Movie Review ("881" and "Rush Hour 3")

Probably the best local movie ever produced. 881 is not a tear-jerker on purpose, unlike Jack Neo's "I Not Stupid 2" in which I feel that much of his "touching scenes" were quite artificial and delibrate. It's what we call in Chinese Literaure 气氛渲染, to sensationalise (this is too strong a word to use to describe Jack Neo's movie, but I could not find a better adjective) the mood of the particular scene in order to achieve the kind of response and emotions that the movie producers want from the audience, i.e. to sympathise the boy who is to be caned and the boy whose father is dying, and hence to eventually cry.

However in Royston Tan's "881", the movie lets the audience feel for the characters instead of guiding us towards what they want us to feel. No dramatic use of background music to influence the audience's mood and no over-exaggerated and heavily-artificial tear-jerker plots. People are able to relate to "881" because of its down-to-earth themes, which people across all language, social status, backgrounds and even generations can comprehend.

We feel for the Papaya Sisters' plight because at some point in our lives we all have similiar experiences. Their passion and determination to sing is what that touched us because we may have encountered similiar instances before. How many times were our dreams crushed just because they do not conincide with that of our parents? I have a friend who is passionate about reading Chinese Literature, only to have her choice objected by her father who insisted that she must read Physics instead. Such a case is merely a tip of an iceberg in the Singaporean society.

How many times were our burning flames of passion extinguished by our ailing health or physical injuries? Athletes should be able to relate to this more so than the rest since many a times they may have aggrevated their old and/or current injuries during their training for the upcoming competition season, and are unable to compete for their school for glory just because their bodies are pushed to their limits and can go no further.

Regardless of which school you are from, how rich your parents are, what language you speak, what faith you have or even how many of your own birthdays have you celebrated, surely you must have encountered similiar incidents at some points in your life. Which is why we all can relate to the Papaya Sisters -- their stories are reflections of our own.

Of course, an added bonus in this movie would be the wide array of fabulous songs sung, which almost make the movie a musical. The songs are soothing to the ears and mood, and yet they are not some lullingly Zen music which you only use for your Yoga lessons or spa sessions. There is still some entertainment value in their music.

Also, just like most, if not all, made-in-Singapore movies, "881" incorporates some elements of meta-narrative in its storyline. The amount of meta-narrative in the movie is just sufficient to make the movie a little whacky for entertainment purposes, and fortunately Royston Tan did not overdo it lest the film becomes over-exaggerated and unrealistic.

The only flaw in this film would be the scene where The Durian Sisters start "shooting" laser beams from their plastic pointed breast-covers during a mini-duel between them and the Papaya Sisters. Feminist Audrey (my classmate) felt that this scene is demeaning to women, and I would agree with her, although I was guilty of laughing atthis scene when I watched the movie. It is indeed demeaning, but if you watch the movie with an open-mind, this meta-narrative scene should not nullify the great job that Royston Tan has come up with.

Overall Score: 9.5 / 10 0.5 mark deducted for the scene that demeans women.




As for "Rush Hour 3", I would strongly recommend to those who still has no clue what globalisation and its impacts are. It is truly a product of globalisation -- we have a Chinese and an African-American as the main characters of the film; movie was filmed in the States and Paris, France; the Chinese assassins spoke French while Chris Tucker utter some unidentifiable words from the Chinese language with a weird twang; and the Parisian cab-driver drinks Starbucks and puts on a New York Lakers cap.

Entertainment-wise, this fusion between Jackie Chan and Hollywood never failed to tickle my funny bone. Hilarious fighting scenes are peppered throughout the movie, albeit much less than before, a good indicator of Jackie Chan's ageing body is beginning to take its toil on him.

Witty dialouges are also a plus-point. Yet, before one can appreciate the humour in the dialouges, one must enter the theatre with an open-mind. The witty remarks made are often racist, crude and demeaning. There are attempts to incorporate current affairs into the film, like how the French driver refuse to drive Chris Tucker just because he's an American as he disagrees with the Iraq War. But in my opinion, it only results in crude humour.

In another scene, Chris Tucker rebutts Jackie Chan's statement that he is also a Black by saying that there is a height requirement, an indirect sarcasm to Asian's smaller built in comparison to the Americans. I may be able to laugh and accept this joke, but this statement has certainly sparked off a furore amongst the mainland Chinese who preceive it as an insult to their dignity.

All in all, I would say that the humour in this movie is very direct, in fact far too direct for many conservative Asians to accept. The movie delivers humour like Mohammed Ali's punches -- Pow! Pow! Pow! Straight right into your face and force you to laugh. We will find them funny in the beginning, but soon all these will only seem artificial.

Furthermore, there are too many loopholes in the storyline and too many details unaccounted for. Like, why must Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker lookfor Su-Yang's bag? What is in it? Initially, the main characters had to find the bag, but as the story evolves, they deviated from their original mission and ended up looking for "Shai-Shen". All in all, it was a unsynchronised and un-coordinated story line. It feels more like a movie that is aproduct of the scriptwriter's stream of consciousness.

Overall Score: 5 / 10 I'll pass it given that it still provides good entertainment, that is if you do not think too much about the movie when you are watching. Just enjoy the Hollywood effects.