Victim (1999)

Computer whiz Manson Ma is kidnapped and left hanging in a grotty haunted mansion. Cops Pit and Bee (Leung and Lai) get on the case - from the minute teetotal Manson guzzles wine and meanders through an interview they know there's something evil going down. We know he's in debt to both loansharks and the bank after the financial and property markets tanked. We know he's pulling a sneaky at the HK Monetary Authority. And we also know he's acting strangely enough to scare his girlfriend Amy (Kwok) until her neck veins pop out in fear (wow!). The cause to these problems is far from straightforward. (Victim clearly calls for more than one viewing) as Pit takes up his investigation in the deserted mansion...

Perhaps it was producer Joe Ma's prompting but this is unlike anything I could expect from a Ringo Lam flick - and who can expect a dark, supernatural theme amid tense Lam staples? I'd love to know more about their filmmaking intentions. Victim's scripting lost me more than once but the film packs a lot into its running time. Whatever the plot and its intention (sorry, no spoilers here) the film is tense and overbearingly dark. As Manson (yes, it's a transliteration), Lau switches from helpless to just plain nasty while the girlfriend can only look on. Tony Leung does little as Pit, a character who seems to do little himself.

As with Full Alert, Lam's attention to detail impressed me - a vehicular stunt-double for a trashed Audi is a niftily re-badged Daihatsu "Audi 00" while there are two Suki Kwan scenes for the price of one. Moments of detail that the budget (and perhaps an actor's schedule) can't match. I like it. And did I mention the car chases were fun to watch though audience laughs rarely seem intended by the filmmakers? Victim is a good all-rounder but it'll take another viewing for me to piece it together more coherently.

The painted billboard for Victim adorns Wanchai's Imperial Cinema.

Credits:

Directed by Ringo Lam
Produced by Joe Ma
Starring Lau Ching-wan, Amy Kwok Hoi-ming, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, Hui Siu-hung and Suki Kwan Sau-mei