cover


This movie is available for purchase at www.hkflix.com

HKFlix


Rating:

6


Year of release: 2005

Genre: thriller

Director: Marco Mak

Writer: Wong Jing

Producer: Wong Jing

Stars: Anthony Wong, Sharon Tang, Cherrie Ying, Raymond Wong, Crystal Tin, Lee Si Pooi, Lui Hoi Yan

Rated IIB for violence and language


DVD Information

Company: Mei Ah

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: Chinese, English

Extras: trailers, data bank

Notes: This is closer to Mei Ah's earlier releases, with very little in the way of extras and subtitles that are badly translated in parts. However, the picture and sound transfer is done well.


Related links:

Wong Jing biography
Anthony Wong biography
Movie Review index
Main Page

Slim Till Dead

Slim Till Dead

Like their counterparts in the west, a great many Hong Kong women are obsessed with being thin. HK tabloids are rife with stories of actresses "ballooning" to 115 pounds, and that attitude unfortunately passes on to the general populace. Plenty of Hong Kong women resort to desperate tactics (such as "slimming centers" and dangerous diet pills) to attain the "ideal" weight. This kind of idea would probably be good fodder for a social commentary. However, in the case of Slim Till Dead, with Wong Jing guiding the ship, the results here are a thriller that is somewhat dopey in parts, but still manages to compel the viewer to keep watching it until the end.

In the movie, Anthony Wong plays a shell-shocked cop named Tin who can't even get laid by his wife (Sharon Tang). Despite his sad-sack life, he still has high hopes that he will be promoted, if simply for the fact that he is the oldest member of his squad. However, his dreams are shattered when a newcomer named William Hung (yes, Wong Jing plays a character named William Hung -- that should give you an idea of how stupid some of the jokes in this movie are) takes over the squad. Things go from bad to worse when a serial killer starts attacking models, forcing them to starve (or lose weight by simply cutting off parts of their bodies) until they are seventy pounds. After a few models get killed, Tin's superiors take him off the case, but he continues on in order to save face and gain redemption for the incident which caused his problems in the first place.

Slim Till Dead

Like most films involving Wong Jing, Slim Till Dead veers all over the map. Director Marco Mak tries to keep things on the straight-and-narrow, but with a script that goes from broad comedy in one scene to gory horror in another, it's like trying to steer a plane that only has one wing. Case in point: one scene has Tin and his cop buddies looking at a creepy emaciated corpse and the next is a parody of Three Extremes: Dumplings (perhaps a dig at Miriam Yeung?). Wong Jing has long been known for this kind of style and can usually pull it off, but the problem with Slim Till Dead is that it never goes for the jugular. It always seems to try and play it safe, which only serves to emphasize how idiotic the attempts at comedy are.

Still, don't get the idea that Slim Till Dead is a bad movie. Despite its' problems (which include yet another "just for the paycheck" performance by Anthony Wong) Slim Till Dead is a pretty solid thriller that should please most fans of the genre. And -- as you might expect from a Wong Jing project -- there's lots of nice eye candy from the pretty actresses, so at least the guys out there will have something to hold their interest. Those viewers out there looking for serious or thought-provoking fare will most likely be disappointed with Slim Till Dead, but, then again, you probably shouldn't be expecting that from a Wong Jing film anyway.

Slim Till Dead