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Tang Ren Jie Tan An
Detective Chinatown
China 2015
produced by
Chen Yedda Zhixi, Felix Liu, Wang Haipeng, Jerry Ye, Zhao Fang (executive) for Wanda Pictures, Shine Asia
directed by Chen Sicheng
starring Wang Baoqiang , Liu Haoran, Tong Liya, Chen He, Xiao Yang, Xiao Shenyang, Pan Yueming, Marc Ma, Zhang Zifeng, Zhao Yingjun, Sang Ping, Dong Chengpeng, Zhang Guoqiang, Ye Qing, King Shih-Chieh, Chen Yedda, Pan Binlong, Zhang Dada, Dai Mo
written by Chen Sicheng, music by Nathan Wang
Detective Chinatown
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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After failing his entry exam to the police academy in China, Qin (Liu
Haoran), wannabe detective with an analytical mind, is set to Bangkok,
Thailand, to learn from his uncle/cousin Tang (Want Baoqiang), a small fry
private detective with little talent for actual detective work, but he's
usually good at winging it. And before you know it, Tang is suspected to
not only have stolen 100 kilogram in gold but also to have killed Sompat,
the man who was to keep the gold for its owner Mr. Yan (King Shih-Chieh).
Now as he's quite so good at winging it, Tang manages to escape arrest and
always staying ahead on the cops on his case, but what's not so good is
that staying out of jail means he has not only them but also Mr. Yan's men
and Sompat's accomplices on his trail, all of whom think he has the money
- which he doesn't. And while Tang does his utmost to stay out of trouble,
Qin does some investigating and soon finds out that the murder and the
theft of the gold are actually not related, and that Sompat actually
worked with some crooks on the latter when his murder got in the way. And
that part of the story leads Qin to teenage Snow (Zhang Zifeng) who was in
school with Sompat's son when he disappeared a year ago, and who Sompat
seems to have had some special interest in. And eventually, Qin can prove
her stepfather Lee (Pan Yueming) was Sompat's actual killer after having
found out Sompat had raped her, and killing him he went out of his way to
plant evidence on Tang - and almost succeeded, too ... When Detective
Chinatown takes itself as little more than a cinematic spectacle it
works best, the action setpieces are well-executed and do show
inventiveness, and the light-footedness that carries them is rather
appealing. As a murder mystery - which the movie actually is - the film
falls a few feet short of its target, mainly because the clues are pretty
much thrown at our heroes at random, suspects seem to just pop up when the
story needs them rather than being worked towards, and the whole mystery's
internal logic seems to be constructed to fit the story rather than the
other way round. Meanwhile, the characters - even the leads, as likeable
as they might be - are rather lacking in depth, with many never above
caricature status, and likewise the humour, while not exactly moronic, is
hardly sophisticated. The result is hardly a great movie, but a fun ride
still - and also the basis for one of China's most successful movie series
of its day.
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amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Detective Chinatown at adultvideouniverse.com
