A World Without Thieves (Tartan/DTS/2004/China/Hong Kong)
Picture: C+ Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: C+
In an
attempt to twist around the “fast car riding thieves” cycle with a twist that
we have seen before, i.e. the third party who shakes things up, Xiaogang Feng’s
A World Without Thieves (2004) is a
fancy and sometimes over-polished variation.
Maybe it will be fun for those who want to see this somewhat formulaic
arrangement in a different setting.
There are those pretentious snobs who will automatically say it is
better simply because it is not from Hollywood, but that is wrong. Fortunately, the filmmakers are not ignorant
in that way.
Another
highlight of the film is that is co-star’s Andy Lau from Infernal Affairs, the film recently remade to great acclaim by
Martin Scorsese as The Departed. There is little in the way of actual
gangsters here, though there is plenty of pickpocketing to the point of being
funny, part of which is intended. Humor
is sometimes the film’s problem, down to too many fancy trick shots that ruin
any sense of danger or suspense. It may
be worth a look, but A World Without
Thieves may not be very rewatchable.
I would still like to see what else Feng and company can do.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little soft and color challenged
throughout, in part to try (and fail) to add digital effects seamlessly. Li Zhang’s cinematography is not bad, but
falls short thanks to the unnecessary digital tricks and other pretensions that
hurt the film visually. The Dolby
Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes in Mandarin are not bad, with the DTS having a slight
edge, but this is not a good mix for soundfield. The combination is adequate at best, but
could have been better. Deleted scenes,
a making of featurette and original theatrical trailer are the extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo