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The Touch (2002)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
1 August 2002 (Hong Kong) morePlot:
A sister and brother, the last heirs of a family of acrobats, are called upon by a Buddhist monk sect to retrieve an artifact that their ancestors have protected throughout the ages. | add synopsisAwards:
2 wins & 2 nominations moreUser Comments:
unfulfilled potential more (33 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Michelle Yeoh | ... | Pak Yin Fay | |
| Ben Chaplin | ... | Eric | |
| Richard Roxburgh | ... | Karl | |
| Sihung Lung | ... | The Monk-Dun Huang | |
| Brandon Chang | ... | Pak Yeuk Tong | |
| Margaret Wang | ... | Lily | |
| Dane Cook | ... | Bob | |
| Emmanuel Lanzi | ... | Draco | |
| Kenneth Tsang | ... | Ping | |
| Gabriel Harrison | ... | Sam (as Gabriel Hoi) | |
| Winston Chao | ... | Yin's Father | |
| Zhenghai Kou | ... | Silvio | |
| Liu Chang Sheng | ... | Pang | |
| Hua Qin | ... | Fat-Wah | |
| Sua Lang Rao Deng | ... | The monk - 700 Yrs. Ago |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for violence.Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
China:103 minColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Dolby DigitalCertification:
Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13Fun Stuff
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Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Touch (2002)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| Ever getting a US release? | IanDSmith |
| A God-awful mess. | youbadassmutha |
| The Music | jmaker43 |
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One of the classic fantasy quest novels of ancient China serves as the basis for this film's story: JOURNEY TO THE WEST by Wu Cheng En. In it, the Buddhist Monk/Scholar Xuanzang accomplishes a pilgrimage to India with the help of three magical creatures: a powerful immortal monkey with an anti-authoritarian streak, a humanoid boar of immense power, gullibility and appetite and an even-tempered warrior monk. The same source material was the inspiration for anime like Dragonball Z.
In this case, The Touch starts off cleverly, and sort of creates the impression that it is a latter-day sequel to the novel especially in one of the fights that opens the movie: a re-creation of the famous scene in the novel where the Monkey duels with a hot-tempered Boy-God with the ability to manipulate fire. And with the fact that it is the Sharira (or crystal essence) of the Monk that is the motive for all the characters' actions. But it fails to cover this much further, sags in the middle and soon becomes a cliched and predictable adventure film featuring a booby-trapped room, fire, Tarzan-swinging and "leaps of faith".
Performances wise Michelle Yeoh is Michelle Yeoh, always up to snuff in her physical stunts and emotional nuances but set back by her grating Cantonese-Malayan inflections when speaking Mandarin and English. Ben Chaplin continues his trend of playing second fiddle to A-list females, from Winona Ryder, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman to Michelle Yeoh. He's just the kind of guy A-list women like to have in their movies because he looks positively impotent. Richard Roxburgh seems to have walked in thinking he was going to act in a Shakespearean stage play and pretty much plays his stock villain character larger-than-life with hammy delivery.
Cinematography is first-rate, and the music is surprisingly pleasing, and that's about all. The story is weak, predictable and has the depth of a Disney cartoon. Characters are one-dimensional and stock. Peter Pau can handle visuals though what he's done is virtually retreading old ground, but as a director he still lacks vision and the ability to astonish emotionally. Any astonishment is mainly from the way he handles visuals, rarely from timing or the way he works on the imagination. A triumph of set design over plot this is, but what set design, and what cinematography!
Overall this movie is an elegantly-shot with potential for greatness, but just becomes little more than a passably entertaining, shortchanging adventure by the end.
Rating: 5.6 out of 10