One Last Dance

I have seen the 2006 Singaporean movie "One Last Dance" once before. But to be honest, I had entirely forgotten about the movie, aside from the title and the fact that the movie had Francis Ng and Harvey Keitel on the cast list.

So as I had the opportunity to sit down in 2023 and watch writer and director Max Makowski's 2006 movie again, of course I did so.

Well, the movie wasn't really outstanding in terms of entertainment and a properly enjoyable storyline. I suppose that is why the movie had entirely faded from my memory from the first time I watched it. The storyline written by Max Makowski was a bit weak and somewhat all over the place.

The acting performance in the movie were fair enough, but nothing outstanding here. And this movie is far from the best work of the likes of Francis Ng and Harvey Keitel. The movie also had some other familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Lung Ti and Vivian Hsu.

All in all then "One Last Dance" was not a particularly enjoyable movie, and it is one that will slowly, but surely fade back into oblivion and I doubt I will ever return to it a third time, because I was far from impressed the second time around.

My rating of "One Last Dance" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I have several problems with this film. For one thing, I'm not sure the director (Max Makowski) had any definitive idea on what type of movie he was trying to create. At first it starts off as a comedy but then morphs into a crime-drama with elements of romance and then back to a serious drama. Further, he puts some scenes out front and then back-tracks on them only to come full circle toward the end. I found this technique initially confusing but later it seemed all too elementary after everything was said and done. Not only that, but I thought the outstanding performance of Francis Ng ("T") was downgraded to an extent by the attempted comedy all around him. And other than him I didn't see anybody else in the cast who was nearly as good by comparison. In short, this film features a complicated plot with ambivalent direction which utilizes a confusing technique that hampers an otherwise brilliant performance by the lead actor. I think that pretty much says it all.

Ever since I saw the movie poster many months ago, I was highly enthused to watch this local Raintree Pictures production given the accreditation and hype accompanying its release. Having seen it now, I felt it was a real disappointment and a movie I would love to forget, especially since 'One Last Dance' was the first movie I saw in 2007.

My disappointment began right from the start with the Introductory sequence totally eliminating any hopes I had for an intelligent, serious, suspense, crime thriller. 'One Last Dance' really got it all mixed up, genre wise. I strongly feel the director/producers really should make a stand on what they wish to offer the audience ie.thriller,action,romance,comedy??? Random inclusion of cheap and ill-advised humour that may not be easily understood by all is for me the major flaw that killed this movie. This along with certain highly annoying characters in the movie such as Joseph Quek's "Ko" which only commendable 'on screen task' is to bring out the best in the actor himself for he really did annoy me quite a bit. The assembled cast as a whole did a decent job, with the leading guys, Francis Ng, Ti Lung, Vivian Hsu holding their roles well. It was also good to see quite a selection of local actors involved. However, it was interesting to hear certain members' of the audience commenting that "perhaps Harvey Keitel was on vacation in the region when he was approached, and roped in to do a cameo out of goodwill" I would not mind that speculation for I believe his character in the movie could be played by almost anyone else.

Overall, I do applaud the 'Memento' like concept of story telling, and the anonymity of the setting (We have no idea where & when the story was set, could hardly even tell it was filmed in Singapore), this I believe is pretty encouraging for Raintree Pictures. However, the CGI and other effects could really be better, and with a concept hinting at sophistication, 'One Last Dance' could really do without the badly executed on screen humour which probably took 3 to 4 marks off the movie. I would forget this and look forward to better movies in the long year ahead...

This was really the only movie at Sundance 2006 that I absolutely HAD to see. Many (American) audience members simply did not understand the humor in the more dramatic parts (very characteristic of Korean-style dramas) which simply is not seen much in American movies. Note: this movie is not Korean, but I draw from Korean movies as a reference.

T, an experienced hit-man (Francis Ng) is forced to work with a group of young bumbling gangsters. T is more or less a "strong silent" honorable man (the irony being that he kills for a living) who is contracted to kill via names written in lai si packets (little red packets - commonly associated with gifts given during Chinese New Year). You, as a viewer, piece together the past and the present regarding T, the woman he has a crush on (Vivian Hsu), the idiotic gangsters T works with, an old detective T plays chess with (who is working on the some cases involving dead gangsters), and the rest of the gangster underground. Ultimately, T must protect the woman he loves, retain his honor as a man and fulfill his responsibilities as a professional hit-man.

I am not big into HK/Singaporean movies, but my experience watching Korean dramas/comedies prepared me to understand much of the humor when it seemed to glaze over much of the rest of the American audience. I personally thought some moments were hysterical. The movie is more or less a crime-drama (I guess) but from my experience, Asian dramas don't like to restrain themselves to only one genre. I personally think that Max Makowski (writer/director) managed to minimize explanation of some parts, which gave the film a more adult/mature/lifelike quality (i.e. what was in the suitcase?).

I don't think I could recommend a similar movie (few have managed to put together a quality script with rich characters), but the garbled time-line is similar to Memento (or Pulp Fiction for you main-streamers) and the main character is vaguely like Old Boy. I can't wait for One Last Dance to make it to DVD because it is already starting to fade from my memory and I do believe that this is one of my top 10 movies.

One Last Dance is the story of T, a mysterious hit-man contracted by a local mob boss to kill the people responsible for the recent kidnapping and murder of said mob boss' son. However, things don't quite go according to plan, and as the bodies piles up, T finds himself questioning just how close to home his next target will be...

Can you say cliché? Good, because that's what One Last Dance is almost exclusively made of. The characters are exaggerated types and the ordinary plot has delusions of grandeur. While the dialogue does have its moments, such as a particularly informative conversation on the finer points of making a cup of tea, most of it is faux-cool and decidedly average.

The movie isn't helped by director Max Makowski either, with his unnecessary just-out-of-film-school camera tricks and gratuitous use of CGI for the smallest of things.

Its saving grace is the performance of Francis Ng, who plays T with the right balance of world-weariness and romanticism essential for any hired killer, and when he's off-screen, you certainly notice his absence. Ng's T keeps holds your interest when the plot fails and keeps the film afloat.

Good hit-man movies are stylish, smart, and cool, but for all its glossy trickery and pop-culture references, One Last Dance is not.