Starring
Peter Ho, Huang Zitao, Guli Nazha, Wang Xueqi, Choo Ja-hyun, Jack
Kao, Long Meizi. Directed by Geo Xixi. (2017, 133 min).
In
the first 20 minutes of The Game Changer, we are hit with a
campus riot, two destructive car chases (one of which includes a
horse-drawn carriage), a mob shoot-out in the streets of Shanghai, a violent prison escape and more dead gangsters than the entire Godfather
trilogy. Then the film settles into its actual story.
Set
in 1930, Peter Ho and Huang Zitao are Lin and Fang, who befriend each
other during a prison escape. Fang is the adopted son of Mr. Tang
(Wang Xueqi), the city's most powerful mob boss. Tang welcomes Lin to
the fold, entrusting him to watch over his daughter, Qianian (Guli
Nazha), who immediately falls in love with him. This bothers Fang,
whose own love for Qianian drives a wedge in their friendship, but the two remain committed to protecting each other because of Lin's apparent
loyalty to Tang. Meanwhile, Tang is constantly killing anyone he feels threatened by, even those close to him.
However,
Lin is not quite the loyal enforcer he seems to be. As a former member of a secret organization, the Blue Shirt Society,
Lin has a damn good reason for wanting to take down Tang. He also discovers his former lover,
Lan (Choo Ja-hyun), is still with the organization, working
undercover as a cabaret singer in Tang's nightclub.
 |
| Being canjoined twins has its challenges. |
If
all this sounds a lot like a prime time soap opera, that's probably
because The Game Changer is based on a popular Hong Kong TV
series, Shanghai Bund. And
subtle, this movie ain't. The plot is almost inconsequential, mostly
there to link numerous action sequences, which are a kinetic
combination of well-choreographed stunts, gunplay, close-quarters
combat and some none-to-convincing CGI. The Game Changer might
also boast highest onscreen body count of any gangster movie since
1983's Scarface.
Everyone
dresses to-the-nines in fedoras, trenchcoats and designer outfits, barking dialogue straight out of a pulp novel. The performances are
uniformly decent and the main characters are interesting. Ho makes a
great anti-hero, favoring action over words, while Xuenqi infuses Mr.
Tang with a cold-hearted cruelty that easy to hate.
There
isn't a hell of a lot of depth, but for the most part, it is a
lot of fun. There's an abundance of stylized action and violence to make up for
some of the slower stretches. The Game Changer overstays its
welcome a bit and the ending kind-of sucks, but fans of gangster
epics should find it quite enjoyable.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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