Emulating Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES franchise, this Chinese detective mystery directed by Hong Kong journeyman Law Chi-leung, sets in a retro-era, the Republic of China in the 1930s, and pairs a hands-on, whip-smart inspector Song Donglu (Lau Ching-wan) with a justice-seeking police captain Guo Zhui (Nicholas Tse), aka. The fastest gun in the Tiancheng County, together they must solve a series of bewildering murder cases in a bullet factory, apparently carried out by the curse of "phantom bullets".
Turpitude flagrantly sprawls inside the top tier of both the factory and the police department, a whey-faced Hong Kong veteran Liu Kai-chi (under heavy slap) unapologetically takes his showboating and hectoring to the hammiest level as the overbearing factory owner, whilst Chinese character actor Wu Gang countervails him with a more insidious and unobtrusive vibe as the on- the-take police chief. In due time, comeuppance will befall both, but the ace in the hole is that they are not the ultimate boss behind the whole scheme, as we assume that the hubbub reaches a somewhat tepid ending, the plot is leavened with its final twist, the Sherlock-Watson camaraderie swerves into a slipshod Sherlock-Moriarty revelation, only it strikes like an ill-devised move for its own shake value's sake, also the gambit of Russian roulette is exploited to the point of vexation.
Female characters are ill-used here, the sex scenes between Yang Mi and Nicholas Tse is risibly gratuitous, and a protean Jiang Yiyan is pigeonholed more by her role's mystique than any substantial import (although the flashback of a crime re-enactment in pantomime is arguably the takeaway of the whole enterprise), thankfully the two leading actors are game in making do what they are offered, Lau Ching-wan dutifully makes great play of Song's science-abiding credence and personable persona whereas Nicolas Tse strives to ooze a modicum of sophistication through a contrived character arc. In the event, THE BULLET VANISHES is wheeled out with decent craft but barely passes muster as a potboiler catering to the lowest common denominator.
Turpitude flagrantly sprawls inside the top tier of both the factory and the police department, a whey-faced Hong Kong veteran Liu Kai-chi (under heavy slap) unapologetically takes his showboating and hectoring to the hammiest level as the overbearing factory owner, whilst Chinese character actor Wu Gang countervails him with a more insidious and unobtrusive vibe as the on- the-take police chief. In due time, comeuppance will befall both, but the ace in the hole is that they are not the ultimate boss behind the whole scheme, as we assume that the hubbub reaches a somewhat tepid ending, the plot is leavened with its final twist, the Sherlock-Watson camaraderie swerves into a slipshod Sherlock-Moriarty revelation, only it strikes like an ill-devised move for its own shake value's sake, also the gambit of Russian roulette is exploited to the point of vexation.
Female characters are ill-used here, the sex scenes between Yang Mi and Nicholas Tse is risibly gratuitous, and a protean Jiang Yiyan is pigeonholed more by her role's mystique than any substantial import (although the flashback of a crime re-enactment in pantomime is arguably the takeaway of the whole enterprise), thankfully the two leading actors are game in making do what they are offered, Lau Ching-wan dutifully makes great play of Song's science-abiding credence and personable persona whereas Nicolas Tse strives to ooze a modicum of sophistication through a contrived character arc. In the event, THE BULLET VANISHES is wheeled out with decent craft but barely passes muster as a potboiler catering to the lowest common denominator.