Tian xia wu zei (2004)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Xiaogang Feng

Writer:

Xiaogang Feng (writer)

Release Date:

9 December 2004 (China)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

A con-team couple (Andy Lau & Rene Liu) head west after taking a city businessman for his BMW. But an encounter with a naive young carpenter travelling home with his life savings challenges their fate as thieves. |

Plot Keywords:

Train Journey | Bad Wig | Egg Tricks

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Andy Lau	...	Wang Bo
Rene Liu	...	Wang Li
You Ge	...	Uncle Bill
Baoqiang Wang	...	Sha Gen
Bingbing Li	...	Xiao Ye
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Biao Fu	...	General Manager Liu
Ka Tung Lam	...	Four-eyes
Fan Xu
Yong You	...	Number Two
Hanyu Zhang	...	Han
Ping Zhong	...	Policewoman

Also Known As:

A World Without Thieves (International: English title)

Runtime:

113 min | China:100 min

Country:

China | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Taiwan:PG-12 | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Singapore:PG

Company:

Focus Films

decent story poorly told

The movie makes me think that the novel on which it is based was probably good. The movie brings out a couple of interesting symbols.

That's the good news. Now for the bad news.

The storytelling, camera-work, special effects (both audio and visual), and fight choreography are so poor, they distract from what could have been a good story.

The camera-work was almost as bad as in "The Bourne Supremacy". The director is working with some great actors (Andy Lau and Ge You) but he doesn't let them act. The editor cut scenes as if he never had more than two inches of film at a time.

Speaking of acting, Andy Lau is too old for this role. He is a great actor, but it's hard to believe him when he tries to play people half his age.

The director needs to ease up on the after-effects. A strong echo is heard when a man is shouting in a prairie. The lighting after-effects are just distracting. Then we have people appearing and disappearing... for no reason and it has nothing to do with the story. Somebody just got excited about what can be done with special effects and forgot about the story.

The fight choreography works like this: (1) a fight or a pickpocketing scene begins. (2) the camera shows a super close-up of a fingernail moving by a strand of hair. (Whose fingernail? Whose hair? You can't tell.) (3) the camera shows a super close-up of a couple of fingers moving near some cloth. (Do we have any idea whose fingers? No. Do we have any idea what's supposed to be happening? No.) None of the fights or kung fu magic are really shown. The movie is worse in this respect than Tim Burton's "Batman".