I was given the chance to sit down and watch the 1990 Hong Kong / Philippines movie "Fatal Vacation" (aka "An le zhan chang") here in 2021. Sure, I hadn't even heard about it prior to watching it, but the fact that it was a Hong Kong movie that I hadn't already seen was more than enough to make me find the time to sit down and watch it.
First of all, I must say that I was surprised to see Eric Tsang in a movie such as this. And while he was out of his usual element, then he was actually putting on a fair enough performance in an action thriller, though at times it was hard to forget that he is usually a comedian. It was fun to watch Victor Wong in a Hong Kong movie, as I have only seen him in American movies, so I was surprised to see him here.
The storyline told in "Fatal Vacation" was pretty straight forward, and actually have some hold in some reality, as tourist kidnappings actually do happen in the Philippines. Sure, the movie was cranked up somewhat for entertainment purposes, but writer Yin Nam actually concocted an interesting enough storyline and plot. I didn't know that it was Eric Tsang whom directed the movie, so that was a nice surprise.
The acting in the movie, was for the most parts, actually adequate enough. Though some scenes had some pretty badly and over-exaggerated acting performances, which seemed so out of place and just dumbed down the movie unnecessarily.
Visually then "Fatal Vacation" definitely bears witness to being from 1990s, so you shouldn't be expecting to be impressed by the special effects in the movie. They served their purpose well enough, but haven't withstood the test of time all that well.
"Fatal Vacation" is good enough entertainment for what it turned out to be, however this is hardly a movie that you will watch more than once. I know that I will not be returning to the movie a second time, as there just wasn't enough of solid contents to the storyline for a second viewing.
My rating of "Fatal Vacation" settles on a five out of ten stars.
