The Wesley's Mysterious File (2002)

Andy Lau is the Wesley of the title -- a United Nations alien investigator working in the Aliens Analyzing Agency. Wesley's job is to study aliens active on Earth, such as the vampires and werewolves of legends and the attractive blue-blooded Fong (Rosamund Kwan) of San Francisco.

Fong's a Blue-blood Star person living on Earth for at least a couple of centuries after setting off with her brother Tan (Samuel Pang) to find the Blue-blood Bible needed to fight the people who destroyed their planet. Now with her brother presumed dead and two aggressive Warlock Toxic Clan alien assassins heading her way, Fong is also targeted by FBI Double-X Unit boss Mr Wilson (Thomas Hudok). The FBI man hopes to harness Fong's powers so he can rule the world... if meddlesome Wesley doesn't get in the way of his grand plans first.

Though the sci-fi theme sets The Wesley's Mysterious File apart in the Hong Kong film schedule, the production brims with faults ready to derail an otherwise mindlessly enjoyable experience. From the outset, alien action isn't much to spark positive word-of-mouth among cinemagoers -- the first extra terrestrial to hit the screen is simply cute, not menacing. Other poor computer-generated effects abound throughout the feature, including a remarkably shoddy credits sequence and the dubious peak of telepathic sex. Much of The Wesley's Mysterious File is set in the US but the film's overly technical English dialogue is shackled with stilted delivery.

Scriptwriting is uniformly disappointing and never adequately builds on its initial subject matter and the narration that begins the film is quickly ditched. Character backgrounds are minimal and technobabble verges on nuisance -- how many viewers bar those scribbling in notepads will remember Grade C X1147 aliens and the planet A13788488, or whatever it was called. And though some emphasis is placed on action and interplanetary love in the general storyline, detours including poorly realised political comments and Wong Jing's out-of-place comedy do little to build any coherent support.

On the upside, all this makes The Wesley's Mysterious File a fascinating bad movie experience to sail through in the right frame of mind. Spread over a fairly tight and speedy 86 minutes, the film's sense of silly escapism should work best once viewers relax and sufficiently lower their expectations. Performances are suitably lightweight in keeping with the script, with Andy Lau offering his least interesting role in years and Rosamund Kwan quietly relying on distinctive eye effects for her action. Mark Cheng and Almen Wong make a distinctive pair of aliens while Shu Qi and Roy Cheung stand out for reasons the filmmakers probably didn't intend.

Credits:

Directed by Andrew Lau
Produced by Wong Jing
Script by Wong Jing and Thirteen Chan
Edited by Marco Mak
Starring Andy Lau, Rosamund Kwan, Shu Qi, Wong Jing, Thomas Hudok, Roy Cheung, Mark Cheng, Almen Wong and Patrick Lung