* LEAVE ME ALONE * Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Ekin Cheng (sic) Dir: Danny Pang - 2004 - Hong Kong / Thailand
With recent hits from the Pang Brothers such as The Eye, I had pretty high hopes for this movie. Danny Pang, one of the brothers goes solo as director in this cheesy, seen-before plot, and despite some good innovation, this flick falls somewhat short of expectations.
Man and Kit are twin brothers (both played by Ekin Cheng). Kit, who lives in Thailand, visits his younger brother in Hong Kong and on seeing his brother's car decides to take it for a spin, switching identities with their driving licences. However, Kit has an accident and is left in a coma, when Kit's girlfriend, Jane (Charlene Choi), calls needing him back to take out a loan from the bank to pay off some sharks. Man steps in and flies to Thailand, only to find that Kit and Jane may be in deeper trouble than they thought.
The film's plot is too familiar to many people, particularly when it's been used by so many others such as Jackie Chan (Twin Dragons), Jean-Claude van Damme (Double Impact) and Jet Li (The One). However, I do admire the attempt to give the characters more depth. Cheng's portrayal of Man and Kit are clearly different, and not only because of Man being a gay character in the film. Cheng almost pulls off the act of being two different characters, but there were certain parts of the script that made it too unconvincing. I found it amusing that Cheng had a hairstyle that is commonly reminiscent of his girlfriend's, Gigi Leung. Charlene Choi is gradually improving in her roles, but she doesn't have the maturity on screen yet.
As for the story, well, it's somewhat disappointing. There are some incoherences in the film, the action scenes were rather ordinary and unoriginal and frankly, I felt little excitement in watching them. But as a Pang film, the movie does have one saving grace and that is in the cinematography. Interesting camera angles, some good direction, and some quite clever editing did at least provide me something to keep me interested. But overall, it just didn't hit the mark.
In terms of action films, there are plenty of other, better films to see. As a Pang film, it's definitely a disappointment, particularly as the bar for the Pangs was set high with The Eye. But if you want something the pass the time, this film is at least watchable. One for a night in.
