Sum yuen

As much as I enjoy most of the Pang brothers movies, and as much fan as I am of Shu Qi, then this movie sort of left me with an odd taste in my mouth.

Now, don't get me wrong, it is not entirely a bad movie. There were interesting parts to the story, just as there were some questionable parts. The movie was good at building up suspense and keep the audience in the dark, with only hints and pieces of information as to what was going on.

The things that I didn't like in the movie was the whole concept with plants having a sort of sentient mind and being able to communicate with people. It was just too far out there. And also, once you are let in on what is going on in the forest, and see what is causing the phenomena, I just shook my head in disbelieve, as the movie took a severe blow to the worse with that revelation.

But the story itself seems a bit out there as well, especially if this was supposed to take place in a forest in Thailand. Then why were there so many people from Hong Kong milling about there? Wouldn't a remote forest in Thailand be way out of their jurisdiction? Shu Qi and Ekin Cheng did good enough jobs with their given roles, although they were fighting an uphill battle with the script and storyline of this movie.

I had been looking forward to this movie for quite some time, but never actually got around to buying it before 2013. And now having seen it, I am not overly impressed, but glad that I found it at a bargain price on the Amazon marketplace.

The hypnotically beautiful Shu Qi (the main reason I was drawn to this film) plays police detective Ha, who is assigned to a case of rape-and-murder that occurred in a local forest. A lot of people have committed suicide in the same forest lately (some traveling a long distance for that purpose), and the place is considered by many to be haunted. Detective Ha asks for the help of a botanist (Ekin Cheng), who has developed a device that can receive "messages" from plants and trees, drawing him away from his girlfriend (Rain Li), a successful TV reporter who regularly interviews people who have had "near death experiences" in the same forest. The script tries to combine two different main story lines (one involving Shu Qi's investigation and Ekin Cheng's efforts to use the trees as "witnesses", the other involving the suicides and disappearances in the forest and what is causing them), and ultimately comes across a bit muddled. The film has some striking images and riveting scenes, but the resolution is not fully satisfying. Shu Qi's and Ekin Cheng's characters don't have much depth: all we really learn about them is that they are consumed by their jobs and determined to do them right. Rain Li not only gives Shu Qi some serious competition in the looks department, but also creates what is easily the most human and sympathetic character in the film. (**1/2)

It's no secret that the Pang Bothers aren't big on script talent, but good lord, this was embarrassing.

A rape/murder takes place in a forest that is infamous as a mecca for suicide. A botanist is researching the ability of plants to communicate with people. His girlfriend is a tabloid TV reporter sensationalizing the ghostly aspects of the forest. A detective, investigating the rape/murder case, believes that plants can act as witnesses so she gets the botanist to bring his equipment to the forest and sets up a re-enactment of the crime where the plants will act as lie detectors.

I'm not kidding.

I'm not necessarily against inadequate stories but the hilarity of this one seemed to infiltrate everything else to the point that it became impossible to take it seriously. The actors didn't seem dedicated to their characters, nothing appeared genuine here. I love the Pangs and think they often make engrossing films, even despite the stories, but this one was just too in-your-face dumb.

Is The Eye an act of fluke… probably… Sometimes it really makes you wonder whether or not The Eye is really directed by the Pang brothers. After the mentioned award wining and international success, the Pang brothers are plainly just slightly average and at times seemingly average. As someone used to claim, the Pang brothers have a great eye and most certainly they do. Their style is always over substance, but lately they have been too concerned with style and almost forgetting the importance of having substance as well. With Forest of Death, there are moments and times that remind us what the hell the Pang brothers are capable of and namely almost all the scenes within the forest. The forest is a frightening premise and its mysterious backdrop certainly help the cause, but this is still no The Eye and the result is an adequate film that is above average.

All of the sudden, Neo remembered someone asking him ages ago, what are you scared of. At that moment, I could not think of an answer, but it is certainly the forest. There is something scary and mysterious about being struck in the forest at night. The trees and eerie moments of segmented silent create an outstanding backdrop for a horror thriller. Pang smartly exploited this mysterious environment and combining with their great eye, has certainly created something watch-able and even thrilling at times.

Shu Qi is certainly a capable actress, but it seems that she have forgotten about her potential to become even better and in the process her acting range seemed to have been stalled. It is disappointing to see Shu Qi taking the same role and approaching it in the same manner over and over again. It is an okay performance, but it is no where near her previous outing with the Pang brothers in The Eye 2. Another person that should be up for similar criticism is Ekin Cheng. Cheng have never been much of a talent when it comes to acting, and apart from maturing from his Young and Dangerous days, he have been appearing in more and more stoic roles after roles. He does not show any sort of range and in turn lamenting out an unsympathetic performance that hardly ever relate to the audience. On the other hand, Rain Li continues to impress Neo with both her beauty and potential she is showing. She seemed to be the only character that is somewhat human and she handles the rain dreaded scenes within the forest alone with some degree of distinction. However, the scene stealer must be veteran Lau Siu Ming whose mysteriousness makes the film better than it should be.

All in all, Forest of Death is an interesting premise and the backdrop of the forest certainly plays a role in the overall mysteriousness within the flick. However, it is once again the flaw in Pang brothers filmmaking in the over emphasis in terms of style over substance. In fact it is okay to have style over substance, but it is not adequate when you have 90% on style and 10% on substance, as the result is the audience feeling pretty much empty. It is an adequate enough effort to justify a viewing, but with the Pang brothers, you really expect more than that. Perhaps it is now safe to say that The Eye was a one off fluke, but lets not give up just yet and hopefully the Pang brothers can once again prove me wrong…

I rate it 7/10.

• www.thehkneo.com

...and I don't mean nuclear!! This movie is proof that the Chinese are not the greatest filmmakers by a long shot. A slow convoluted plot--something about trees that have consciousness, are witness to a rape and murder. Man, I didn't know whether to laugh or just curse out RedBox once again for duping me. Doesn't anyone at RedBox actually watch the movies first? What I wound up doing, was conducting my own experiment-- by peeing on a bush, while making abusive comments. Nothing happened for a day or two, then suddenly I got a horrific rash on my johnson. Do plants actually react to trauma? Not sure if the rash was coincidental or not. You be the judge. This movie deserves to be buried in a forest, where it will never be found.