Starring: Ma Li, Wei Xiang, Chen Minghao, Zhou Dayong, Huang Cailun, Ai Lun Director: Xing Wenxiong

Yu Yuanfan

aimee3031@126.com

JUST as its predecessors from the production company Mahua Fun Age, “Too Cool to Kill” is a movie featuring familiar faces of the company and loads of laughter. For those looking for two hours of relaxation, this is an option that will at least not disappoint.

Wei Chenggong (Wei Xiang), an untalented actor who for many years has been playing walk-on roles on different sets, never stops dreaming about one day starring in a movie. He rejoices at an abrupt invitation from director Miller (Huang Cailun) and his actress sister Milan (Ma Li) to star as hitman Karl in their latest movie which, according to them, is a brand new exploration of film art and therefore will have no scripts and no visible cameras on the set, not knowing that he will actually be dealing with real gangs and real guns.

Milan, the mastermind behind the hoax, schemes it to buy time for a boat scheduled to arrive in 10 days which hopefully would save herself and her brother from the control of Harvey (Chen Minghao), a gang leader and one of her zealous wooers. She learns thas Harvey has been haunted by his awareness that Karl, a top-notch hitman whose real appearance remains unknown, is after him. She then fabricates a story and tells Harvey that Karl is a fan of hers, and promises to bring Karl to him within a few days. Wei is the wretch she picks for her bold attempt to deceive Harvey.

Adapted from Japanese director Koki Mitani’s 2008 movie “The Magic Hour,” “To Cool to Kill” succeeds in revising part of the background and character settings to allow the original story to develop in a more twist-and-turn way while adding more humor. Particularly noteworthy is the excerpt of how Wei, completely unaware that he is surrounded by real gangsters, unexpectedly makes every one other than his two employers believe that he is the hitman they have been looking for with his exaggerated acting. The change of Wei’s character setting from a man who looks calm and experienced in the original work into someone who looks nothing like a professional killer enhances tension to grab the audiences’ hearts, while Wei’s funny-looking actions somehow produces a dramatic effect that makes the audience believe that eccentric as he is, this is what a top hitman could be like.

Also worth mentioning is the movie’s detailed portrayal of Wei, a representative of the type of people who, despite a clear lack of talent in a certain field, still choose not to give it up what they love even in tough situations. Although Wei always goes too far while acting, he does try hard to figure out why each walk-on role he plays is special and justify each action the character takes. He speaks fluent Italian because he has taught himself Italian for 10 year just in case he might need to touse it in a movie one day. When Milan decides to stop deceiving him and tells him to leave with the excuse of “investors have pulled out and the crew is running out of money,” he does not hesitate to give up his paycheck and begs her to hold on, even if just for one more day. We cannot help but laugh at his awkward performance, and we cannot help but be impressed by his passion for acting and his perseverance.

Released on Feb. 1, the first day of the Spring Festival holiday, the movie has raked in 2.4 billion yuan in box office within a month, making it a dark horse in the cut-throat Spring Festival movie season. Without a star-studded cast and extensive publicity, the logic behind its success is quite straightforward — give the audience what they expect from a Spring Festival movie: a good story, good actors and plenty of laughter.

The movie is now being screened in Shenzhen.