
Zhao
Karen
Mok
Song
Seung Heon
Yasuaki
Kurata
Derek
Wan
Action
:
Yuen
Kwai
Gwok
Gin Yung
Huang
Kai Sen
Producer
:
Chiu
Bo Chu
Director
:
Yuen
Kwai
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SO
CLOSE (2002)
A.K.A.
- Virtual Twilight
Reviewed
by Tony Ryan
Hong
Kong has never been shy of casting women in leading action
roles. Lately, this trend has spread west, with characters
like Trinity in 'The Matrix' or the 3 Charlie's Angels. Coming
back full circle, 'So Close' sees Chinese women take on the
action roles again, but this film probably owes more to its
recent American influences than that of 80's landmark HK
fight-fests such as 'Yes,
Madam' or 'Royal
Warriors'.
The
director here, Corey Yuen Kwai, was one of the first to afford
women equal footing in the action stakes giving actresses such
as Cynthia Rothrock, Michelle Yeoh and more recently Bruce
Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, their starts in the industry. He
is not afraid to let these women both dish it out, and take it
back in regards to the fistfights, however, his testosterone
during the filming of this feature also gets him to show these
women as sexy and vulnerable. No bad thing when the eye candy
is Shu Qi and Vicky Zhao.
There
is no mistaking that there is an interesting, multi-layered
story on offer with 'So Close', but as is so often the case in
recent years, the dialogue is fairly poorly written and the
plot is often too implausible to ignore. Shu Qi and Vicky Zhao
are sisters whose parents were murdered and now use their
technological and physical skills as hired Assassins. Karen
Mok is their alter ego in a sense, being equally skilled but
is the Inspector on their trail. Without giving too much away,
they predictably end up working together towards the end to
bring more sinister people to 'justice'.
Being
a Corey Yuen Kwai film, it is the action we should be
focussing on, and this is thankfully plentiful and well
crafted. The physical skills of the actresses are not up to
the standards of Rothrock et al; so some 'covering up' has had
to be done. In this case, a lot of the fights are slowed down,
quick cut or shot through sweeping virtual camera angles.
However, the actual choreography displayed is often a step
above what has been on offer for a number of years.
Yuen's
use of CG and special effects in this film often works well to
add polish to what is essentially designed to tantalise the
eyes rather than exercise the brain. However, the budget does
not seem to stretch far enough, and many effects (such as CG
glass) are over used and obvious. Still, as a piece of eye
candy it does its job and consistently looks good throughout.
At
the end of the day this film is just a throwaway 90 minutes.
Polished, entertaining fluff, but still fluff nonetheless.
Those who prefer their films with realism, consistency and
grey matter should steer clear, but those with a spare couple
of hours and a penchant for attractive women shooting up
enough plate glass to build a large greenhouse should rent
this today.
Rating:
 
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