Theft Under The Sun: Viewer Comments

Viewer Comments:
Theft Under The Sun
All Content Used With Permission.

TIP: Log In to enable enhanced Interact features.

NEED HELP?

by IS36322

I pretty much bought this movie for one reason: Francis Ng. But unfortunately, he's barely in it, and when he is, his character is so dull that it couldn't even be saved by his talent (I think he must have owed someone for this one).

Plus, the DVD, with its misleading action movie cover, hardly has much action in it at all. It has its moments, but unfortunately (that's twice I've used that word, not good) they're few and far apart.

by Shu Kei

This film retains the absurdist narrative style of Cha Chuen-yee and Chung Kai-cheong, a style which y-ielded great result in their two Once Upon a Time in Triad Society films but doesn't really work here. For the two previous films are dealing with genre, using style to play with style and therefore distinguished and fun. But Theft is a traditional cop-and-robber actioner; the filmmakers want to have it both ways, going mainstream on one hand while playing with subversion on the other and the result is a film that goes nowhere. The script lacks tension and character psychology is often contradictory. What a pity.

by Loretta Chang

Theft Under the Sun is proof that, with adequate resources, the creative team at Concept Link is able to come up with powerful productions without giving up on thoughtful details and concepts. Letting a concept to dictate a story is rare among current Hong Kong films, yet it still manages to mesh with the characters and the drama, developing into a rather complete construct. Treading on the often-traveled "punk and cop" path to explore uncovered ground, the film is an exciting step forward. Cheung Chi-lam turns in a surprising performance, showing for the first time the depth of his acting skills.

by Ye Nianchen

A great premise: extending the paradigm of the undercover film, changing the angle to look at the undercover cop's return to the force, thus bringing out the issue of trust. However, before the film has any chance to digest the premise, the camera has switched to the two characters going through a heroic trek in the mountains. Their endeavor is interrupted by scenes of the psychologist (Francis Ng) analyzing Cheung Chi-lam's psychological changes, which are shown to be markedly different, because, from beginning to end, he has never let Michael Wong talk him into switching over.

by Pierre Lam

Using light touches to handle the story of an undercover cop's meeting with a charismatic thief, the film has a fair share of drama scenes that illustrate how two men can breakthrough barriers of class and status to develop a friendship. The ambiguity of good and evil makes a seasoned viewer of standard cop-and-robber film like me confused. Fortunately, the scriptwriter labors to clarify the sexual orientations of Cheung Chi-lam and Michael Wong, thus shutting up the audiences, who are prone to let their minds go down a deviant path, and coming across with the clearest message of the film.

CLOSE THIS WINDOW

This window is a "pop-up" from at HKFlix.com.
If you've arrived here from somewhere else,
please CLICK HERE for our home page!