So Close (2002)
Director - Corey Yuen Kwai
DVD Released by : Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
Player reviewed with :Citizen JDVD 3820
Receiver reviewed with : N/A
 
Features:
Cantonese, Mandarin, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Digital 2.0 Surround
English, Chinese, Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese, and Thai subtitles
Enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs
Trailer
Other Releases
Running Time : 110 mins.
Region 1

Atmospheric night shots of Hong Kong that appear almost futuristic (based on the technology in the film, I assume the film takes place in the near-future) gives way to the enigmatic Corporation headed by Mr. Chow under attack by a computer virus infecting their mainframe. Just as they are about to lose all their data, the Computer Angel saves them. Intrigued about their saviour, Mr Chow invites the Angel to meet with him. Who should show up, but a young woman clad in white, Lynn (Shu Qi). It turns out that she has been hired to eliminate him, and that the computer virus was a sham to garner his attention. Lynn is a formidable opponent, who only kills her intended target and injures everyone else. She is aided by her little sister and partner, Sue (Vicky Zhao Wei) who plots Lynn's escape route via satellite network that can see all over the world. The rest of story revolves around Hong Yat Hong (Karen Mok) the forensic detective investigating the murder.

The problem begins when a young man, Yen (Song Seung Hun) literally appears out of nowhere and brings Lynn's life as well as the film to a grinding halt. It turns out that they share some sort of faux tragic past (not to be confused with her and Sue's faux tragic past, but more on that later). Now after all these years is their chance to find true love and happiness, and give up Lynn's life of violence. Too bad they have no romantic chemistry, the characters are thinner than a comic book, and the audience couldn't possibly care less about them. Sure it's silly soap opera stuff, which wouldn't be so bad except the film spends so much time with them. Not only is Yen extremely bland, but he disappears halfway through the film (not a bad thing on its own) making his presence in the first half even more pointless.

The bond between Lynn and Sue works a little better. When they were young their father found the solution to world peace with his network World Panorama, but before he could give it to the authorities, he and their mother were killed. We never find out who murdered their parents or who saves the two sisters or even why. It's just an excuse for them to become assassins and play with their father's technology which is apparently still high-tech ten years later (and never mind that his big idea for a peaceful world depended on privacy violation so massive that it bordered on fascism where everyone monitored everyone else).

At least when it comes to eye candy, this film has its fair share. Shu Qi spends much of the film lounging around in various states of near undress and her performance as a wise older sibling is believable. Vicky Zhao Wei is cute as the rash younger sister, but lacks any character development except for an overwrought Tamagotchi burial sequence. Karen Mok is naturally charismatic and is a joy to watch in more ways than one, but the inconsistent script has her cool and smart in one scene and then making stupid blunders the next. The crucial clue that allows Hong to track down the pair is based solely on the taste of a piece of cake! Maybe it's all meant to be humourous, but outside of the cheesy use of a Burt Bacharach song, it's just not funny.
So the script is terrible, nobody watches an action film for the plot anyway. But between long tedious scenes of drama are far too few action scenes, and what there is, isn't very good. Most of the actresses do their own fighting which is nice to see even though they're clearly not martial artists. Unfortunately they look really bad and the dull choreography doesn't help. Gunfights are a little better. The post-Matrix slow-mo wire-enhanced shootouts are more stylish than usual for Corey Yuen and look great, but they don't deliver anything new. The single car chase is plain boring as the police simply follow Sue around the city as Lynn tells her where to go by satellite. The only fight worth watching is a tag-team sword match against Yasuaki Kurata near the end.
In any case, whatever problems I may have with the film, I definitely don't with the video. This is a crystal clear anamorphic transfer with fine detail and just the occasional speck. The colour reproduction is excellent with glowing skin tones, perfect black levels and blinding whites. No compression problems or artifacts with only exterior shots exhibiting a touch of grain. The picture quality is outstanding.
There is some controversy about the original language intended for this foreign release. Most Hong Kong films are Cantonese, but two of the leading ladies speak Mandarin. The film appears to have been shot internationally with everyone speaking their own language and then dubbed in the alternate tracks. Both Cantonese and Mandarin tracks feature a lot of dubbing with on location dialogue heard only when all the speakers within a given scene have the same dialect (i.e. whenever Shu Qi and Vicky Zhao Wei are alone together) Most supporting performers are Cantonese with Karen Mok the only actress to dub herself in both languages. Both Chinese 5.1 tracks are a fair choice, and English 5.1 and French 2.0 dubs are also provided. Although I didn't listen to the English or French much, all versions share an identical mix in terms of music and effects levels. This is very active surround track with dialogue coming through clear. Song choice is a cheesy favourite, but the score is forgettable.

The subtitles feature a decent translation that is easy to read in a bold yellow font. Not all on screen characters are translated though.

The English language trailer is the only extra.

With this film it seems that Corey Yuen is going back to his roots to the girls-with-guns genre that established his reputation, like his seminal Yes Madam. Unfortunately it is also a step back in terms of entertainment and creativity, lacking even the spunk of She Shoots Straight. While it is better than his Hollywood output, Corey Yuen has done better. Long time fans won't find much here and those who are new should check out his older, better films. Unless the sight of beautiful women prancing around with guns alone is enough for you, So Close isn't close enough to hit the mark.

-Leon Ho

Reviewed 02/15/2003