Wai See Lee: Lam huet yan

It's a waste of talents for all the three leading actor/actresses involved. Yes, I know it is a Sci-Fi film, but there are still too many holes in the plot. The special effects are rip-off from Hollywood too. I saw the Chinese-dubbed version, and the dialog doesn't turn out too well either. Overall, a movie you can do without.

Andy Lau, Hsu Qi, Rosomund Kwan, what could go wrong? Let's start with a shallow story, awkward pacing, loads of unmotivated 360 degree jump cuts, inconsistent character super powers, recycled explosion footage, unresolved two dimensional character issues, inconsistencies in alien monsters, and perhaps some of the worst secondary character acting I've seen since Hercules Goes Bananas. The white cast is dubbed over in English, the establishing shot of San Francisco is actually the Hong Kong harbor, and explain to me why aliens that can fly away into space as clouds of CGI vapor would ever need space ships to begin with. On the flip side, though, this film has some elements that made it fun to watch in a very Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way. The translation of "ow!" to subtitles that read "terrible pain" was a funny moment in context, and dialogue like "Not only the Chinese know Chinese Kung Fu!" from the head of the secret U.S. alien defense team Double X had me on the floor. And don't forget the line "We've traced his brainwaves!" Oh boy. The loads of CGI monsters and tentacles were fun, and the kid playing the young version of Andy Lau deserves and Eyebrow Acting Oscar. Fans of deep hurting schlock will dig this, everyone else go back and rent Full-time Killer or Love on a Diet or Love Me, Love My Money. Heck, anything else would probably be more healthy for your mind than this, well, maybe not Bio-Dome.

Now, although I recognize bad Science Fiction, that doesn't mean I don't still enjoy it. Typically, I'm pretty forgiving of SF films, though gaping logical flaws get on my nerves. MEN IN BLACK was bad SF. No explanation, gaping plot logic, and lame attempts at comedy. Nonetheless, it was boffo at the box-office and spawned a sequel. As a template for another film, it wouldn't be my first choice. But then, I'm not Wong Jing. And it was Jing who produced THE WESLEY'S MYSTERIOUS FILE, Hong Kong's latest entry into the Sci-Fi sweepstakes. It borrows liberally from American Sci-Fi in the Wong Jing tradition, grabbing from MEN IN BLACK and TERMINATOR 2 especially. But it also holds its own and -- happily -- maintains a more serious tone than MIB or in fact many of Wong Jing's other works.

Andy Lau is Wesley, investigating alien existence on this earth. He works outside of the MIB-influenced FBI operation, run by Shu Qi and Roy Cheung. They're hot on the trail of the Blue-Blooded Alien (Rosamund Kwan). Two other aliens, the "Warlock Toxin Group," are gunning for her as well -- red maggoty swarming creatures that form into Mark Cheng and Almen Wong. They are unstoppable in a T2 kind of way, right down to the police uniforms they end up wearing for most of the film. But in addition to borrowing from American SF (there's also a quick nod to BLADE), Hong Kong has its own indigenous though much neglected tradition as well, mainly in the form of writer Ngai Hong, who wrote the pulp series of Wesley books. And in a movie tradition that always has the heroes looking for a lost book of Martial Arts mastery to keep it out of the hands of the "Iron Palm Master Group" so they cannot master the "No- Shadow Kick," a singular delight in this SF movie is to see the Blue- Blooded alien seeking the "Blue-Blood Bible" to defeat the "Warlock Toxin Group."

Who would like this film? I would imagine Andy Lau fans might. Rosamund Kwan is great -- and gorgeous. Mark Cheng and Almen Wong are the perfect choices for unstoppable killing machines. Wong Jing appears in the film, which is never pleasant, though his character served a purpose and was sort of amusing -- just think Joe Pesci from the LETHAL WEAPON, but not as annoying. Too bad in the current climate in HK, cinema-goers flock to Hollywood productions and shun the local product. As a result, people the world over will no doubt be treated to more MIB, but we will never see THE WESLEY'S MYSTERIOUS FILE 2.

As much as I enjoy Hong Kong cinema, and as much fan I am of Shu Qi's and Andy Lau's talents, then it was not an overly enjoyable experience to sit through "The Wesley's Mysterious File".

The storyline in "The Wesley's Mysterious File" is fairly weak, seeming like somewhat of a cash-in on the "MIB" movies and their success. Not sure if that really is the case, but it does reek heavily of inspiration from "MIB". However, "The Wesley's Mysterious File" just didn't manage to pull it of in any particular way.

A very weak and predictable storyline didn't really help the movie progress particularly, nor were the questionable CGI effects in the movie helping the movie in any way. In fact, my toes were curled up in disbelief several times because of the horrendous CGI effects.

The characters in the movie were one-dimensional and lacked any display of characteristics and qualities that would make you have an interest in them. And it was hard to grow fond of characters that the actors themselves didn't even seem to be putting their hearts and souls into.

Despite Shu Qi's, Andy Lau's and Rosamund Kwan's attempts to lift up the movie, they failed, as they had very little to work with.

For a Sci-Fi movie, then "The Wesley's Mysterious File" was quite weak and anything but enjoyable. There are worse Sci-Fi movies out there on the market, but for a Hong Kong movie, then "The Wesley's Mysterious File" was a massive swing and a miss.

First, I'd like to mention this in defence of the movie. I found the whole science-fiction idea of blue-blooded aliens interesting but the movie was let down by it's poor execution. It could've been much much much much better than this.

Scriptwriting is horribly bad, and the fact that Western actors hired to represent government officials does not even help the movie a single bit. This movie flops like a fish out of the water despite its star-studded cast. If you would like to watch a quality flick that has a quirky storyline, I'd recommend the paranormal thriller Double Vision which was released in the same year.

I'd still recommend this movie for its train wreck factor, just don't put your hopes up high before you watch it. The humour in the movie can be painful to listen, and the sci-fi effects hardly raised an eyebrow. Although one exception was the very short battle scene involving some alien monsters. I was hoping to see more of that.

In short, there's no need for me to berate over the fact that The Wesley's Mysterious File (sic) is a lousy sci-fi movie. I'm still left scratching my head wondering why was there such a huge typo in the English movie title.