聽風者 The Silent War

The latest collaboration between Alan Mak Siu-Fai and Felix Chong Man-Keung, better known for their writing collaboration in the Infernal Affairs saga, is an entertaining movie that showcases Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as blind man with extraordinary hearing abilities. Found his performance interesting enough to allow you to keep watching this mainstream movie up to the end, but do not expect an easy to engage story as due to editing, story gives the impression of being fragmented and doesn't motivate you to fill the gaps.

If you are expecting a full-action movie you will not find it here as this spy thriller doesn't give much thrills; then if you are like me that absolutely love Tony Leung performances in fantastic Wong Kar wai's films, you could enjoy his performance here but surely you will miss the look/feel of Wong Kar wai as movie story even do could have travelled better a similar style, directors' opted for a different approach that left movie "bland" and unable to please directors' fans and/or actor's fans.

Set in 1949 story tells about government unit 701, the spy unit that "doesn't exist" who is fighting and losing to an "invisible enemy" (those conspiring against the government) until senior investigator Zhang Xue-Ning (good performance by Zhou Xun) fails to recruit noted tuner Luo San-Er (Pal Sin) but finds someone better: Luo San-Er's blind assitant Bing (Tony Leung) who doesn't need a cane as he "hears" everything around him. So we see how he is recruited, taken to 701 headquarters, trained in Morse code, finding hidden enemy radio frequencies and help in the capture of top leader Chungking. All of the above happens with some romance, some humor and nothing much else.

Not much to say except maybe that production values are above average, some photography is fabulous and IF you are not a directors' fan plus you want to have an entertainment moment then film is for you.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @MOC