There is an old saying about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. Except it seems when it is done somewhat cynically just to cash in, then it can be just horrible.
What They Say:
Qiaofei (Jay Chou) is a relic expert with a gritty past. When his mentor’s daughter is held hostage over a map with a deadly history, the rugged warrior whips into action! Chaos erupts as he swoops in to the rescue and scours the sands for legendary riches buried deep in China’s northwest desert. Chased down by the shadowy Sandstorm Legion and challenged by countless greedy, bloodthirsty foes, Qiaofei faces danger at every turn to find the tomb – but some treasures aren’t meant to be found.
The Review:
Audio:
For a film that clearly spent as much money on effects as it did it is more than a little surprising that the audio isn’t used to help sell them. The original Mandarin audio is only present in a stereo track which also limits what FUNimation had to work with resource wise in creating the English dub as it is only stereo as well. Being a stereo track the sound is split between the front speakers but at least it is done competently with no dropouts or distortions noted during playback and it can create some limited directionality when required. It is a shame the soundtrack is as limited as it is as the score is on occasion the most impressive feature in a given scene when some of the actors start phoning it in.
Video:
Originally produced in 2009 the film is presented here in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and with an anamorphic encode. The films strength really is in the effort put into the visuals and location scouting and the DVD does a very good job of bringing these highlights out. There are a few faults, like some noise that isn’t completely hidden by the film grain and some minor dot crawl in a few places but for the most part the feature comes off very well. Colors are bright when needed and the bleak beauty of the desert is really carried off well in more muted colors while the dark scenes use solid and deep blacks.
Packaging:
The DVD release comes packaged in a standard clear Amaray case that allows for the cover to have an image on each side. The front cover features the four main actors with the movie’s star Jay Chou being a bit larger than the other three principle actors as he is poised with his hand stretched out in front of him. Underneath their images is the feature’s logo in a stone looking script which hovers just over a scene from the feature where an army of riders on horseback are about to attack an inn. The back features a close up of a scene from the film of the Sandstorm Legion attacking in the top quarter of the space which also spills over to the spine. The middle half of the back is devoted to the feature’s copy along with five stills, the copyright information along with the features production credits and technical specs. The bottom quarter of the space shows a scene of the main two characters as they maneuver through a crowded market place which also spills over to the spine.
As an added bonus the release comes with a slip cover that that mirrors the packaging ( the scenes from the back cover spill over on both sides of the slip cover) that includes some raised portions on the front to help the release stand out. The disc label itself uses a gorgeous shot of the desert with its rolling dunes and with sunlight peaking over the horizon and reflecting off the clouds in the sky. The title is written just below the center hub and it takes up a good deal of the space between the hub and the disc edge. This image fits very well as the reverse side of the cover has an image of the main two character in an embrace on the far left while the rest of the cover features an image of desert which the disc crops a bit of for its image.
Menu:
The menus are static affairs that use images from the film with a sand looking effect for roughly the bottom third of the screen. The main menu includes a short, dramatic piece of music with the feature logo front and center. The leads are in shown in an action pose from the film with them both looking back and Qiao aiming his single barreled shotgun sort of center right of the screen. The selectable options are present in black at the bottom of the screen and turn red when highlighted. The menus are quick to respond to changes in the selection and implement chosen selections with minimal delay.
Extras:
The only extra available is an original theatrical trailer.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Almost every actor or actress who has been around for a number of years and gained some fame has “that” movie as part of their credentials. The movie that they hope audiences overlook, forget or somehow or another just forgive them for making. They may attempt to laugh it off when it is brought up, use it in a self deprecating manner or just refuse to talk about it. But there it is, sitting as part of their eventual legacy.
Now sometimes this turns out not to be their fault as scripts can look great on paper but just fizzle horribly when shot. Sometimes the budget just isn’t there, or the studio makes changes and since they are paying the bills everyone has to go along. At times like that all one can do is put in their most sincere effort so that one day they can look back and say they did their best.
Or alternately, the budget may be high and the actor takes the role for the paycheck but they just can’t seem to bring their full passion to the role, or the chemistry between the leads is so bad the whole film is sucked into a lifeless void. And when coupled with a cynical script that lacks life of its own the result is the kind of big budget flop that is the source of mocking and derision by those who were lured in to see it because of fandom or flashy trailers.
The Treasure Hunter is pretty much a text book example of this later type of film.
The feature begins with a narrated piece that talks of an ancient and rich treasure buried in the desert and protected by a secret society of highly skilled guards lead by a man known as “The Eagle of the Desert.” The feature gives the viewer a scene of two men fighting, presumably for the title of Eagle of the Desert, amid the sand in a display of martial arts skills and CGI until one losses and is cast out. It turns out that this narration is being told by Lan Ting, an attractive young woman who is an author with a hit under her belt but not yet possessing a reputation that will let her write the romance she wants rather than an action sequel to her last work her editor demands. Little does she suspect that being hounded by her editor is possibly the best thing that will happen to her in the coming days.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the desert shown in the narration stands a lone two story bar/inn, with its bored proprietor passing the time as an ironsmith works in the back. Their quiet reprieve is disrupted as three men come in looking to sell off some treasures they have unearthed. The proprietor then sends for his expert which causes the ironworker to run away in fear when the expert, Qiao Fei, descends the staircase. The young man looks well built but other than the whip at his waist he seems unassuming, which is far from reality.
