|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Science-Fiction |
|
|
| Horror |
|
|
| Fantasy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TREASURE HUNT
aka
AMERICAN SHAOLIN
(Hua Qi Shao Lin)
Rating: 
Hong Kong. 1994.
Director/Screenplay – Lau Chang Wei, Producer – Linda Kuk, Photography – Peter Pau.
Cast:
Chow Yun Fat (Chang Ching), Wu Chien-lien (Mei), Chia Hui Liu (Abbot Hung-Chi), Han Chin (Tong Ling/Captain Chiu), Michael Wong (Grasshopper), Phillip Kwok (Kung Ching), Roy Chiao (Uncle Bill)
Plot: CIA agent Chang Ching is sent into China on a mission. He is sheltered at a rural Shaolin temple. There he meets a mystery girl, Mei, who is kept locked in a cell and discovers that she can create magic. The two fall in love as Chang attempts to smuggle her out.
This is a typically light and fluffy Hong Kong fantasy comedy, featuring Hong Kong action star, the improbably named Chow Yun Fat. The film moves at a busy pace and has a cheerful silliness that keeps its head up above any of the rough spots. One such rough spot is the lack of any real plot – we, for instance, never actually work out why it is that Chow Yun Fat’s CIA agent is sent to China in the first place. The middle of the film is really constructed for the sole purpose of keeping Chow at the monastery and even that wanders off and gets sidetracked into a series of gags about teaching the monks about American junk culture.
Nevertheless the complete lack of plot is occasionally compensated for by the mindless sheer good nature of it all. There are some inspired sequences – a fight that takes place halfway up between the walls of a narrow alley; the scene where Mei demonstrates her powers and ends up with a young monk covered in flowers; the scenes teaching the monks about baseball or serving them up American junkfood. The romantic scenes have a banal sweetness to them even if there isn’t that much to the film by the end.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2011
|