R E V I E W :    The Adventurers 

Reviewed 7/5/01 | Background | Movie Review | DVD Review | Recommendation

 Background 

Mei Ah / 1995 / running time ?
Directed by Ringo Lam Ling-Tung
Written by Sandy Shaw, Ringo Lam Ling-Tung, Yip Gong Yam

Moving from producer Tsui Hark to producer Wong Jing, Ringo Lam Ling-Tung followed up Burning Paradise with this modern-day revenge story.

The film was released in Hong Kong cinemas in August 1995 and enjoyed a month-long run, grossing HK $14.8 million (ranking #25 in overall box office receipts for the year, and #12 among Chinese movies).

Director Lam next worked on the Hollywood production Maximum Risk, released in 1996. Subsequently he returned to Hong Kong and made Full Alert in 1997.

Movie: plot, performances, production, rating

Plot: As a young boy in Cambodia, Yan sees his parents killed by Ray Lui. Twenty years later, Yan finally has an opportunity for revenge but faces two roadblocks: Lui's girlfriend, Mona, and daughter, Crystal.

Performances: Andy Lau Tak-Wah is generally a pleasure to watch as the grown-up Yan. Paul Chun Pui is fiercely nasty as the ruthless Ray Lui. Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam does the best she can with the underwritten role of Mona. Ng Sin-Lin is beguiling in the thankless part of Crystal.

Production: The major deficiency appears to be the script. Despite three credited writers, much of the story appears to be an odd mishmash and character motivations are murky at best. Why do people do the things they do? The answers in real life are complex; here the answers are often inserted at odd angles for little apparent reason or effect. The treatment meted out to the two main female characters seemed more sadistic than needed. Director Lam stages the action scenes with his usual panache (credit as well to action director Lam Moon Wa), yet the drama that should be inherent to the narrative lacks any compelling drive. The cinematography (credited to the distinguished veterans Arthur Wong Ngok Tai and Andy Lam Kwok-Wah) covers a wide variety of settings and maintains a look that is neither documentary-like nor garish; something akin to a color version of the Italian neorealist films of the 1950's. Music by Teddy Robin Kwan is used sparingly and effectively.

Rating: Category II. The violence is frequent, explicit, bloody, and sometimes sickening (at least to me). Also includes some profanity and an attempted rape.

DVD: look, sound, subtitles, and features

Look: The letterboxed (approximately 1:66:1) presentation looked good, although, as is typical of many Mei Ah releases, a bit of a haze was present throughout. Despite that, the black levels looked acceptably deep and flesh tones appeared natural. Color separation was adequate, but could have been more vivid.

Sound: I listened to the disappointing DD 1.0 (mono) Cantonese track. With the large number of explosions and gun battles, a remastered for DD 5.1 track would have been welcome. As is, the levels varied considerably and failed to engage much auditory interest. A DD 1.0 Mandarin track is also available.

Subtitles: The white removable English subtitles were easy to read, well timed, and refreshingly free of misspellings and other common translation errors. Chinese subtitles are also provided.

Features: Nine chapters can be selected from a still-frame menu. The main menu is simple in the extreme, with large block type on a still frame. The film's original theatrical trailer is included, but that's it for "extras." And there's no time-coding, so I'm not certain of the total running time.

Buy, rent, or pass?

Rent. Low priority. A prime example of kitchen sink filmmaking that looks like it was made up on the run. All the elements for a superior experience are present, but for some reason the parts never jell into a cohesive whole. Surely the unpleasant and faintly offensive tone of some of the action is part of the reason.

 

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