Tuesday 24 February 2009

Review: Rule Number 1

Eh, not an anime or videogame, but its an Asian film, so I guess it'll work.  

Rule Number 1 was the film of the day at Asian-Horror-Movies.com so I decided to give it a try.  I was quite happy with the results.  Despite being on Asian-Horror-Movies.com, the movie would fall better into the genre of thriller.  And the movie keeps you on your toes, well, once you figure out whats going on.  

Lee Kwok-keung is a small time cop.  He apparently works at a parking garage security guard.  One night a car pulls up, and the driver has no seatbelt on, and has very flimsy excuses.  As he was about to let the driver go with a just a warning, he notices the tail lights are out, and asks if the driver has a screwdriver in the car so they Can fix it.  Lee taps on the trunk of the car and he notices blood coming out from it.  The driver is busy looking for a screwdriver, and Lee forces the trunk open to reveal a dead body.  The driver notices that Lee opened the trunk and pulls a gun and shoots Lee a few times.  Due to a distraction, Lee is able to dispatch the driver.  After Lee recovers from the wounds, Lee is transferred to the Miscellaneous Affairs Office of the police, which deals with basically paranormal activity.  

Thats about all I'm gonna say about the plot.  The plot can be kind of confusing in the beginning, spawning more questions that answers, but once you get answers it all falls together.  Thats not to say the plot doesn't have its twists, far from it.

I think one of the major points of why I like Asian films is because of the sound/music.  Hollywood movies tend to have extravagant soundtracks, but this Asian films don't always have that.  Rule Number 1 for instance has almost no music, but the dreaded ambient music in the most chilling scenes.  Makes it more enjoyable and thrilling in my opinion.

The characters are likable, especially Inspector Wong.  I liked the characters so much I wish they hadn't had to go through with what was happening to them, but a movie isn't made that way. 

I enjoyed this movie.  The subtitles on the version I watched were horrible, but I was able to watch it despite that.  I recommend this to anyone who likes a good thriller.

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