DR. WAI IN THE SCRIPTURE WITH NO WORDS (1996) Chinese, with English subtitles
Also called: Dr. Wei in the Scripture With No Words Scripture With No Words, The Mo Him Wong Mao Xian Wang Literally translated: 'Adventure King'
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Ching Siu-Tung (Cheng Xiaodong) most famous for the CHINESE GHOST STORY movies
Starring: Jet Li Lian-Jie, Rosamund Kwan Chi-Lam, Takeshi Kaneshiro (Gum Sing-Mo), Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei, Billy Chow, Johnny Kong, Law Kar-Ying, Ngai Sing
Written by: Sandy Shaw (Siu Lai-King), Szeto Cheuk-Han, Ah Lun (Lam Wai-Lun)
Ingredients: Indiana Jones-type hero, serial adventure, Nazi-ish caricature villains, torch lit temple, race to find wooden box containing untold power
Synopsis: In this action comedy, Jet Li is Chow Si-kit, a down-and-out serial writer whose beautiful wife Monica (Rosamund Kwan) is on the verge of divorcing him. Si-kit is supposed to be writing the next few chapters of THE ADVENTURE KING, starring the adventures of Dr. Wai, an Indiana Jones style adventurer - - but he's too depressed and he's out of ideas, and the deadline for finishing the last seven of 100 episodes is fast coming up.
This clever plot twist allows the movie to become two stories at once. On the one hand, Si-kit the writer and his two young assistants (Takeshi Kaneshiro, cute Charlie Yeung) find that their suggestion box for ideas is empty and has run out of idea slips. They tangle with Si-kit's wife Monica, who can't seem to decide whether to love Si-kit or leave him.
On the other hand, in the serial adventure, Dr. Wai and his assistants tangle with the dangerous Cammy, Dr. Wai's love interest who can't decide whether to be evil or to be good in a storyline about locating a mysterious empty box and reuniting it with a scroll called 'the scripture with no words.'
Opinion: This is a very entertaining movie that has an independent, zany feel to it - - with lots of potential situation comedy. The plot takes several funny twists and turns because Si-kit, the assistants, and Monica try to one-up each other as they get a hold of each episode, and write the next episode in a way that favors their character while the others are not looking.
Another source of comedy was the over-the-top style of adventure. For example, in one scene, Dr. Wai tosses two hulking sumo wrestlers up in the air like volleyballs, then gets on his back, and kicks them (one with each foot), and the wrestlers go sailing through the air about 40 feet down a warehouse. As the wrestlers are still sailing horizontally, Dr. Wai gets up, runs after them, and then takes them each by one arm and throws them a further 20 feet.
I loved the script to this movie, but I think the adventure scenes are played a little too stiffly. For example, the wild and unbelievably exaggerated scenes which were meant to spoof RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK are played here mostly straightfaced or serious, whereas a little tongue-in-cheek twinkle of the eye or a Jackie Chan/ Harrison Ford grin and some big music would have added more smiles.
Reviewed by David Sunga March 16, 1998
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