Distributed by:

Columbia Tristar

Region 3 DVD

Language: Mandarin and English

Subtitle: English, Chinese, Thai, Korean

Runtime: 113 minutes

Genre: (Thriller/Drama)

 

 

 

What the--?

That was my initial response after watching this new movie starring Tony Leung Kar-Fai and David Morse. The premise was great. It had a Seven-like plot in which two unlikely allies are trying to solve a series of unexplained murders: A wealthy businessman is found dead in his office, where he was drowned in a dry room. A beautiful mistress burns to death, yet there are no signs of a fire. A minister dies a vicious death with heavy blood loss, but there are no signs of struggle. The Taiwanese government is unequiped to solve these crimes so they decided to enlist the help of the United States' top serial killer profiler: special agent Kevin Richter (David Morse).

Richter is paired up with Huang-Huo Tu (Tony Leung), a down-in-the-luck police officer "exiled" in a useless position as a Foreign Affairs officer. Huang is also experiencing a failed marriage, which he refuses to accept. His daughter does not speak, ever since she was traumatized from a gun-shot wound. His fellow-officers does not respect him. The only reason why Huang was chosen for this task was because the Taiwanese government knows that this crime cannot be solved. They expect failure, therefore they needed a scapegoat to blame if things go wrong.

Much of like the pair up of Mulder and Scully in the X-Files, Richter is the skeptic and tries to find a scientific reason for these happenings, while Huang believes that there is some sort of supernatural entity behind it. The bodies found are marked with an ancient Tao symbol. Presumeably the murderer is trying to attain immortality by killing the victims in a ritual-like fashion, parallel to the punishments in the Taoist's Gates of Hell.

I am unfamiliar with the Taoism, but I found similarities in it to Christianity when it dealt with the different levels of Hell. I'm always curious about this kind of stuff and was intrigued with this movie. Unfortunatley the movie did not dwell too much on the supernatural aspect of the film. I half-expected it to be a horror film where I would get chills in my spine or where I would jump off of my seat. Nope. None of that.

I'm not saying that this movie is entirely bad, it's just that I had different expectations for this film. People in Taiwan appear to love "Double Vision." It broke the box office and is ranked as the most successful Horror flick in Taiwan history. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I did not like it too much. But then again, I don't really know anything about Taoism and therefore I am viewing this film at a different perspective than the Taiwanese natives. Take what you want from what I have to say as a grain of salt. This movie MIGHT appeal to you and you might actually like "Double Vision" alot, it was just not my cup of tea. Maybe what ruined it for me is the obscure ending which led me to be more confused than ever.

Overall Score: C