Dec

3

2007

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Movie Review: The Detective | C+ jing taam (C+偵探)
Release Date: September 5, 2007
Country: Hong Kong
Director: Oxide Pang Chun
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Kai Chi Liu
Runtime: 109 Min
Editor Rating: 6.0
Users Rating: 8.25 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (8 votes)

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Hong Kong director Oxide Pang, busy these days directing Hollywood remakes of his classic earlier films like “Bangkok Dangerous” and “The Eye,” still is capable of dishing out his unique Hong Kong mystery/thrillers, as evidenced by his latest film, “The Detective.” The movie, with the literal Chinese title of “C+ Detective,” features popular actor Aaron Kwok (After This Our Exile) and is actually set within a Chinatown part of an unnamed Thai city.

Detective Tam (Aaron KWok) wakes up thinking today will be just another slow day at the office. Things turn interesting when a person he knows by the name of “Lung” walks into his office. The guy looks terrified and asks Tam for his help. He shows Tam a picture of a young lady and tells the detective that the girl is following him. Lung claims to know little else about the girl, but he is convinced she is out to kill him. Tam doesn’t take Lung’s claims seriously, but when Lung drops a large wad of cash on his desk Tam takes the case anyways.

Detective Tam uses his childhood friend, who is now a Thai cop, for help, but he doesn’t offer much support. He then locates the Mahjong parlor where the picture was taken. The owner of the Mahjong parlor tells Tam that the girl in the picture is named “Sum.” She hasn’t been around the parlor in a few days. Another worker at the Mahjong parlor then tells Tam to go to a nearby apartment where he may find the girl’s boyfriend, Ming. While walking up to Ming’s apartment, Tam bumps into a guy that sees to be in a hurry to leave the building and then Tam finds Ming’s apartment door half-way opened. When Tam enters the apartment, he finds Ming’s decayed body hanging from a noose tied to the ceiling. Could this have been a murder, staged to look a suicide? Detectie Tam believes it is, but his Police Officer friend thinks otherwise.

From there, the movie delves further into mystery and intrigue, with more and more people dying that were involved with Sum. Aaron Kwok dominates the movie’s runtime as the somewhat middling Detective out to make a name for himself. Kwok does a deliver a wide range of emotions as he moves fearlessly into his investigation. He didn’t come across quite as daft as the Chinese movie title would suggest, but there may have been moments lost in translation, because the subtitles often zing’d right on by.

With the movie’s relatively narrow plot focus, the movie did feel like it ran for 15-20 minutes too long. While the body count increased, the suspense factor actually diminished. How many dead bodies would it take for the cops to believe something was awry? Also, in some of the more important scenes, the movie would often jump to a short flashback scenes to remind the viewer what caused the particular new revelation. Those scenes felt unnecessary and seemed like the director gave too little credence on the audience’s part to grasp the story. There were also a handful of iffy scenes that didn’t quite follow logic or required suspension of belief. If Detective Tam was such a bumbling detective, how did he recognize the girl leaving the Mahjong parlor, with just a momentary glance at her profile and in the midst of conversation with the owner of the Mahjong parlor?

“The Detective” is mostly an enterataining thriller, but doesn’t quite deliver the full potential of its intriguing premise. There was a little too much handholding on the director’s part and the absence of a sub-plot was felt in the second half. Even with those complaints, if you want a stylish thriller that doesn’t scream out “me too!” then check out Oxide Pang’s “The Detective.”

buy The Detective from YesAsia

Cast:
Aaron Kwok - Tam

Jo Kuk
Yiu-Cheung Lai
Siu-Ming Lau
Kai Chi Liu - Chak
Tin-Ngoh Seung
Fui-On Shing - Lung
Suet Siu(as Elle Choi)
Tak-bun Wong

If you like this movie you may enjoy: The Black House, For Eternal Hearts, Alone

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2007 Movie Reviews, Chinese Movies, Movie Reviews |

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