Lan yan huo

I have yet to work out why the English title of Maroooned was chosen for this film as it really doesn't fit in with the movie. It tells of a Macau cop, Tai (Andy Hui), who raids an illegal gambling ring only to discover that his cousin is involved. His familial loyalty forces him to cover for his cousin from the cops and intends to return the $3m to the triad boss. However, just as his girlfriend, Siu Yu (Gigi Leung), is depositing the money, a bank raid occurs and the money disappears. The responsibility falls back with Tai who has a week to return the money or his life will be on the balance.

Just looking at the synopsis, you could almost envisage a satirical comedy resulting from it, but it is a deeply serious film, and that really demonstrates the weakness of the plot. The storyline is predictable and just about exciting, and sometimes seems not to know what genre it is meant to be in. In one scene it was a thriller, another a bit of romance/drama/action/comedy. However, take out the script writer and this is a film that does show exactly what the makers were capable of. The actors, despite their weak script, did manage to engage the viewers in many of the scenes and the glimmers of some good direction.

Cinematography was slightly clichéd in parts.

I do feel, though, that the film could have been a lot darker than it is and that some much more interesting uses of the camera could have been used. But in the end, it's an okay film, which really just proves how well the movie got put together, given the bad script. It's worth a watch though, if you've watched all of the top of your list already.