Double Xposure (2012) @ 二次曝光

William Feng 馮紹峰 and Fan Bing Bing 范冰冰 have zero chemistry together.

When will Fan Bing Bing go Hollywood?

At a glance:

Li Yu's heavily promoted Double Xposure (2012) a.k.a. 二次曝光 is a particularly mouth-waterin project for me because her previous Lost In Beijing (2007) a.k.a. 苹果 was such a delight to watch and here she gets to direct the mesmerisin Fan Bing Bing (范冰冰) again in yet another seedy Mainland dish. When these two get together, Fan almost always gets a sex scene or two and the poster invariably cashes in on her star appeal by depictin her in the throes of wet romance. We're introduced to a confident Fan as a plastic surgery consultant and her plastic surgeon boyfriend William Feng Shao Feng (馮紹峰) who is in fact two-timin her with her hedonistic bestie Huo Si Yan (霍思燕). The affair is soon uncovered to murderous ends but that ain't even what the movie is about, would you believe it.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Oh dear. Where's the script gonna go from here?

Yep, this quickly turned into an over-elaborate exercise in stylish futility, as the story implodes into almost a separate movie by the second half of its 105min run, upsettin genre expectations by rainin us down with too much information and iffy plot twists. There's no satisfaction to be drawn from the bizarre connections, leavin us with a lot of wasted cool CG work and soundmix to admire.

Yummy prospect. Undone by too much story.

Perennial wonderment:

When will Fan Bing Bing go Hollywood? I think she has one English-speakin role comin up, no?

Reminds me of:

Well, the initial frustration evokes Switchblade Romance (2003), that's for sure.

Watch out for:

Joan Chen (陳沖) as the clinic proprietor. She's unremarkable but reliable as always. Nice to see her get a run-out here.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

If this movie ended after the first plot twist, it would've at least been a competent mood piece. Unfortunately, the final product is a messy psychodrama that simply tried to do too much. I'm goin backwards now to check out Buddha Mountain (2010) a.k.a. 观音山, the last Fan-Li collaboration.★★
Bonus material:

Fairly watchable Chinese seductress Huo Si Yan 霍思燕

Aftershock (2010) @ 唐山大地震

Would you save your daughter or your son first?

Xu Fan's powerhouse turn.

At a glance:

Chinese filmmakin ace Feng Xiao Gang (Assembly 2007, The Banquet 2006) has made IMAX screens in China a rippling goldmine with the Hua Yi Brothers-backed Aftershock 唐山大地震 - a tearjerkin triumph of Mainland cinema that is at once more marketable to other regions than the usual fare due to its high production values. It also bears the unlikely distinction of being the first IMAX film that isn't created Stateside. Drawing from the 1976 Great Tangshan earthquake that had a death toll which is controversially contested up until today to be anything from 200,000 lives to three times that, Aftershock is a fictionalised story set during a real-life event (like Titanic 1997) and benefits from the unflinching powerhouse portrayal of the filmmaker's actress wife Xu Fan (One Foot Off The Ground 2006, The Founding Of A Republic 2009) as a mother who had to painfully choose between saving her son or saving her daughter during the atrocities of natural disaster. It is a strong, textured drama with very decent CGI work that doesn't detract from the primary focus of buildin on themes of guilt, abandonment, closure and redemption - essentially a film all of the Chinese diaspora worldwide can relate to. Sparin you a more detailed synopsis is probably the best idea considerin its epic landscape of a story that encompasses events such as Mao Zedong's death.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Ahh I jumped the gun on this one, me. I came back from the Singaporean premiere with a chest stirrin with emotions and gave it five stars. When the euphoria died down I realised I was very impressionable. I blame Xu Fan's incredible performance.

Perennial wonderment:

Just how far have we come from the traditional patriarchal importance of a male heir? Not far, I assure you.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

The five-star performances in Aftershock (includin Zhang Jing Chu's role as the adult daughter) are a definitely highlight, not to mention its high entertainment value in balancin drama and action, just like Assembly. One can only hope that movies such as this, despite the fiction, serve to remind people the importance of family and just how much emotional resonance is left behind by natural disasters. Aftershock is a first grade tearful testament to that.
Bonus material:

Kung Fu Cyborg (2009) @ 机器侠 Metallic Attraction

Alex Fong Lik Sun 方力申 and Hu Jun 胡军 in Kung Fu Cyborg (2009).

At a glance:
Slap on the generic Chinese tag 'kung fu' to themes like mahjong, hip-hop, basketball, tootsie, cookin or even pandas - and you'll get a marketable movie title one way or another, the plot for which also never falls too far from the moniker. Don't be fooled by Kung Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction though. It really ain't HK's answer to Transformers no matter what you read. That trailer you watched and that poster you saw are red herrings as well. The Kung Fu Hustle director has reportedly said that the robot-human dynamics in this movie is more like Wall-E. Turns out the deceptively titled flick is actually a sci-fi rom-com with lead actor Alex Fong Lik Sun lookin like a cross between Astroboy, Andy Lau and Elvis. The Little Flying Fish, as he is dubbed in the Chinese-speakin entertainment world, plays a one-man Autobot named K-1 who's assigned under a kampung cop chief (Hu Jun) while actually servin undercover for a high-rankin government agent (Eric Tsang) to track down a kungfu-powered Decepticon named K-88 (Jacky Wu Jing). Meanwhile, the cop's sister (Sun Li) falls for Fonzie-wannabe K-1 and a resident nerd (Ronald Cheng) tries to ruins things.
Bad news on the doorstep:
Before Michael Bay could arrive on set to praise director Jeff Lau for makin an modestly entertainin CGI-heavy movie with reportedly just US$ 14 million (Revenge Of The Fallen has a US$200 million budget), the lot of them take us on a spectrum of genres and themes, from slapstick comedy and rural melodrama to extended robot animation and motion capture footages. There are some unexpected elements like redemption and sacrifice. However, it still feels like a hotpot of robot fun with insufficient thought put in on how to make a better movie.
Perennial wonderment:
How movie posters are such an important aspect of whether a movie makes it.

Reminds me of:
Suria Perkasa Hitam. Gaban. Voltron. What else?
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
If you're more inclined towards sittin at home to watch Ronald Cheng and Alex Fong on TVB's comedy cook show Beautiful Cooking, then that's alright too. Otherwise, give the flimsy but outrageous Kung Fu Cyborg a try, if only because the English subtitles are excellent and you want to watch a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.★★1/2
Bonus material: