Saam cha hau (2005)

Director:

Benny Chan

Writer:

Ivy Ho (written by)

Release Date:

28 April 2005 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

A cop, a lawyer, and an assassin cross paths after the murder of a federal witness and the kidnapping of a famous pop star.

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Murder | Hong Kong | Lawyer | Kidnapping

Awards:

5 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Aaron Kwok	...	Suen Siu Yan
Ekin Cheng	...	To Hou Sun
Daniel Wu	...	Koo
Angelica Lee	...	Su Fong / Amy (as Sinje Lee)
Jing Ning	...	Ting (as Ning Jing)
Jan Lamb	...	Chu
Rongguang Yu	...	Inspector Mok (as Yu Rong Guang)
Gallen Law	...	Yiu Tin Chung (as Lo Ka Leung)
Tommy Yuen	...	Yiu Ha
Samuel Pang	...	So Fu On
Suet-Fei Chiu	...	Winnie (as Chloe)
Eric Tsang	...	Uncle Choi (as Eric Tsang Chi Wai)
Sam Lee	...	Leung Tak
Suet Lam	...	Mou Wai Bun (as Lam Suet)
Tak-bun Wong	...	Detector (as Kenny Wong)

Also Known As:

Divergence (International: English title)
San cha kou (China: Mandarin title)
San zha hou (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

Hong Kong:101 min | Argentina:101 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Germany:16 | Malaysia:U | USA:R | Argentina:16 | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Universe Entertainment

Soundtrack:

DIVERGENCE (Theme Song)

Unfulfilled...A waste of time!!!

After Aaron Kwok won the Golden Horse, the Taiwan's equivalent of the Oscar, for best actor, I got interested in this movie to try to figure out how this pop star who was considered a long shot by many people won the prestigious award. The first impression I got after I finished was, and I remembered clearly, sitting at my sofa, staring at the blank TV screen for a couple of minutes, and saying, "What just happened?" No, I was not blown by it. The opposite occurred. I was confused.

The movie was a typical Hong Kong movie, with the usual grittiness and stylishness. It had its moments, but sometimes, for some strange reason, it felt slow. Maybe there was not the ridiculous amount of gunfire, car chases and explosions that we viewers of Hong Kong thriller films are most familiar with and what I am most fond with. Maybe the love line story was so unnecessary that it dragged the movie down. Whatever the case, the mysteries and the search for the truth got my attention and got me excited...till I reached the twist. The twist right before the ending was a little surprising, but in retrospect it became obvious because too many clues were given that even a 2 year old could guess it (not recommended for 2 year olds- they are too young to be subjected to bad films). Still, it could be forgiven because an effort was made and it was a decent twist, no matter how predictable it was. However, here was what killed the moving- the ending. Nothing good could be said about it. It felt like they were trying to make this movie sophisticated by leaving so many questions unanswered. The problem was, those questions were not rhetorical or philosophical questions that might make one reexamines one's life. Instead, those questions were questions about the plot; the ending made the writers look stupid and left the movie feeling unfinished. Not enough clues were given in the film to help the viewers to try to answer the questions that were left. I tried to answer those questions, but after a few moments of pondering, I gave up and started swearing at the writers for wasting almost 2 hours of my time and the favors I have to pull to borrow this movie. There was no way to answer them and it was dumb to even try.

I could not say nothing good came out of this film. I finally understood the formula for the voting panel at the Golden Horse Awards. 2 words: star power. The guy was once part of the legendary 4 kings of Hong Kong pop music and even though the status had became history and he was struggling for the past few years, he still have draw power. Letting him win would be a feel good story and let people talk about it for days; it could boost popularity for the show, which saw its ratings down from last year and had been on the down side in recent years. This was not to put down Mr. Kwaok. He did a good job and it might arguably be the best performance of his career. However, compared to the other nominees, his performance still felt weak. I guess everything was for the ratings.

My only advice: do not watch it just because Aaron Kwok won the Golden Horse for it. It is a meaningless piece of work and your time would be better devoted elsewhere.

I give it 6/10, because an effort was made and only the ending sucked.