Snakehead

An opening title card reveals the proposition of the movie: Despite the walls of entry, illegal immigration thrives.

For $50.000, Chinese human smugglers known as snakeheads provide passage.

But today the strongest pull to come to America is not money.

"Snakehead" opens with a sobering statement about the scale of illegal immigration and how human traffickers known as Snakeheads charge $50,000 for passage to the U. S. The first words we hear are those of Sister Tse (Shuya Chang), who has just arrived in New York from Taiwan. In cold, emotionless voice-over Tse says, "I never believed in the American dream. All I knew was how to survive." This is the story of a new recruit rising through the ranks of organized crime. The mainly Asian female cast gives the performance of a lifetime. The story develops deep in the underbelly of New York City's Chinatown. More highlights are coming from outstanding performances by Shuya Chang as the fearless newbie Sister Tse, Jade Wu as the matriarch of a family (Dai Mah) specializing in the nasty business of human smuggling and Sung Kang (Rambo). And nice the see Sung Kang acting outside his traditional roles in the Fast & Furious franchise. He kicks off this movie with his famous words: "Anybody else wants a home run? Now shut the BEEP up. Welcome to America" Flashbacks and voice-over show how Sister Tse landed in jail and lost custody of infant daughter Rosie eight years ago. She has now come to find Rosie (Catherine Jiang), who was subsequently adopted by a New York couple.

The dialogues are powerful and the delivery is captivating. It's great to watch two powerful Asian female characters taking centre stage in an American crime story with strong roots in real events and characters. "Snakehead" is inspired by the life and crimes of Cheng Chui Ping, aka Sister Ping. Chung is equally impressive as a woman whose maternal and survival instincts permit her to crash through physical and moral barriers that most people could not even approach.

The deepening relationship between Dai Mah and her protégé is the film's rich and riveting emotional core. Less captivating is Tse's rivalry with Dai Mah's eldest son, Rambo (Sung Kang), a hothead whose instability and relationship with jealous girlfriend Shih (Devon Diep) have become a liability. Kang brings plenty of energy to the role, enough to turn Rambo into a notable villain.

This movie is driven by undaunted and powerful realism. A movie you have to see as it is as accurate as a documentary and still happening today.

I don't know if I watched a botched edited version, but there were many scenes that felt pieces were missing, and/or came out of nowhere. This is writer and director Evan Jackson Leong's feature film debut - previously known for documentaries and short films. Overall he did a great job for a newb filmmaker; most of the cinematography and camera work was excellent, but the slow-mo scenes were annoying. It was a visually stylish story, but the cliched gangster narrative fell short on its own heavy ambitions. The short 89 min runtime felt much longer and dragged out with the slow pacing and dragged out and/or unnecessary scenes. Casting was decent, with the stand-out performances by Sung Kang and Jade Wu, but I wasn't impressed with Shuya Chang; her character was unconvincing and it felt like she didn't want to be there with her constant straight-faced look and demeanor. Overall not a bad film, watchable to the end, so it's a 6/10 from me.

While the main plot was initially interesting, the script and acting was mediocre. The scenes felt rushed, not well thought out. How the film moved from one scene to the next felt choppy. The only actor I like was the older woman who played Dai Mah. Her acting was decent. But the main protagonist turned my stomach. She delivers her lines like a spoiled bratty sulking teenager. When you don't feel anything for the main character, the film is doomed. The rest of the supporting actors were just as bad. This production needed better writers and casting.

The movie disappointed me a little bit. I expected it to be a lot better, because it really has a good and solid plot. For me the movie seems fast-paced and not at all polished. It seems that the director and the production team didn't have the patience, the budget, or both, to make something really good and interesting.

I expected it to have a lot more action and be less predictable. The main plot is interesting, but it also depends how do you make use of it, how you put into the light the events that are linked to that plot and "Snakehead" didn't really manage that. Even If the plot is interesting, the movie is nothing but basic, fast-paced and predictable. It had potential.

As the when film is shot in "dramatic" slow motion, at home one can just play at high speed and get this whole whatever you call this mumbo jumbo over in 20 minutes! And all the "plot" even starts to make sense! Try it.