Bo chi tung wah (2008)

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   Siskoid

   I think I liked the Chris Evans "Die Hard with a cell phone" movie Cellular more than most. A fun little premise well executed. Connected is the Hong Kong remake, starring the always dependable (and a lot more frazzled than usual) Louis Koo as a man desperate to keep his promise to a kidnapped woman (the very effective Barbie Hsu) who hacked a smashed phone to get to him, at random. If you've seen the American original, it's almost beat for beat the same, so I was looking to the details and the action moments to bring something different. Director Benny Chang, a frequent collaborator of Jackie Chan's, provides action that is unsurprisingly more gag-oriented, but despite the ridiculousness of some moments, the three leads (Nick Cheung plays the disgraced police officer role William H. Macy had in the original) play it straight and get a lot of tension and heart out of it, and most improbable, all things considered, is that Koo manages to keep his glasses on for the entire picture. From the first car chase, you know you're in for some fun stuff, and Cheung is definitely a better fighter than Macy. Great location work too. One changed detail makes a lot of difference: In the original, Chris Evans' dilemma is that all this action makes him run late for some event with a girl - big deal - but Louis Koo's less fresh-faced character has a date with his oft-disappointed young son, so every decision is a gut punch for him. Koo and Hsu's dynamic is also more romantic, which leads to some nice moments at the end. Had Whichever version you see first will probably take the bloom off the other one's rose, but they're both fun action flicks to watch a few years apart. 3 years 12 months ago

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