moviefreak

This cop action movie is rather interesting in theme as it uses hypnotism as one of its elements. The original title is “Shuang Xiong” and it was released in 2003. It’s rated R for violent content. I like the messages embedded in this movie and also the action scenes and stunts. Though there are some questions I’d like to ask after watching the movie, it’s still engaging enough to watch, so I’ll give this one a 7.6 stars out of 10.

The Story:

In the beginning of the story you’ll meet Ken (Ekin Cheng), a police officer. His relationship with Brenda (Kar Yan Lam), another police officer, isn’t going anywhere. Trouble comes when they find out that a senior colleague has gotten rid of important files in the office by burning them. However, when interrogated, he claims that he doesn’t remember what he did. He believes that he was hypnotised to do what he did. Devastated and confused that his career is gone down the drain, he grabs another police’s gun and kills himself in the interrogation room.

To find out the truth about hypnotism, Ken decides to visit a master hypnotist named Jack Lai (Leon Lai). Jack is in prison since he was found guilty of manslaughter. As the story progresses, you’ll learn why Jack was imprisoned and what has happened in his past. Anyway, during the meeting, Jack promises Ken to help catch the bad guy. How does he know who did it? Well, turns out the perpetrator is actually his mentor, Hoi (Francis Ng). 

With Jack’s cooperation, they learn that Hoi is after some precious diamonds. So the police force decide to guard the diamonds. But still Ken gets hypnotised and the diamonds are stolen anyway. Now Ken has to run away from the police who thinks that he has given the diamonds away (from the video tape of the room where they keep the diamonds, the police can see that Ken gives the diamonds away to Jack without a fight).

Is Jack so greedy that he wants to get the diamonds? Has he been lying to Ken by promising that he’ll help catch Hoi? Will Ken manage to free himself from all the accusations? Will his relationship with Brenda progress? Will Hoi be captured?

Expect some twists and turns and enjoy a bitter-sweet ending.

Notes:

1. Here are two messages I LOVE from the movie:

a. If only we can all hypnotise ourselves and tell ourselves every single day: “I am content, I am content”, then everybody will be happy.

b. They say that the mind is the most powerful tool. It’s not true. The most powerful tool on earth…is love.

2. Although I wonder about the validity of the hypnotism theme in this movie (read: I wonder if it’s THAT easy to hypnotise people like what’s depicted in the movie), my own aunt was hypnotised in Indo and my Mom’s friend was also hypnotised twice. It’s pretty scary, really. The perpetrators just talked to the victims and pretended to ask questions about the location of a place, etc. 

Trackback URI | Comments RSS