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Wise Guys Never Die

Wise Guys Never Die
2006; directed by Wong Jing

Over the thirteen-plus years of Hong Kong Film Net's existence, your friendly neighborhood reviewer has been witness to all sorts of depravity. From a baby set of fire in Run and Kill to a pregnant woman bayoneted in the stomach in Black Sun, Hong Kong cinema has never flinched when it comes to pushing the cinematic envelope. But there is one particular image that I will never be able to wash from the memory of my eyeballs, which has been ushered forth courtesy of 2006's Wise Guys Never Die: Wong Jing in a love scene.

Wise Guys Never Die reteams Wong with Nick Cheung, who was a protege of sorts of Wong's for many years, with Cheung getting some his first big breaks in several of Wong's films, most notably the Conman series. Wise Guys Never Die once again returns to the conman/gambling genre -- a favorite of Wong's -- but this movie has a much more serious tone to it, eschewing the toilet humor and manic tone changes Wong is known for a more straight-forward approach. This film's biggest problem is that Wong seems lost without the use of his normal cinematic arsenal.

Wise Guys Never Die

Perhaps sensing this, Wong tries to add many layers to the story by placing in a copious amount of broken alliances and double-crosses. At first, the audience is along for the ride, but then, Wong goes overboard with the gimmick, to the point that the matters come off as ridiculous and all too convenient instead of exciting and thought-provoking. The ending is almost incomprehensible, with everything coming together all too neatly, especially when all of the major facts of the story and motivations of the characters have been kept hidden for the majority of the picture's running time.

Overall, Wise Guys Never Die isn't a terrible movie. It just comes off more like a matter of wasted potential. Though it was good to see Wong Jing trying to stretch his wings and make a movie that didn't base itself on gross-out humor or cheap pop culture references, it is obvious here that he wasn't up to the task, or perhaps he was just more interested in placing bets and playing video games on the set rather than actually concentrating on making a compelling motion picture.

RATING: 5

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