chih_wei

I saw this movie at Vancouver International Film Festival. As typical of a HHH movie showing, some audiences walked out, which means it is slow-paced. Again with his customary long shots, all the acting and actions appear quite realistic. Jack Kao is convincing and cool as always. Shu Qi brings a credible portrayal to a not-so-interesting character. And the movie has a lyrical feel (especially the opening tracking shot and the snow scenes), accompanied nicely by the atmospheric theme music.

However, the two main characters just don't have appealing personalities. Like the characters in "South Goodbye South", both Vicky and Hao are restless, aimless & not very bright. (Lifeless) Rebels without a cause. I am wondering whether this is how Hou and Chu (the screenwriter) perceive the twentysomethings in Taiwan. Since Vicky is narrating from 10 years into the future, I do realize she will mature. Her transformation that starts here was not shown convincingly though. I also know that this is the first of a series of films on this decade, but it doesn't feel fully realized on its own.

I also have a slight problem with the narration preceding the real events. It makes the expected events boring, when the real events don't bring anything extra (e.g. contradiction, irony) to the narration.

Compared to "South Goodbye South", this one may not be as ambitious thematically. While "South Goodbye South" has a lot of boredom and dread (possibly intentionally so), I like the poetic, reflective and semi-nostalgic mood of "Mambo" much more.

MI2 has excellent action sequences. In that regard, it succeeds as a summer action movie. As a comedy, it is unintentionally funny. It was hilarious to see how fast Tom and Thandie went from car chase to sex to love to self-sacrifice, I thought I was watching a porn. It was hilarious to see Tom trying to act with emotional depth. The characters/plot were very stupid, even by action movie standards. I've also seen Hollow Man tonight and I have a hard time deciding which one is dumber. Big question: Is John Woo parodying himself? Seeing Tom Cruise flying with 2 guns and trying to act cool a la Chow Yun-Fat makes me laugh so hard. And what's with the doves? In 'The Killer' and 'Face/Off', doves as an overt symbol of peace counter the struggle between good and evil. In here without the dramatic tension (bland bad/good guys), it's corny and over done. I rest my case. Come on John, do you have to use doves, cathartic music and supposedly meaningful imageries for every movie or did Tom the producer force you into this?

This is a good movie let down by uneven direction and 1-dimensional characters (besides the 2 leads). I would probably love this movie a lot, had I seen it when it came out in 1990. Now, the teenage angst (Slater's rants) thing is getting tiresome and whiny to me. Nevertheless, I want to point out how wonderful the scenes between Slater and Mathis are, in particular the scene where they kind of tangoed around each other and the scene where they had their first kiss. These scenes are full of playfulness, seduction, anticipation and uneasy charms. I hope there are more good movie roles to come for both of them.

Lastly, I think the DVD release could really use some special features, like audio commentary by the director, Slater and Mathis. Since this is Slater's personal favorite, it'd be great to hear his perspective.