One wonders if this crazy film is an earth-bound or an air-borne romantic slapstick.
The English title briskly confirms it as “Love In Space” but does not tally with the Chinese title which is translated as “The global populace is in love”.
The “space” episode imparts as only one portion of the three stories, but it is obvious that this episode takes center stage as the main selling point.
Surely this film targets silly billies and jills who are likely to roar at anything that’s remotely ticklish.
Joint directors Wing Shya and Tony Chan must have panicked when they found they are running short of ideas, that their creative taps runneth dry.
So they resorted to spinning a parable of never-been-done-before treatment of LOVE, first taking place on mother earth and thence fly you all the way to the moon.
Enough nonsense.
They roped in ever ready actors Aaron Kwok and Rene Liu and strapped them with wires to “suspend” them in mid air. This being the case, you will have to tread lightly on your suspension of disbelief, otherwise it’s unlikely you are able to make any sense of the situation.
You will be sinking your teeth into one of the wackiest bumpers of the year, played to tortuous death by some the industry veterans such as Aaron Kwok, Rene Liu, Eason Chan, Angela Baby, whoever.
Money is the name of the game and is a powerful motivator to lure some of the more-than-willing actors to accept lack-lustre scripts.
So much for starters.
Now for the main course.
LOVE IN SPACE is a preposterous romantic comedy that follows a tiresome mummy dearest and her three grown up love-lorn daughters. Each daughter is successfully endowed in career and form, except that true love eludes them. Then sweet fate intervenes and each of them get to encounter dazzling romances in Beijing, Sydney and (gasp …) even on a space shuttle.
Naturally the viewer will be transported to enchanting locales in Beijing and Sydney and also on board a spacecraft on an aimless journey.
It is as nutty as you can get, with a script that’s unlikely to bag any award and will get nobody anywhere.
No rewards for guessing the plot.
Eldest daughter is Rose (Rene Liu) and her paramour Michael (Aaron Kwok) are astronauts doing nothing interesting in their space ship, except spouting trivia, which is why they broke up before and they are at it again, trying to rekindle the romance in space.
Squeaky clean second daughter Lily (Gwei Lun Mei) is in Sydney where she encounters her dream man (Eason Chan) who, paradoxically, is a disheveled garbage collector.
Youngest daughter (Angela Baby) is the loveliest and is an up-and-coming actress who just bags her Worst Actress Award. She finds the man of her dreams when she poses as a struggling waitress to get field experience. He is a down and out writer (Jing Boran) who works as a waiter by day and moonlights as a watermelon peddler by night.
This movie zooms the fact that unlike poles definitely attract.
As for the widow mother, she’s not as calm as she appears. There are “undercurrents” beneath her exterior.
No spoilers here, but for the sake of the ensemble cast you might want to give this feature film a chance.
There could be someone you like in the glittering cast who will make your trip worthwhile.
As a bonus, you will be treated to an updated version of a famous Teresa Tang’s hit “The Moon represents my Heart”.
You can picture me as this eager birdie flitting around a select of tempting flowers for my daily fill of nectar.
I only have to pick one.
LIFE is really about choices.
You choose your friends.
Of course you can get to choose the wrong ones, sometimes.
We make mistakes. We learn from them.
You select what you anticipate to be the ideal team to share your work projects.
Yet the obvious choice can become a wrong one, and you are left drained and frustrated.
There comes a time when you have to stand alone. You must feel confident within yourself to follow your own dreams. You must be willing to make sacrifices. You must be capable of changing and rearranging your priorities, so that your final goal can be achieved. Sometimes, familiarity and comfort need to be challenged. There will be times when you must take a few extra chances and create your own realities. Be strong to at least try to make your life better. Be confident that you won't settle for a compromise just to get by. Appreciate yourself by allowing yourself the opportunities to grow, develop, and find your true sense of purpose in this life. Don't stand in someone else's shadow when it's your sunlight that should lead the way.
Like I have said before many times, in life I have fallen ever so often.
I trusted the wrong people, they used me for their ends, for the wrong reasons, to build their brands.
Like a fool, I'd pick myself up. I smile. I plod on.
“FINAL DESTINATION 5″ delves deep into the uncanny subject of imminent death and dying, and whatever that lurks in between the dark, sinister vacuum to fulfill this curse.
It pays definitive homage to what you’d call the human’s sixth sense, bad vibes, queasy feelings and premonitions.
It cajoles you to act fast, whenever you have a premonitory feeling that something’s not right is gonna happen, you should pay heed to your inner calling.