He appraises the treasures and discovers they were looted so he moves to take them from the thieves and return them to their rightful owners. The ensuing fight shows the level of his martial arts skill (and shoddy construction of the building), though he will be pushed to the brink when one of the treasures calls for a supernatural opponent. Thanks to his skill he dispatches it, though not without some effort.
It turns out that Qiao is a student of Lan Ting’s father and an old childhood friend of hers, though the two haven’t seen each other in years. Lan’s father has come into possession of an ancient map which will lead to a fantastic treasure, but others have come to learn he has it. Lan has some issues with her father as he seemingly abandoned her and her mother for his love of archeology but is on her way to mend some fences when he is killed and she is kidnapped by separate parties looking to get their hands on the map.
She awakes to find herself in the desert having been abducted by a man named Chop who is seeking to gain leverage over a man who is now dead. Chop and his associates are surprised when instead of Lan’s father, Master Tu, Qiao appears instead and he breaks the news of Tu’s dying of unnatural causes. As Lan is trying to process the news of her father’s death a mystery man in bandages appears searching for the map- and it turns out he has the power to control them as it they were his very limbs. Qiao defeats the man but during the fight a young boy escapes with the map as an ominous sandstorm appears-a storm that signals the arrival of the feared desert guards known as the Sandstorm Legion.
As events play forward Lan will team with Qiao as she decides to find out what it was her father died for and Qiao seeks to find the treasure as one last tribute to his mentor. Things won’t be easy though as the two will face hordes of opponents, the occasional betrayal from some fellow treasure seekers that fate keeps throwing into them and a past that binds the legend of the Eagle of the Desert to Qiao. As they travel they find that death is rarely ever more than a footstep away and it will take everything they have just to have the chance to survive long enough to encounter a new deadly peril. In this desert, the treasure is buried deep but danger is as present as the sand. Will they survive to find the place that they seek, and even if they do will it contain what they hope?
Sadly the movie sounds more exciting than it is. The film feels like someone (or someones) watched a number of treasure hunting action films that Hollywood has produced- including the Indiana Jones and The Mummy features- and missed the appeal of the characters and their interactions and instead fell in love with the big and splashy action sequences. A number of the scenes feel directly inspired- if not outright swiped and slightly changed- from these films. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the lack of enjoyable characters and a connecting narrative just leave a soulless husk that seems more barren and cold than the desert the film takes place in.
It is this lack of personality in the characters that is the worst sin of this film. Where Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser played characters that were very rough around the edges they still carried them with some humor. That feeling is almost completely lacking in Jay Chou’s Qiao Fei who seems to be unable to just smile at times to let the audience know this is supposed to be fun. That there is almost no chemistry between him and Lin Chi-ling’s Lan Ting dooms any hope the film might be salvaged from the poorly written story as charismatic leads can cover a number of faults. Events seem to happen in the feature almost just to have an action scene and some events- like the mummy man early in the picture- occur and then vanish like the audience is supposed to have thrilled at the scene and then forgotten it happened as the script writer seemed to have. On top of which there are numerous and somewhat numbing subplots that swirl around Chop and the expert he has brought with him.
And it isn’t just in script logic that the film fails as the technical mastery shown in some part of the film is under cut with almost Ed Wood like cuts in another. There is one scene where they don’t even hide the wires supporting Jay Chou (or his stunt double), Lan’s kidnapping happens in a slow motion and horribly fake looking car crash that looked like they couldn’t damage the vehicle and a number of stunts in the Sandstorm Legion fight look like they were spliced in a couple of times. It feels almost like the movie was proposed as a TV series and someone decided to take the highlights and make a theatrical film instead and the unevenness comes from there.
In Summary:
The Treasure Hunter is a film that does big and splashy stunts and includes impressive effects but ignores some of the smaller basics of film making- like a logical progression to the story or remotely interesting characters. It feels like a title that wanted to outdo the films that inspired it but it lacked the ability to make a feature that connected with the audience. The fact that the film and its characters often just seem like pale imitations of people and a half baked story line leave a film that is gorgeous in scenery and effects but as empty, barren and hostile to the human spirit as the shifting sands of the desert where the feature takes place.
Features:
Mandarin 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: D
Audio Grade: B-
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: C+
Extras Grade: C
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Released By: FUNimation
Release Date: November 15th, 2011
MSRP: $24.99
Running Time: 105 minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.
