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It is widely known that Michelle Yeoh had turned down a role in
the two Matrix sequels to star in The Touch, a film that was made
by her own production company. The director on board is Peter Pau,
who made his name by grabbing an oscar for Best Cinematography for
Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Pau is a good cinematographer, but can he fill
the director's chair with ease? He certainly looks the part, but
after viewing The Touch, one wonders that Pau is more interested
in creating good visuals than concentrating on the more important
elements - the plot for example.
In a cross between a modern day version of Crouching
Tiger, and mixing it with ideas from Indiana Jones, The Touch comes
across as a poor man's version of both. The story is a nonsensical
mystery concerning the legend of the Sharira, a relic that purports
to contain the pure essence of the Buddhist Holy Man.
Seven hundred years ago, the monks who hid the
relic trained a bunch of acrobats the skills necessary to reclaim
it, and the descendents of those acrobats had passed on their knowledge
and training through the generations, finally to Yin (Michelle Yeoh)
and her brother Tong (Brandon Chang). But somehow Karl (Roxburgh),
a wealthy collector of antiques, also knows about the Sharira, and
he has the resources to get it.
Eric (Ben Chaplin), a person from Yin's past,
has found a weird medallion that is believed to be the key to opening
the door to the Sharira, and because of him, Yin and Tong are swept
up into an adventure that would change their lives forever.
You must give them credit for trying so damn hard
to create an epic fantasy that would rival an Indiana Jones film,
but sadly, it is not to be. The Touch has some good action sequences,
mostly kung-fu fighting rather than guns and bombs, yet it feels
so lifeless. There seems to be a lack of the adrenalin that you
get from watching a film of this kind, and I can't help but notice
that the good guys always seem to have an air of invincibility around
them, especially Yin, who could fly through the air at whim.
Some of the CG is too noticeable, making parts
of the film look way artificial. Raiders of the Lost Ark is twenty
years old and that looks much more polished than The Touch, so it
goes to say that CG doesn't solve everything. It is a shame that
Yeoh and Pau have resorted to this because they needn't have to.
Pau's biggest mistake is that he makes the scenery
more interesting than the story itself. Cinematography may be his
strong point, but as director, he needed to restrain himself and
put more emphasis on establishing a tighter plot and the development
of the main characters. As it is, The Touch fails by being too simplistic
and unreal. Action is limited to a few fight sequences, and there
isn't much going on in the story. Getting from A to B seems like
a simple stroll, and there's not enough mystery in it to keep us
audiences transfixed.
Michelle Yeoh's decision to turn down Matrix Reloaded
may come back to haunt her, but she did give a hundred percent and
more in The Touch. She tries hard to give her character plenty of
girl power, but the simple plot lets her down.
British television celebrity Ben Chaplin makes
an interesting career move. Not really an action man, he is quite
adept here as Eric, but like Yeoh, able to give his all with such
limited material to work with. Richard Roxburgh is the bad guy,
but apart from a few sacarstic remarks and some sneering, he's not
evil enough for the audience to dislike him, and the less said about
Brandon Chang the better, methinks.
Overall, The Touch should be applauded for taking
on the adventure giants, like Indy Jones, Tomb Raider etc, but ultimately
it lacks the passion and adventure to succeed as an adventure film.
Pau's imagery is more underlined than the film's intent, and visuals
can never beat a good storyline. Better luck next time.
The Touch has been made for the international
audience (all the dialogue is in English), but will it succeed like
Crouching Tiger did? Sadly, I don't think so.
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