In doing so, you may well save your own life with this obeyance.
The theme of “death comes loverly” has never been more profoundly explored as in this 5th version of the successful franchise.
Plenty of gory deaths are splattered across the giant screen in the stupendous splendor of the 3D for the second time in the franchise, designed for your visual pleasure.
If you subscribe to the category of the uninhibited fan with a thirsty macho-sadistic streak, this film dangles as a death therapy, a game of death to “bump off” or to shoot down your enemies within the dark recesses of your mind, which you will never be able to have this guilty pleasure in real life.
Everyone loves a good scare.
And, as they watch the hapless victims on reel being butchered one by one, they derive a pleasurable surge of adrenaline. Strange, but very true.
“FINAL DESTINATION 5″ director is Steven Quale.
Nicholas D’Agosto stars as Sam, a hot-blooded dude whose sixth sense leads him to “see” a fiery vision of a gigantic suspension bridge collapsing during a corporate outing. He manages to secure seven of his colleagues – including ex-girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell), best friend Peter (Miles Fisher) and annoying boss Dennis (David Koechner) – to flee from their bus. Well, the bridge does actually collapse, killing most everyone.
A mysterious stranger (Tony Todd) suddenly appears with a grim warning that Death cannot be cheated.
Quite right, as in the days that follow, the surviving eight soon start to succumb to a series of inexplicable freak accidents, in the same manner which they died in Sam’s dream.
The film’s special effects are excellent, in particular, during the heart-stomping minutes of one scene where we witness in dire shock, the entire giant bridge being completely torn apart, taking everything (people, vehicles and falling debris), plunging mercilessly into the fathomless, raging sea below.
These are poignant moments rendered dramatically authentic in 3D.
Final Destination 5 is a hugely enjoyable, impressively directed thriller.
The advertising headline from the publicity poster shouts “DEATH HAS NEVER BEEN CLOSER.”
Just try indulging in a poker game with Hong Kong film director WONG JING and you will soon realize he’s one smartie who knows how to field his cards right.
This renowned kingpin of screwball comedies understands what the masses want. And he surely delivers the goods.
This time around, he is offering yet another mindless farce to appease his regular slapstick fan’s palate.
You’d call this summer earnings to add to his coffers.
Now, kindly stay braced for a madly scripted TREASURE HUNT, an absurd buffoonery that stars CECILIA CHEUNG in a pallid comeback role.
Money works wonders, no doubt.
CECILIA proudly packages her young son LUCAS TSE (son of NICHOLAS TSE) who’s obviously, apart from having a whale of time swarming us with his kiddish antics, is beginning to see lucrative returns at a tender age.
This child star, who’s au naturel in front of the camera, is groomed to be a future star in the making, thanks to his luminous parents. You just watch him glow with absolute radiance.
Cool.
CECILIA CHEUNG takes on the role of a successful television commercial director who’s very much happily married with an active 3- year old son.
As the story opens, she has been offered lucrative terms to direct a TVC on a remote island with an obnoxious gas bag played by RONALD CHENG as a great Kung Fu master. RONALD provides the main gags in the movie.
CECILIA arrives on the island with her actors and crew and finds that they clash with unexpected, albeit unwelcome company – that of a notorious bunch of villians who harbor a deadly agenda – to recover an old sunken ship laden with mystical treasures and woe betide anyone who gets in their way.
Thereafter the heroes, anti-heroes and baddies battle it out in a dangerous cat-and-mouse race to outdo one another, and stay out of harm’s way.
Filled with spoofs, one-liners, insipid jokes and non-stop escapades that run amok, the plot is the least of director WONG JING’s concerns.
The action is wild and wacky and the gags will never cease to cause the intellectual mind to squirm.
Will CECILIA and company be able to survive this dangerous encounter?
Go watch the movie for:
Cheeky kids. Apart from LUCAS TSE, there’s also this capricious little boy, a sweet girl and a greedy little fatty. They liven up the film with their age-of-innocence acting and soulful characteristics. They practically steal the thunder from the adult players.
In the acting department, expect nothing new from the actors as the script is far from fetching.
There are raw touches of an old ENID BLYTON (British writer of children’s stories) tale called ISLAND OF ADVENTURE.
This is one of director WONG JING’s more watchable movies, and it has a fair share of emotive moments, milked by the young stars.
Other than that, this is a film that entertains on a boring Summer evening and as soon as you leave the cinema, you’d probably forget what the feature is all about.
Blame it on the plot that has much to do about nothing.
