Saving Mr. Wu

(2015) Saving Mr Wu/ Jie jiu Wu xian sheng (In Chinese with English subtitles) THRILLER

Co-written, edited, chief producer (whatever that means) and directed by Sheng Ding. Based on actual events involving a Chinese movie star Mr. Wu (Andy Lau), being kidnapped and then ransomed by four criminals posed as police officers for a sum of money, within a spawn of 20 hours. The person in charge of Mr. Wu's recovery is Chief Xing (Liu Ye) with viewers get to see how some of the police procedures work, but also the emotional turmoil as well. Despite the running time of an hour and 46 minutes, the movie drags.

Andy Lau's Mr. Wu gets kidnapped by some criminals and the police will try to find him before the bad guys kills him. Will they find the place where he is being kept at before time runs out? Will he be able to free himself?

The story of "Saving Mr. Wu" is simple enough. Rich guy gets kidnapped, and the police will try to save him, while the criminals try to get the money, and who knows, maybe get rid of him instead of releasing him. The plot is simple enough, but the movie keeps jumping back and forth in time, non-stop, to make things more interesting. It never becomes confusing, though, which is a point in favor of the direction and the plot. Everything that happens is pretty easy to follow and the tension is kept almost thorough the movie.

The look is dark and gritty (a little bit too much), the direction is good and never goes for flash and shocks, and the acting is good, with Lau being as good as ever. However, the movie lacks punch and grit, it goes for the safe, and lacks something to make it stand from the pack. It is easy to watch, and entertaining enough, but the story could have offered way much more.

This is a 6.5 for me, A gang of kidnappers abduct a movie star for ransom. This isn't an unusual plot. It's not an awful film but it's missing something. I think that it might be a lack of character development. I never really got a feel for some of the characters and it kept me from investing much into what was going on. If I were to pick the best thing about this it would have to be the villain. The actor playing the villain did a great job playing the callus criminal. He totally had me hating him.

So, while I enjoyed the film, it was a bit flat. Glad I checked it out.

A huge movie star gets kidnapped for ransom and the police must find him before time is up.

At first I though the movie was going to be similar JCVD, and it does have elements of that in the movie, with Andy Lau playing a actor who could have easily gotten himself out of the situation he was in if he was one of the characters he plays, but instead he's stuck in a house with a series of men who, though love him as an actor, seriously mean business.

I loved the relationship Lau has with a fellow kidnapper. As Mr. Wu, he attempts to keep up his Star power persona to make him more claim. It was brilliantly done.

For the most part, the movie was about the crime unit assigned to find Mr. Wu with the missing person's clock ticking. The guy who they got to play the leader of the kidnappers really took over the screen. it was all about him, and he made an impressive villain to watch.

Overall, I have to recommend this police drama. Impressively done.

"Ding sets the sights on rendering the film a cinema vérité patina with frenetic editing, veridical setting and whip-panning immediacy, but the police procedural seems sloppy and too efficient, though Liu Ye is laudable as a diligent police vice captain who knows his stuff. Hemmed in by a noble fidelity to the facts, the game of cops and robbers is one-sidedly expedited, the thrill of the chase is deficient, and suffixing a fictive eleventh's hour rescue can only do a disservice to the dictates of fidelity, we all know the denouement, why bother?"

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.