Movie Buzz : Triple Tap 槍王之王
Triple Tap (槍王之王) is a psychological thriller directed by Derek Yee, starring Louis Koo who plays this Champion sharpshooter while Daniel Wu is his fellow marksman and police officer, they met at an IPSC competition and later Koo gets involved in this robbery case that Wu was investigating. Their confrontation reveals the different back stories and brings out a myriad of lies as the two try to outsmart eachother. Think along the line of The Mentalist or Lie To Me but wrapped in a typical old school Hong Kong crime movie.
Despite the fact that it’s an all star cast and the male leads are drool-worthy, they weren’t exactly great in terms of acting. Both have a standard facial expression without any emotions. They were so ‘serious’ that it was too funny to watch – guess it quite backfired the whole idea of having two ‘cool’ men pulling triggers at each other. I almost choked at Louis Koo’s ‘Are You Ready?’ Sadly the two female leads Charlene Choi and Li Bingbing have little scenes to comment about. The plot was trying too hard to be clever that it ended up being pathetic instead. I don’t feel there’s a connection with the audience and it totally did not snag my attention at all.
Not much of an action saga either, although I did notice that Chin Kar Lok is the action choreographer, what a disappointment. I do see potential in this film, especially when the production seems to be above average in terms of Hong Kong films. Well, at least the guns were pretty cool and I learnt what’s IPSC after watching this film !
It’s a pity that this highly anticipated great film turned out like this,perhaps it might be better if watched in Cantonese instead of the monotone mandarin voice-overs. I’ll give this a 2/5 but if you’re a sucker for some asian action or eyecandy moments, then go ahead and catch this film on a weekday. It’s gonna be out on 1st July 2010.
P.S : Following Trailers are all in Cantonese !
I have to mention, nobody beats Leslie Cheung as the marksman in Double Tap (I think Triple Tap is an unofficial sequel ?) Move aside Louis Koo, you need to learn.
Tags: action, action choreographer, are you ready, cantonese, charlene choi, chin kar lok, daniel wu, derek yee, double tap, Hong Kong, IPSC, Leslie cheung, li bingbing, lie to me, louis koo, mandarin, production, robbery, the mentalist, triple tap, 槍王之王 
