Film: The Beast Stalker
Release date: 4th January 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 109 mins
Director: Dante Lam
Starring: Nicholas Tse, Jingchu Zhang, Nick Cheung
Genre: Action
Studio: Cine Asia
Format: DVD
Country: Hong Kong
With a title like The Beast Stalker, and DVD artwork illustrating blood, guns and “spectacular” critical comments, you’d think you were settling down to another high-octane, Hong-Kong action extravaganza. But never judge a film by its cover!
Tong (Nicholas Tse) is a dogged and single-minded police sergeant who is used to achieving results! – and no matter what it takes (subtlety isn’t the film’s strong point, so this is illustrated to viewers early on when he screams hysterically at a colleague – in fact, his cousin, who is subsequently demoted because of Tong’s continuing complaints - for making a mistake during an operation).
When a prisoner is hijacked on his way to court, they conveniently cross the path of a huffing Tong, who sets out on a determined high-speed pursuit to get ‘his man’. However, this leads to a mass collision, and when he fires at the convicts, he inadvertently kills an innocent young girl.
Now back in custody, the prisoner is about the stand for his original trial, with the recently deceased girl’s mother, Ann Gao (Jingchu Zhang), acting as the prosecution (sure, this is allowed). But, of course, there’s another daughter, and the defendant has her kidnapped to force Ann into doctoring damning evidence.
Tong, who was again conveniently in the vicinity when the second daughter (who he’d befriended out of guilt, shown via some uneasy scenes, for killing her sister) was taken, can’t allow this to happen on ‘his watch’, and sees this as his chance for redemption – beginning his quest to rescue her despite the objections of her mother, and ignoring the increasing risk to her life...
If you think the plot resembles a ‘90s straight-to-video American action flick, you wouldn’t be too far off the mark – with comparisons to the work of their Western counterparts amplified by jerky camera work which, whilst adding a sense of edge and vitally exaggerating the pace of the movie, ultimately only creates the impression of an extended episode of CSI – minus the tongue firmly in cheek.
And that’s the main problem with the movie. It takes itself far too seriously, which is criminal when you are delivering tame action sequences (the fight scenes are nothing more than indistinguishable close-ups, and far removed from what we have come to expect from Asian filmmakers), and wooden to OTT acting (some of the emotional seems are so overwrought it goes beyond hysterical to excruciating). It also requires any viewer to completely suspend of disbelief as the coincidences pile up to allow them to move on to the next ‘drama’.
Nick Cheung does look suitably menacing as the one-eyed “beast”, Hung, who kidnaps the young girl, but attempts to give him a sympathetic back story and a conscience are laughable when he’s fully willing to sever the girl’s hand off (although his “bond” does ensure he opts for her non-writing hand!), whilst the softening of Tong’s character comes as standard with films of this type.
In fairness, the story is well pieced together as the film develops, although it’s a concept and structure which has been recycled fairly often over the years. More astute viewers will have predicted how the various characters’ lives are linked long before the end, but its whether the film can hold their attention for its duration to allow them to do so which is doubtful.
The music score doesn’t help, giving a melodramatic tone to the whole and preventing any empathy to the distraught mother or the guilt-ridden Tong. Unfortunately, it doesn’t assist in creating tension when the film is so badly in need of assistance, and whilst the best Asian films, of any genre, always deliver on dark humour, any laughs generated here are purely accidental – the use of MMS to locate the kidnapped girl is an idea Orange may adopt for their next spoof cinema advert.
For all its faults, the crash sequence is impressive – suggesting the bulk of the budget, and the filmmakers’ attention went here – and if you flicked over to channel 5 one night, it would while away a couple of hours in similar non-challenging fashion to any of Seagal’s back catalogue, but given its promise, you should expect a lot more from a DVD purchase.
Dated, made-for-TV quality fair that fails to deliver on suspense or thrills, and whose ludicrous ending overshadows a fairly spectacular central set-piece. DH
Tong (Nicholas Tse) is a dogged and single-minded police sergeant who is used to achieving results! – and no matter what it takes (subtlety isn’t the film’s strong point, so this is illustrated to viewers early on when he screams hysterically at a colleague – in fact, his cousin, who is subsequently demoted because of Tong’s continuing complaints - for making a mistake during an operation).
When a prisoner is hijacked on his way to court, they conveniently cross the path of a huffing Tong, who sets out on a determined high-speed pursuit to get ‘his man’. However, this leads to a mass collision, and when he fires at the convicts, he inadvertently kills an innocent young girl.
Now back in custody, the prisoner is about the stand for his original trial, with the recently deceased girl’s mother, Ann Gao (Jingchu Zhang), acting as the prosecution (sure, this is allowed). But, of course, there’s another daughter, and the defendant has her kidnapped to force Ann into doctoring damning evidence.
Tong, who was again conveniently in the vicinity when the second daughter (who he’d befriended out of guilt, shown via some uneasy scenes, for killing her sister) was taken, can’t allow this to happen on ‘his watch’, and sees this as his chance for redemption – beginning his quest to rescue her despite the objections of her mother, and ignoring the increasing risk to her life...
If you think the plot resembles a ‘90s straight-to-video American action flick, you wouldn’t be too far off the mark – with comparisons to the work of their Western counterparts amplified by jerky camera work which, whilst adding a sense of edge and vitally exaggerating the pace of the movie, ultimately only creates the impression of an extended episode of CSI – minus the tongue firmly in cheek.
And that’s the main problem with the movie. It takes itself far too seriously, which is criminal when you are delivering tame action sequences (the fight scenes are nothing more than indistinguishable close-ups, and far removed from what we have come to expect from Asian filmmakers), and wooden to OTT acting (some of the emotional seems are so overwrought it goes beyond hysterical to excruciating). It also requires any viewer to completely suspend of disbelief as the coincidences pile up to allow them to move on to the next ‘drama’.
Nick Cheung does look suitably menacing as the one-eyed “beast”, Hung, who kidnaps the young girl, but attempts to give him a sympathetic back story and a conscience are laughable when he’s fully willing to sever the girl’s hand off (although his “bond” does ensure he opts for her non-writing hand!), whilst the softening of Tong’s character comes as standard with films of this type.
In fairness, the story is well pieced together as the film develops, although it’s a concept and structure which has been recycled fairly often over the years. More astute viewers will have predicted how the various characters’ lives are linked long before the end, but its whether the film can hold their attention for its duration to allow them to do so which is doubtful.
The music score doesn’t help, giving a melodramatic tone to the whole and preventing any empathy to the distraught mother or the guilt-ridden Tong. Unfortunately, it doesn’t assist in creating tension when the film is so badly in need of assistance, and whilst the best Asian films, of any genre, always deliver on dark humour, any laughs generated here are purely accidental – the use of MMS to locate the kidnapped girl is an idea Orange may adopt for their next spoof cinema advert.
For all its faults, the crash sequence is impressive – suggesting the bulk of the budget, and the filmmakers’ attention went here – and if you flicked over to channel 5 one night, it would while away a couple of hours in similar non-challenging fashion to any of Seagal’s back catalogue, but given its promise, you should expect a lot more from a DVD purchase.
Dated, made-for-TV quality fair that fails to deliver on suspense or thrills, and whose ludicrous ending overshadows a fairly spectacular central set-piece. DH
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