DOWNTOWN TORPEDOES
(Chinatown Video)
Reviewed by Jonathan
Marshall
Downtown Torpedoes (originally titled Master Thief, Spy
Shadow) is a fun if unremarkable Hong Kong take on the ‘90s caper film as in Mission
Impossible - one of Brian de Palma’s less impressive
productions - John Frankenheimer’s Ronin and Michael
Mann’s Heat. It is the first of these movies which director Teddy
Chan’s piece most resembles though. The cinematography and lighting has a
clear, glossy magazine feel, with a stylish use of blue-black accents in the coloring of
office interiors and outdoor scenes, alternating with warm red-yellow dramatic sequences.
The editing is suitably busy - if work-man-like - while the characters are engaging,
albeit slightly one-dimensional. Although the surprising sudden death of a major character
early in the piece gives the conflicts set in tow the requisite intensity, such details
are hardly of any more significance to the appeal of this film than the groovy gadgets
that abound throughout. The sound moreover draws on tried and tested ways of heightening
interest: fast, boppy techno to generate tension versus minimal scoring for interpersonal
scenes, and simple sonic focus on key actions and elements. Filmicly there is therefore
little to set Torpedoes apart from Mission Impossible, while the
narrative is very similar to the fun if lacklustre early US John Woo telemovie:
Once a Thief.
None of this is of any real import if you are after a fairly typical, racy
caper film with lots of danger and thrills but comparatively little actual gunplay. The
lead males do present a subtle but pleasant variation on generic types. Takeshi
Kaneshiro (from Chungking Express) brings an unusual softness and lack
of aggression to his otherwise criminal-mastermind-styled role, while Jordan Chan provides
the most noticeable spark, giving both his part and the final, nail-biting chase an
impressive, driven quality. Downtown Torpedoes is certainly above the level of
mere video fodder like some of films Bruce Willis or Arnie sleep-walked
through, but given how superbly and compellingly Mann and Frankenheimer
have mastered this genre, one could perhaps be forgiven for wanting more.
© 2000 Jonathan Marshall
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