Missing (2008) Movie Review

The prospect of “Missing” inspires both hope and trepidation, marking as it does the return of Tsui Hark, the one time golden boy of Hong Kong cinema, who since his peak in the heady days of the 1980s and early 1990s has suffered a slow decline in fortunes. With his highly touted 2005 comeback feature “Seven Swords” having turned out to be a rather lacklustre affair, with none of the imagination of “Zu Warriors” or “Green Snake”, and with his contribution to the triple threat heist caper “Triangle” being questionable at best, Hark certainly had his work cut out for him in reclaiming his crown. It is somewhat strange then, that for his latest feature he should choose the low key route of making a fairly traditional, if more overtly melodramatic ghost story, which could easily have been mistaken for the next entry in the long running series of unwanted sequels to the Pang Brothers’ “The Eye”.

The plot itself certainly sounds familiar, as impeccably dressed psychiatrist Gao Jing (Angelica Lee, noted scream queen and star of “The Eye” itself) runs into tragedy on a suba diving trip to an ancient sunken city with photographer boyfriend Guo Dong (Guo Xiaodong, recently in “An Empress and the Warriors”). After an accident which she can’t seem to remember leaves Guo Dong dead and decapitated, the poor woman attempts to get on with her life, while his angry sister Xiao Kai (Isabella Leong, “Isabella”) sets out to find his inconveniently missing head. Unfortunately, as they usually do, strange things start to happen, the most disturbing of which is the fact that one of her more eccentric patients called Simon (Chang Chen also in “Red Cliff” and Korean director Kim Ki Duk’s “Breath”) tells her that he can see Gu Dong’s ghost. Soon enough, the poor woman is seeing dead people everywhere, though sadly not the apparition of her much missed beau. When Xiao Kai returns from her search with a head in a box and sporting an odd choice of eyeliner, it becomes painfully apparent that something spooky is going on, inspiring Gao Jing to at last begin investigating Guo Dong’s mysterious death.

After an impressive credit sequence in which the titles are superimposed over a sweeping camera journey along the seashore, “Missing” gets off to a pleasantly eerie start, with some excellent underwater photography. Hark makes the most out of the dark blue, cavernous depths, and these and other similar scenes are arguably the best in the film, nicely underscoring its themes of eternity and mystery. Unfortunately, once he gets down to business and the plot begins proper, the film settles all too quickly into the usual supernatural shenanigans. It is here that the similarities to “The Eye” really come to the fore, with Hark seemingly attempting to evoke the same otherworldly atmosphere and employing the same trick of inserting various ghosts and visions into the everyday life of the increasingly unravelling protagonist. In fact, Hark seems to have been mightily impressed with the Pang Brothers and their output, and he draws upon a number of their works, especially Oxide’s recent psychological drama “Diary”. All of this is by no means a bad thing, and Hark certainly manages not only to engage the viewer with the film’s central mystery, but also to add a few imaginative touches of his own. However, given his reputation for creativity and originality, especially in the horror genre, the film’s familiar feel is somewhat of a disappointment.

Plot aside, Hark fares a little better with his characters, and the film benefits from a worthy attempt to add psychological depth and emotional weight to Gao Jing’s search. Although as a protagonist she is a fairly standard figure, Angelica Lee turns in her usual stalwart performance, and just about succeeds in winning viewer sympathy – something which is of particular importance here as the film hurtles into wackiness with the expected final act twist. The rest of the supporting cast are similarly entertaining, particularly Chang Chen and Isabella Leong, both of whom play amusingly eccentric characters and add a welcome sense of the oddball. Sadly, Tony Leung appears only briefly in an entirely superfluous role, though he does, as ever, bring a touch of class to his scenes.

Visually, as expected, the film is a handsome affair, and Hark shows his usual excellent use of colour, here painting with various shades of blue to give a suitably maritime feel. There are a few technically impressive moments scattered throughout, along with a handful of reasonably well-handled special effects scenes, which help to keep the viewer onboard. Although Hark seems to be aiming for melodrama and enigma rather than actual scares, he does work in a few decent fright scenes, showing that he still has a deft hand when it comes to set pieces. The film’s main problem comes with its length, which at nearly two hours is simply far too long, especially since it features long stretches where very little happens other than Angelica Lee staring mournfully into the camera. Inevitably, the pacing suffers as a result, and the film is uneven, especially towards the end, when it crawls through an incredible number of false resolutions, only to keep going, and going, and going. The soundtrack really does not help in this respect, being comprised of quiet, sleep inducing numbers and melodramatic pop ballads with frankly bizarre lyrics.

The problem for acclaimed directors, especially those with a good number of hits under their belts, is that they tend to be judged not by the standards of their current peers, but by the standard of their own best works. Through this, it is difficult not to view “Missing” as a let down, as it sees Hark failing to regain his past form and worse still, borrowing from his own imitators. However, when judged by the quality (or lack thereof) of modern Hong Kong genre cinema, the film is an above average piece of supernatural entertainment, overstretched though slickly made and packing its fair share of effective moments. Whilst it is certainly hoped that Hark will return shortly with something a little more ambitious, “Missing” is still worth catching for his admirers and fans of the form, even though it represents little more than an undoubtedly talented director treading water.

Hark Tsui (director) / Hark Tsui (screenplay)
CAST: Chen Chang … Simon
Xiaodong Guo … Chan Kwok-tung
Angelica Lee … Ko Tsing
Isabella Leong … Chan Siu-hoi
Tony Leung Ka Fai … Tong Hok-tsz
Zhen-yue Zhang … Haiya Amu