Member Milkyway Posted June 15, 2009 Member Share Posted June 15, 2009 New movie starring Aaron Kwok. http://www.fliqz.com/aspx/permalinkblank.aspx?vid=031bc24abf794197ab61c587e6fab1cd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 10, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 10, 2012 I've had this one sitting in the almost impossible to shrink pile of unwatched DVD's for a while now, and for whatever reason it was, I decided tonight was the night. Well....the term "so bad it's good" used to get bandied about quite a lot with Hong Kong cinema, mainly for it's anything goes attitude of a lot of it's 80's output, but in recent years the endless China co-prodcutions and catering to the governments censorship board has made these movies almost a thing of the past. All of that has changed with the arrival of the cinematic juggernaut that is 'Murderer', a movie so wildly conceived it's a miracle it even got made. Let's start with the basics, Aaron Kwok is the main character, who when given a straight up no-nonsense action guy to play normally delivers the goods (see '2000AD', 'China Strike Force', or even 'The Barefoot Kid'), but when given a character who has to display some kind of trait, such as emotionally damaged or a little bit simple, is an A grade member from the school of over-acting (see 'City Under Siege' or 'Divergence'). In 'Murderer' he plays a cop with memory loss who may or may not be a serial killer, may or may not be crazy, may or may not be over the death of his son from a few years ago, and may or may not be emotionally unstable. Yeah, 'Murderer' is prime material for him to go all out. The movie is helmed by first time director Roy Chow, and I remember much of the publicity for it was focusing on the gore element that it would involve. In fact, there is not so much, but there are a couple of standout bloody scenes and one particular jump in your seat moment which is timed perfectly. Any fans of Chen Kuan Tai will be sad to see the grizly fate he suffers here. So there's a killer going around who's prefered choice of killing is to drain the victims of their blood via an electric drill. In the opening scene Chen Kuan Tai is found in such a state having been thrown, or fallen, off the top of a residential building, while Aaron Kwok is found unconcious on the 7th floor, and upon waking up has no memory of what happened. Cue a promising beginning, why doesn't he remember? Did he do it? Why does everyone suspect him? & what's with their weird looking adopted son? In all fairness, while the hammy acting raises several smiles combined with the aforementioned shock scenes, for a good hour the movie is cruising along in good if not necessarily spectacular fashion. Then, around the 1:10 mark, the big reveal comes....and it is so out there and completely left of field that I don't even want to vaguely allude to what it is here, I will only say that the very fact the film-makers had the audactiy to pull off such a peculiar twist makes this movie a must-see for any one who classes themselves as a movie fan. From that moment on, the movie comes off the tracks completely and descends (or transcends) into 45 minutes of out and out insanity. Kwok is finally let off his leash and unashamedly goes for the over acting award of the century - overwrough emotions, psychoticness, desperation - he goes at them all with belly laugh inducing results. & not once does the movie, or anyone who's acting in it, play it any less than completely serious, which makes it an even more joyous event to behold. 'Murderer' is best enjoyed with a few beers, and your brain is definitely an optional extra, but it does make a good conversation piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaOW!linDude Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Okay........this sounds veeeeerrrrrry interesting!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted February 10, 2012 Member Share Posted February 10, 2012 Then, around the 1:10 mark, the big reveal comes....and it is so out there and completely left of field that I don't even want to vaguely allude to what it is here, I will only say that the very fact the film-makers had the audactiy to pull off such a peculiar twist makes this movie a must-see for any one who classes themselves as a movie fan. Haha. I heard so much hype about the 'ridiculous' twist from lovehkfilm.com and others. To quote from them: "At this point, Murderer is intriguing and not truly objectionable. Then…IT ALL GOES TO HELL, for the characters, the audience, and possibly the notion of international-quality Hong Kong filmmaking." I became so curious that I spoiled it for myself and discovered the twist. This movie sounds hilarious. Can't wait to see it sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 11, 2012 Moderator Share Posted February 11, 2012 I became so curious that I spoiled it for myself and discovered the twist. This movie sounds hilarious. Can't wait to see it sometime. Ha ha, it's definitely worth watching with no prior knowledge. It comes so completely out of the blue that I think my jaw was on the ground for most of the reveal, which by the way is delivered via what felt like a 10 minute (& possibly is, I'm not ready to put it back in my DVD player and actually check yet) monologue by a certain character, hilarious stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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