The title of this movie refers to Johannes Gutenberg who invented a printing press 500 years ago and hence it's about a gang of professional counterfeiters. The acting is solid from Kwok and Chow - two Hong Kong veteran actors with decades of experience - the former seemingly coming of age, finally. However the copycat Unusual Suspects plot just takes away what could have been a great film. And that's not the only movie it borrows from.
The cinematography is clean and modern. The operatic compositions and stylish songs make it feels like it's treading on Ocean's Eleven territory. Then the element of replacing a face through plastic surgery is pure rip off from John Woo's Face Off.
The plot apart from relying on past movies tries to absolve itself two-thirds past the running time of 130 minutes which consists of many flashbacks. The twists upon twists start coming of who the Painter really is. I already figured out who it is within ten minutes of the film because like Usual Suspects, the protaganist is hauled into the police station for interrogation. The many layers trying to distort and distract towards the end really feel cheap, you can almost hear the director crying out in desperation, "You didn't see that one coming. Or this one and this one." They just don't tie together the rest of the movie. Neither does the improbable shoot outs, explosions and finally, nor an added romantic scene with scantily clad actors round it all off nicely.
We've come to the age of film making where not much is original anymore. But perpetuating this current formula of reboot is not the way to go. It's just plain boring and lazy script writing and directing. Here's hoping that HK film industry reinvents itself again rather than pander to Hollywood with remakes.
The cinematography is clean and modern. The operatic compositions and stylish songs make it feels like it's treading on Ocean's Eleven territory. Then the element of replacing a face through plastic surgery is pure rip off from John Woo's Face Off.
The plot apart from relying on past movies tries to absolve itself two-thirds past the running time of 130 minutes which consists of many flashbacks. The twists upon twists start coming of who the Painter really is. I already figured out who it is within ten minutes of the film because like Usual Suspects, the protaganist is hauled into the police station for interrogation. The many layers trying to distort and distract towards the end really feel cheap, you can almost hear the director crying out in desperation, "You didn't see that one coming. Or this one and this one." They just don't tie together the rest of the movie. Neither does the improbable shoot outs, explosions and finally, nor an added romantic scene with scantily clad actors round it all off nicely.
We've come to the age of film making where not much is original anymore. But perpetuating this current formula of reboot is not the way to go. It's just plain boring and lazy script writing and directing. Here's hoping that HK film industry reinvents itself again rather than pander to Hollywood with remakes.