Saving Mr. Wu (2015)

Mr. Wu, a Hong Kong movie star, is kidnapped by four unpredictable criminals disguised as police officers. Will he get rescued?

Director:

Sheng Ding

Writers:

Sheng Ding, Sheng Ding

Stars:

Andy Lau, Ye Liu, Qianyuan Wang

8 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andy Lau	...	Mr. Wu
Ye Liu	...	Xing Feng
Qianyuan Wang	...	Zhang Hua
Ruofu Wu	...	Cao Gang
Xiaorui Zhao	...	Zhang Yi
Peng Lu	...	Li Zhidui
Lu Cai	...	Xiao Dou
Suet Lam	...	Mr. Su
Meng Li	...	Chen Chen
Wei Na	...	Cheng Zong
Ailei Yu	...	A Cang
Xu Yang	...	Guo Zi
Zheng Wang	...	Chao Ge
Li Longjun	...	Sun Shengli
Sichun Ma	...	Liu Yun

Storyline

Mr. Wu (Andy Lau) is kidnapped in Beijing by Zhang Hua (Wang Qianyuan) and three accomplices, all disguised as cops and demanding a ransom of 3 million RMB. In the ensuing 20 hours, the Chinese detectives led by Chief Xing (Liu Ye) quickly form a task force and sweep the city. Time is of the essence as Mr. Wu is ordered to be killed at 9 PM regardless of whether the money is collected or not. The police eventually apprehend Hua alone. As the deadline approaches, the detectives and captors collide.

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Plot Keywords:

police | chinese | businessman | chain | chained | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The actor Ye Liu took a call from his son at the end of the movie. The subtitle only showed he said "son". In Chinese he actually said "NouYi" which is the name of his real son.

User Reviews

Great acting but dull filmmaking

Saving Mr. Wu is a suspenseful drama inspired by real events. It tells the story of a movie star named Wu who gets kidnapped by criminals pretending to be police officers. The kidnappers then force him to ask a friend to pay a ransom for him or else he would die after twenty-four hours. In order to survive and give another kidnapped man some hope, Wu uses his wits to get to know more about his kidnappers, put himself in their shoes and find a way out. Meanwhile, the police is tracking down the leader of the gang as time is about to run out.

The most interesting element about the movie are the conversations between Wu, the victim, and Zhang, the leader of the kidnappers. The two empathize with each other to a certain degree and develop a certain type of code of honor, based upon honesty and respect. The film also has a quite sinister atmosphere as it mostly takes place at night and in small rooms. An interesting sidenote is that the man who was actually kidnapped in real life has a supporting role in this movie which makes this movie quite authentic.

On the other side, the movie fails to truly stand out and leave a mark despite the interesting characters. The film sometimes loses itself in lengthy and repetitive conversations instead of adding some pace and urgency. The way the story is told doesn't help either since the movie starts with a sequence that actually takes place towards the middle of the film, therefore spoiling half of it and making the whole plot quite predictable.

To keep it short, Saving Mr. Wu isn't a bad movie and worth your attention if you like tense dramas with profound antagonists and protagonists. The story is too predictable though and the filmmaking sometimes tedious. Watching this movie once is an overall entertaining experience but it simply isn't memorable and I wouldn't recommend purchasing it.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site China

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin Russian

Release Date:

30 September 2015 (China)

Also Known As:

Saving Mr. Wu

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Box Office

Gross USA:

$92,696

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$31,222,161

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beijing Going Zoom Media, Shanghai New Culture Media Group, Beijing Skywheel Entertainment Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color Color (original version)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1