Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt

1994

Director: Ricky Lau

Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Wu Chien Lien

Chow plays a CIA agent sent to a monastery in China to get out a special package. The "package" turns out to be a girl (Wu) who has psychic powers. When he learns that the government wants to use the girl for experiments, he decides to help. Of course, this also sets off a romance between the two.

Treasure Hunt is a bit of a mixed bag. There's elements of action, romance, drama and comedy, but nothing seems to really gel together. The movie starts out as the typical high-powered Chow action pic, but once he gets to China, the pace really slows down and the script's weaknesses become readily apparent. While Chow and Wu have good chemistry together, their romantic scenes come off as a bit melodramatic and (at times) downright silly, such as one where the two are flying through the air like something out of A Chinese Ghost Story. There's also a lot of stupid cliched parts, such as when Chow tries to teach the monks baseball that just look ridiculous... and there's also a really annoying little kid running around too. There is a pretty good gunfight near the end, but it can't really save the movie. After about a hour of fairly light-hearted entertainment, you can't expect the audience to get into a gunfight. It just seems gratuitous and placed in to please fans of Chow and John Woo's collaborations.

While it does have a unique plot, good acting and decent gunfights, Treasure Hunt is probably for big Chow Yun-Fat fans only. The movie's erratic pacing and weak script will most likely put off the casual viewer.

RATING: 6.5

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