I’ll give Running Out Of Time 2 this; I finally saw a decent performance from Ekin Cheng. It’s not much, but it’s about the only good thing I have to say for this preposterous sequel that offers no real justification for its existence. The fact that Cheng makes up the movie’s most fascinating, charismatic facet should prove that enough. I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on the guy. It’s just that he’s rarely been more than window dressing, the pretty boy necessary to bring in female moviegoers.
In Running Out Of Time 2, he’s still essentially window dressing since he has very little dialog and really does nothing but act enigmatically. But he does it with some grace and style, even going so far as to remind me of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai at times (and if that’s not a compliment, I don’t know what is). But that’s about all I can say to the movie’s credit. The rest is ripe for the picking.
A mysterious individual (played by Cheng) makes a series of stunning heists from a security company about to enter into a multi-million dollar merger. The company, headed up by the feisty Teresa (Kelly Lin), wants to keep this on the down low since it would hurt the upcoming deal. But the thief wants to play cat and mouse with the police, and starts dropping hints to Inspector Sang (Lau Ching Wan reprising his role from the first movie). The game begins with a rooftop encounter, and soon Sang and his forces are being led on a chase with the thief dropping one hint after another.
To its credit, the original Running Out Of Time had somewhat of a premise to explain what was going on. And it even had some real suspense, at least in the first 20 minutes or so, before it got melodramatic. Not so with Running Out Of Time 2, which dives headfirst into the schmaltz and never comes up for air.
For starters, if you watched this movie, you would assume that Hong Kong has the most bumbling, ineffective police force in the world. The thief plays them like a cheap violin, stringing them along and escaping their clutches with little more than cheap parlor tricks. He’s especially fond of tormenting Sang to no end, making for some of the movie’s most painful scenes. It gets to the point where the two just chase eachother through up and down the streets like an adult game of tag, even fighting eachother on bicycles in a rainstorm at one point. It’s as good a metaphor as any for the movie, this pointless, exhausting race that finds the characters running in circles and the viewer wanting to throw things at the TV.
And this comes after an extended chase sequence where Sang and his fellow officers chase Ken’s pet bad eagle (?!?) through Hong Kong. They even enlist the city’s birdwatchers (one of Teresa’s employees happens to be a member of the club) to track it down. Excuse me? Birdwatchers? I know this is just my opinion, but any movie that makes birdwatching a key element of the suspense has already gone past the point of no return.
But director Johnnie To sees fit to drag this chase on and on, and throws Teresa and Sang (who aren’t on the best of terms) into the same car to create some sexual sparks. The lucky viewer gets to watch the glowering cop and the snotty woman trade quips back and forth for 10 minutes, with nary a wit between them. Truly the highlight of any movie. I suppose there could be some sparks between Sang and Teresa, but thankfully we’re not subjected to a romance on top of everything else the movie has to offer (though we do get a furtive glance or two at the end).
And really, what is with that pet eagle? After awhile, the shots of the eagle soaring through downtown Hong Kong or circling the thief as he speeds down the highway in his sports car just seem silly (and not just because of the crappy CGI). Yes, Ken is a loner, a fierce independent spirit who plays by his own rules. We don’t need a stupid bird metaphor to connect the dots for us.
By the time Sang finally works up the brains to outthink his opponent, the credits are just about to roll. It’s like everyone involved in the movie, both the cast and crew, just decided one day to call it quits rather than think of a decent ending or explanation. At least the original gave Andy Lau’s character some motivation, which gave the movie some tension and suspense. There’s nothing even remotely resembling that in the sequel, which just ambles from one agonizing scene to the next before plopping down one humdinger of an anti-climactic ending. Or maybe there was, but I was just too busy rolling my eyes to notice.
In the past, To’s sense of visual style has often been one of the defining elements of his movies. But Running Out Of Time 2 doesn’t even have that going for it. Instead, it looks and feels dead and uninspired, as if it was made to simply fulfill a contractual obligation. Running Out Of Time 2 tries to be carefree and lighthearted, which explains why it’s so nonsensical, but nothing this carefree should feel this forced.
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