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SS - (**) Dr. Tak Ken (Andy Lau), who bones up on books like The Tao of Chaos, is apprised of a strange set of anomalies in the greater HK area: an eminent scientist in hiding seems to have spontaneously combusted in the attic of a church, half a radar dish is in ribbons, and still another scientist is in hiding from the same fate. Before disappearing/dying, each has received an invitation from The Brotherhood of Technology, and the power of this sect seems to be potent enough to revive Dr. Kim's late girlfriend (Michelle Reis) in various spectral reappearance's. At around this time, the audience suspects that the plot has dug itself into a corner, but having committed itself to improbability, the movie goes all out. It transpires that there's an apocalyptic Caucasian angel (or is he a devil?), able to materialize at will to usher in the Seven Seals that will destroy and rebuild the world, and that the vanished scientists are part of the newly installed twelve men who would eventually rule things (only one of them is a woman, indicating the typically poor judgment shown by Christian potentates), and whose one rational decision has been to revive gorgeous Michelle Reis. The angel (or devil?...okay, I'll stop with the portentous babble) also shows great promise in his predilection for big explosions, which (aside from Reis) is one of the film's few merits. STSH - Just goes to prove that three great HK stalwart stars do not a great film make. Andy Lau, Anthony Wong and Michelle Lee are pretty much totally wasted on this muddled and expensive trash. The story starts at point A, jumps to B, then C, then .... never seeming to cover the same plot point twice. By the time the end comes around, you won't care if evil or good triumphs ! And why on earth did they shift some of the story to Prague ???? JSC - 6/10 A strange movie, but not as strange as it wants to be. Starts out with typical Gordan Chan S.D.U raid on a church, then takes a strong left turn into techno-babbleland as we are introduced to Lau's character, a computer whiz and possible target for a cyber-cult attack. For the next hour or so, we watch Lau explain his wondrous ideas, brood over the death of his girlfriend, and hang out with Anthony Wong. Then, the film takes another turn into a spiritual and emotional growth film a la Lost And Found as Lau and Wong head to Europe (the best realized part of this mess) and finally into a religious message film a la Heaven Can't Wait. Lau and Wong make a good team, and the ending is a hoot, but overall too slow and too messy--you can see what the film makers were shooting for but instead of sticking to their idea, they took the Wong Jing route and threw in the kitchen sink. |
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