As a reintroduction to Hong Kong cinema, Daniel Lee's (14
Blades, Black Mask) Time Raiders is a fitting place to start. The opening ten
minutes drown in a sea of lousy dialogue, clichéd action beats, weak acting and
poor effects work. Some of the shonky CGI would have looked at home in
Andrew Lau's ludicrously entertaining The Storm Riders, and that was made
eighteen years ago. In summary then, and I choose my words carefully here, Time
Raiders encapsulates everything we have come to love about Hong Kong action
cinema over the years. So why is it so mystifyingly average?
Lu Han (boy band EXO) and Jing Boran (Monster Hunt) take on
lead duties, with a fleeting guest appearance by Mallika Sherawatis, who plays
the sorceress in the film. Think Dwayne Johnson in The Mummy Returns and you
won't go far wrong. The film is based on a Chinese bestselling novel series
titled Daomu Biji (commonly translated to Grave Robbers’ Chronicles) by Xu Lei,
which was also adapted into a Chinese TV series in China.
Raised by his Uncle, Wu Sanxing (Wang Jing Chun), Wu Xie is
fascinated by old architecture and antiques. The plot revolves around a special
piece of bronze that can be traced back to a lost kingdom buried in the basin
of north-west China, named Xiwangmu Dynasty. As it turns out, Wu’s family
recruited a group of tomb raiders - including a mysterious stranger called Zhang
Qiling (Jing Boran) - who went deep into the ruins of the ancient city. Jumping
back to the present, we follow Wu Xie on an all-new adventure. One that
unearths all kinds of mystical nonsense.
The film settles down for a while as we meet our companions
on this journey, complete with perfunctory back-stories and a musical
score that aims desperately for the heart and misses the target with nauseating aplomb. It's
fairly evident early on that Daniel Lee has no intention of breaking the mould
with this one, riffing on Tomb Raider, The Mummy and any number of martial arts
movies you might care to mention. My interest spiked at the halfway point with the
introduction of Ning (Sichun Ma), one of only two ladies in the entire movie.
That's an own goal in anybody's language, especially when they look as good as
Sichun Ma (Saving Mr Wu).
It's all downhill from here. Promising set-pieces are
hindered by terrible effects work, not to mention inexplicable dance routines.
Okay, so there is just the one dance number but the comedy interludes are
inexcusable. Within minutes we lurch into horror territory as a CGI beetle
chomps down on a human skull. A badly rendered CGI beetle it has to be said.
That's the biggest problem with Time Raiders though, it really doesn't know
what kind of movie it wants to be. Action, adventure, horror and comedy are
thrown into the mix, but none of it is done particularly well.
The final acts reassembles all of the elements that have plagued
the movie up to this point, in a stupendously idiotic conclusion that tops its
own absurdity at every inconceivable turn. Stand out moments include the least
convincing demonic slugs you have ever seen, and quality dialogue like,
"Chew on this!", delivered with about as much venom as a p*ssed off
daddy long-legs.
Daniel Lee has made some curious films in his time, he's also made some very entertaining ones. Time Raiders is just unintentionally bad. Welcome back
Hong Kong action cinema, oh how I've missed you.
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