Xie bu ya zheng

This movie tells two stories: the revenge of a boy, and the revenge of a man. In my point of view, that man who got all his teeth extracted is the true hero of this movie.

We watched it and we just couldn't help shaking our heads and looked at each other with embarrassed sneers. At those moments when we traded our looks, the only thing floated over our subconsciousness was: "WTF?!" "What's going on?" "Is it necessary to ridicule themselves with such out-of-control pointless crap?" The whole movie just felt so boring, so pretentious, so exaggerated, so aimless, so twisted, so abnormal. When the absurdity went on and on, we just felt tired and decided not to watch, hanging on and forced ourselves to sit through to the end was just so inhumanly cruel. Yeah, there were people who always gave us some independent reviews with high ratings to show they were the designated few who were privileged and smart enough to understand what's going on in an absurd randomly patched-up junk, they can always get something out of nothing from a going nowhere, a dog jumping around and trying so hard to bite its own tail film. Well, lucky you, enjoy the tosh and have nice digestion.

As usual, Jiang Wen served as the director, screenwriter, and actor of the film, but this time he seems to have lost focus. Occasionally, the aura is reminding the audience from time to time that the movie is relatively safe and relatively interesting. The lantern-style character rushed to show the world view to the audience, so Jiang Wen's quick editing with full tension turned into a rush in the film. Seeing the end, I feel that it is a sloppy ending in the sense of reason, and the sensibility feels "finally over."

The director want to say too much, but he don't want the audience to understand. There's too much drama on the roof and it doesn't make any sense. Some of the first passages are quite good, but the latter is pure self-liberation. Audience? It does not exist.

A real man never boasts, but speaks from the heart. 100 years ago a young man, Li, who follows this advice, narrowly escapes being shot, a burning home and certain death. Unfortunately his relations are not so lucky. Adopted by an American father and raised to be a fighter and spy, Li relishes the chance to return to China and avenge the murders. It is the 1930s and the situation is made more complicated by the Japanese occupation. While Li speaks from his heart and is a good man, it is not certain - even to him - where his loyalty lies; to mission, vendetta or, upon meeting beautiful women, love.

Hidden Man is fast paced, funny, creative, playful, romantic and sexy in addition to being an martial arts action film. The stunts and twists in the plot are varied and unexpected. The creative, refreshing and ingenious film makers employ decoys, historical touchstones, competing interests, biking on rooftops, prominent roles for women, grenades and other surprise weapons, medical references, throwbacks to classic action films and more. Despite showing marks of censorship (hardly showing any skin, for example) and proceeding too fast at times, Hidden Man is thrilling and fun to watch. It is the final film of a trilogy. Seen at the Toronto international film festival.