Movie Review: Treasure Hunt/無價之寶

Never wanted to see Ronald’s crotch. Still don’t.

If you really want to live, you must die nasty twice.

What does thatmean?

It means that a little over a week ago, on Saturday September 10, the Gang of Film watched two films in one day at the fabled Dynasty Theatre in Mong Kok.

And we lived to tell about it.

The afternoon viewing was Wong Jing’s latest film,  Treasure Hunt/無價之寶.

It stars (?) Ronald Cheng and Cecilia Cheung, with supporting roles played by Wong Jing and Philip Ng.

Money.

It’s the story of a woman whose marriage is on the rocks because of her career who gets called away to shoot a commercial featuring an egomaniac actor (who brings his daughter as well as his bimbo of the week) and his corpulent, sleazy manager (and his fat son) on a distant island that is home to a naturalist and his son and is also the apparent location of an ancient, cursed treasure that is being sought by a ruthless gang of thieves.

No, I’m not kidding.

Oh, and its essentially a Category I film. You’d be hard pressed to call it child friendly, but it can and does easily pass the Big 6 litmus test and is essentially viewable by an 8 year old.

Especially on an intellectual level.

Let’s face it; Wong Jing movies ain’t art. But they’re not supposed to be, and no one in their right mind expects them to be.

Treasure Hunt/無價之寶 is reallynot art.

It’s… bad.

No, its atrocious.

But not always in bad ways.

Or should I say not always in non-entertaining ways.

Treasure Hunt/無價之寶 is trash, but after 30 years as a garbage man, Wong Jing knows his junk.

Eewwwww.

The film at least trots along at a respectable pace, such that you are never forced to contemplate  Treasure Hunt/無價之寶 ‘s awfulness while waiting for some scene that has inexplicably ground to an excruciating halt.

It’s frequently laugh-out-loud bad, especially when, in the third reel, the moral of the story gets laid on you with all the subtlety and believabililty of  a China-made film about Japan.

But like I always say, at least with Wong Jing, you know its coming.

And like flowers that blossom in cow flop, there are naturally rare occasional laughs, even intended ones.

Treasure Hunt/無價之寶 has its moments, chief among them for me Philip Ng’s riff on Indiana Jones as part of a broad p*ss-take about Chinese priorities in the opening of the film.

It’s fun to watch a film made by a man who knows he could do better but also knows its just not worth the effort.

Wong Jing movies are like getting a foot massage; while its happening, you wonder why your put yourself through it, but when someone invites you to another one, you just can’t wait.

See you soon at the ‘Nasty.