Three (三人行) – Review

 

Whatever one may say about Johnnie To films, it can’t be denied that they ooze oodles of oomph. And by ‘oomph’, we mean incredibly stylish and stylised violence, of course. Three is no exception to the rule with its too-cool-for-school slickness and fiery guns ablazing, but does feel slightly let down by an occasionally incoherent plot and an anticlimactic final sequence. Elements of social commentary are just icing on the cake for cinephiles familiar with To’s work, though they may very well fly over the heads of most other members of the audience.

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To is well-known for switching it up in terms of the settings and premises of his films, and this time around, Three takes place largely within the confines of a single Hong Kong hospital, the workplace of young neurosurgeon Tong Qian (Vicki Zhao). To, however, is also well-known for his portrayals of the criminal element, which surfaces here in the diabolical personality of criminal mastermind Cheung Han (Wallace Chung), who has been admitted as a patient under Tong’s watch after suffering a bullet wound to the head. Keeping a close watch on him is Inspector Chan Wai-Lok (Louis Koo), who hopes to learn the whereabouts of Cheung’s accomplices before things get out of hand. Things, well, get out of hand, and the hospital soon becomes a war zone, where each of the central trio has to literally fight to survive.

‘Things get out of hand’ also sums up quite neatly what happens to the film’s verisimilitude and plotting as it builds up to its denouement. Three begins plausibly enough with an actual functioning hospital instead of a mere backdrop for guns n’ violence, but as the plot twists come fast and furious, its internal logic begins to break down. For one, it’s clear enough that Cheung Han possesses a superior intellect (he quotes Bertrand Russell and classical Greek philosophy!), but it’s not entirely clear how the baddies work in such perfect sync when their head honcho is suffering seizures from the bullet lodged in his brain.

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All would have been readily forgiven, however, if the film had ended with the gloriously choreographed slow-motion shoot-em-up that takes place amidst bombs, infiltrations and patients freaking out. All of the preceding plot holes fade into insignificance in light of the almost balletic way by which shit hits the fan in Three. To is a master of elegant rather than gratuitous violence, and it is truly poetic to see the calm, professional façade of the hospital give way to unbridled chaos. There’s even a hint of pithy commentary on how easily the veneer of civilisation devolves in the face of determined anarchy.

Sadly, Three’s actual ending can only be described as … lame. There’s a high-rise botched escape-attempt-turned-rescue sequence which defies even the film’s lax attitude toward realism, and a scanty postscript that seems wildly out of place positioned after the excesses of bedsheet rope ladders, mid-air convulsions and frayed nerves. Three does a brilliant job of building up to a climax, only for viewers to realise that it’s a false climax and the actual one is really just ‘meh’.

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A large part of Three’s initial effectiveness at sustaining and building tension can be attributed to Wallace Chung’s performance as the unhinged Cheung Han. The 41-year-old singer-actor (who still doesn’t look a day over 30) is spine-chillingly sinister, and the aura of mystery he cloaks Cheung Han in helps immensely in explaining away what would otherwise be glaring plot holes. Vicki Zhao is still unfairly defined by her breakout role in My Fair Princess, and her turn here as the tightly-wound Tong Qian only emphasises the depth of her acting caliber beyond playing ditzy royalty. Louis Koo, on the other hand, plays a cop again, and there’s really nothing to distinguish his character from the dozens of other cop roles he’s played. He’s the weak spot in a stellar cast boosted by Lam Suet’s bumbling overweight policeman and surprising cameos by some of Hong Kong’s thespian stalwarts.

Summary: Three is two-thirds scintillating caper and one-third confused mess, and as such merits a rating of…

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

– Leslie Wong