Heavenly Mission

Year:2006
Director:James Yuen Sai-Sang
Cast:Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Stephen Fung Tak-Lun, Julian Cheung Chi-Lam, Ti Lung, Eric Kot Man-Fai, Niki Chow Lai-Kei, Lai Yiu-Cheung, Hu Jing, Wong Yau-Nam, Huo Siyan, Carl Ng Ka-Lung, Zhang Yi, Liu Jie, Kwok Fung, Berg Ng Ting-Yip, Henry Fong Ping, Samuel Pang King-Chi
Description:
Hong
Kong's greatest accidental superstar, Ekin Cheng,
returns to familiar territory in director James Yuen's
Heavenly Mission. The man formerly known as
Chan Ho-Nam plays Autumn Yip, a seasoned triad who's
just completed an eight year tour of duty in a Thai
prison. Previous to his incarceration, Autumn was
reportedly fiery and a bit wild. The leather pants-wearing
bad boy got nabbed by the authorities during a massive
machete melee on the streets of Bangkok, where he
protected a sexy female arms dealer named Doctor . Now out of prison,
Autumn is apparently a changed man, and possesses
the calculating demeanor of an overly serious high
school teacher. The first thing he does after getting
out of the joint is to go see Doctor to secure a multimillion
dollar loan - which he obtains with the promise of
a 200% return on investment in just a year's time.
What could this once legendary
triad be planning? The media fuels the speculation,
trumpeting Autumn's return from the slammer on the
front page. Immediately, the cops get involved; anti-triad
cop Ming thinks Autumn will step out of
line soon, and forms a team of investigators to shadow
Autumn upon his return to HK. Autumn certainly acts
suspicious; he corrals a bunch of his ex-triad buddies
into helping him invest his multimillion
dollar loan into a supposedly legitimate corporation
designed to go public and make tons of fast cash on
the stock market. Autumn achieves this by getting
a media makeover, appearing as a charitable benefactor
who respects the elderly, kisses babies, and gives
money to the poor. Within days Autumn Yip becomes
the media sensation du jour, leading to increased
confidence by the public and the ridiculous notion
that people would actually pony up large sums of venture
capital to join his business.
As the days pass, Autumn's
Q-rating continues to rise, meaning even more pressure
on Ming. Autumn's out there making a good name for
himself and earning public support, and the cops can't
help but interpret Autumn's saintly behavior as a
metaphorical middle finger directed at them. But the
cops aren't the only ones unhappy with Autumn's return.
A bunch of Autumn's former triad brothers are nonplused
by his good guy act, leading to plenty of grousing
during dimsum gatherings. Enter mid-level triad boss
Ghost , a particularly emotional fellow
who seems to be more obsessed with Autumn than his
hot girlfriend . Ghost and Autumn cross
paths thanks to their mutual relationship with Boss
Hung , and something about Autumn rubs Ghost
the wrong way. Once Ghost decides he doesn't like
all this nice-guy reformed triad stuff, he decides
to take the fight to Autumn, and he's not above using
chicanery, kidnapping, or other non-righteous means
to do so. Meanwhile, Ming must decide who's the worse
criminal, Ghost or Autumn. All this plus plenty of
shots of Ekin Cheng brooding.
When Autumn first gets
out of the slammer, he says he's going to do something
"big", which almost seems to hint at something
illegal. No dice; before too long it's obvious that
Autumn's big plans are all from the heart. Autumn
is your ultimate pious gangster, a reformed bad guy
who desperately wants to do good, and will even resort
to such laughable lessons as "stay in school",
which he instructs Ghost to do to prevent a life of
eternal thuggery. Ekin Cheng gives Autumn earnest
integrity, but provides little depth of emotion, such
that it's really hard to see that he's changed so
much from his supposedly sordid past. Autumn is supposed
to have been one rough bastard, so some display of
tortured inner emotion may be appropriate. However,
most of the time Ekin Cheng just seems mildly preoccupied,
like a guy who's thinking about the stack of papers
sitting on his desk at the office. At the same time,
Cheng is a natural for the role because, well, he's
Chan Ho-Nam. At this point in Hong Kong Cinema history,
Ekin Cheng qualifies as an icon, and Heavenly Mission
milks Cheng's iconic presence for everything it's
worth. It's easy to buy Cheng as Autumn Yip because
if we don't, then we spit on the Hong Kong Cinema
classics of the past decade. Minus For Bad Boys
Only, of course.
Iconic is a word that
also applies to Ti Lung, who brings grizzled presence
to the role of Boss Hung. Heavenly Mission
possesses a very large cast of Hong Kong Cinema names,
and many make an impact. Decent turns are had from
Eric Kot, Julian Cheung, Wong Yau-Nam, and Huo Siyan
, among others. Alex Fong
gives Ming convincing charisma and emotion, which
is good because Fong frequently has to play off the
stoic Ekin Cheng. Faring worse are Carl Ng, who overacts
as Ming's loose cannon subordinate, and Stephen Fung,
who can barely make Ghost more than a two-dimensional
baddie. The film places great weight on the Autumn-Ghost
relationship, with a parallel drawn between the person
Autumn once was and the person Ghost currently is.
However, it's a detail that's hard to buy, because
the actors are so far apart in their portrayals of
their characters. Ekin Cheng is too stoic and righteous,
whereas Stephen Fung is too emotional and even detestable.
If the film's themes were to carry appropriate weight,
then we should want Ghost to "stay in school",
just like Autumn wishes. However, given Ghost's behavior
for the majority of the film, the likely response
is to hope that he gets what's coming to him, and
preferably with a tire iron.
Also, some of the film
feels unbelievable. Autumn Yip and friends get their
company listed on the stock market almost immediately,
and Autumn's rise to respectability seems far too
easy to take seriously. The righteous themes of Heavenly
Mission feel too earnest and simplistic, with
much of the expected complexity never touched upon.
What seems to be important in the film is Autumn Yip's
big plans, and not Autumn Yip himself, which represents
a missed opportunity on the filmmakers' part. The
character needs to be more than a nominal figurehead
that everyone chases, but that's all he appears to
be. Still, writer-director James Yuen manages to create
some tension with his characters and situations, and
the film is technically quite solid. Heavenly Mission
is the second film from BMA Productions, and the company
is clearly trying to put out quality work, hiring
solid film professionals who actually seem to care
about stories and characters. The film does feel rather
disappointing because James Yuen's last film was the
excellent Crazy N' The City, and BMA Productions
first film was the also excellent My Name is Fame.
Heavenly Mission doesn't come close to either
of those films, and more than anything represents
an unrealized opportunity. However, we'll give them
points for trying.