Reading some old issues of UK film mag Empire,I read Kim Newman's regular straight to video reviews page, and noticed him highlight an overlooked Hong Kong remake of the US film Cellular (2004), a remake that Newman called far better in new plot twists and directing style than the original. Gathering up titles to watch for ICM's Hong Kong viewing challenge,I decided to make the call.
View on the film:
Dressed unassumingly and looking at the ground like an office worker drone, Louis Koo gives a pitch-perfect run as Bob, whose anxiety over having to step out of line is played upon by Koo as the realisation sinks into Bob that he is the only one who can save Grace and her family. Held captive by snarling henchmen, Barbie Hsu dials up the urgency in her great performance as Grace. Spending most of the film not seeing Bob, Hsu brings out in her voice/the phone calls the fears she has for her life, and an empathetic quality over Bob risking his life.
Spending two years extensively re-working Chris Morgan's (who'd go on to Fast and the Furious 3- the latest) debut script, the adaptation by co-writer/(with Alan Yuen and Xu Bing) director Benny Chan takes Morgan's "High-Concept" and brilliantly holds it together with more grounded elements, via the real-time set-up giving Bob's drive to find Grace a lean atmosphere, along with the limitations of time limiting Bob in picking up skills, instead having to go with the flow. Driving straight into action, Chan and cinematographer Anthony Pun super-charge a nail-biting Thriller atmosphere, as a clipped use of hand-held shakes up the urgency Bob is under, and slick tracking shots superbly criss-cross as Bob and the main baddie get nearer to each other. Unbuckling the tension in the car to the outdoors, Chan rolls out thrilling action set-pieces, which keep in gear rough and ready hand to hand combat fights with gloriously explosive car chases running on Bob staying connected.
View on the film:
Dressed unassumingly and looking at the ground like an office worker drone, Louis Koo gives a pitch-perfect run as Bob, whose anxiety over having to step out of line is played upon by Koo as the realisation sinks into Bob that he is the only one who can save Grace and her family. Held captive by snarling henchmen, Barbie Hsu dials up the urgency in her great performance as Grace. Spending most of the film not seeing Bob, Hsu brings out in her voice/the phone calls the fears she has for her life, and an empathetic quality over Bob risking his life.
Spending two years extensively re-working Chris Morgan's (who'd go on to Fast and the Furious 3- the latest) debut script, the adaptation by co-writer/(with Alan Yuen and Xu Bing) director Benny Chan takes Morgan's "High-Concept" and brilliantly holds it together with more grounded elements, via the real-time set-up giving Bob's drive to find Grace a lean atmosphere, along with the limitations of time limiting Bob in picking up skills, instead having to go with the flow. Driving straight into action, Chan and cinematographer Anthony Pun super-charge a nail-biting Thriller atmosphere, as a clipped use of hand-held shakes up the urgency Bob is under, and slick tracking shots superbly criss-cross as Bob and the main baddie get nearer to each other. Unbuckling the tension in the car to the outdoors, Chan rolls out thrilling action set-pieces, which keep in gear rough and ready hand to hand combat fights with gloriously explosive car chases running on Bob staying connected.