Chinese Odyssey 2002 (2002)

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Directed by Jeffrey Lau.

Starring Chang Chen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Rebecca Pan, Faye Wong, Vicki Zhao Wei.

Chinese Odyssey 2002, produced by Wong Kar-Wai, is writer-director Jeff Lau's energetic parody of Chinese kung fu epics, with a bit of Shakespeare thrown in. Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) plays the Emperor, who, desperate for the free-spirited life of a wanderer, tries to escape from the royal palace with his sister, the Princess (Faye Wong, little seen since starring in Wong's Chungking Express). He's caught and returned to his angry mother by the royal guards, but the Princess, disguised as a man, manages to escape. Meanwhile, King Bully (Tony Leung, who also starred in Chungking Express) has returned to his hometown, where he is widely despised for his bullying ways, to run a restaurant with his tomboy sister, Phoenix (Vicki Zhao of Shaolin Soccer). They have a very close relationship. In fact, King Bully mistakenly believes that he can read his sister's mind. When the Princess arrives in town, King Bully finds himself drawn to her, but, believing she's a man, decides that his attraction is some kind of empathy with Phoenix. King Bully and the Princess spend a night eating and drinking together. In the morning, the Princess leaves. King Bully, determined that the Princess will marry Phoenix, vows to bring the charismatic young "man" back. She does return, but soon realizes that the royal guards are following her. Meanwhile, the Emperor convinces his mother to let him leave the palace to go look for the Princess. By the time he gets to town, the Princess has been carted off by the royal guards, with King Bully in hot pursuit. He's immediately attracted to Phoenix. More confusion ensues. Chinese Odyssey 2002 had its U.S. premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. The film was awarded Best Film, and Faye Wong Best Actress, by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

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Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

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Jeff Lau's exuberant parody, Chinese Odyssey 2002, is so energetic and consistently entertaining that it hardly matters how little sense it all makes. Mixing elements from dozens of martial arts epics (including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and sly references to producer Wong Kar-Wai's oeuvre, Lau and his able cast come up with a buoyantly scattershot farce that, thanks largely to the charisma of Tony Leung, Faye Wong, and Vicki Zhao, still manages to maintain interest in the fates of its romantic leads. It's great to see Wong back putting her talents to use after a long absence from the big screen. Lau, director of the original Chinese Odyssey films, knows the genre inside out, and the filmmaker's skillful dismantling of HK film styles in its hilarious fight scenes and its gender-switching plot will appeal to anyone vaguely familiar with the source material. Most of the humor is visual, but it's also amazing how much of the film's verbal humor translates via subtitles. True, some of the laughs come from cheap gags. (For example, after seeing Wong, who is posing as a man, dress up in double drag, Leung decides to try dressing as a woman himself, and forgets to take his dress off the next morning.) And some of them don't quite work. But they come so fast and furious, at least for the first three quarters of the film, that there's no time to dwell on the near misses. The film bogs down a bit toward the end, as a prolonged separation of Leung and Wong sucks a little bit of the joy out of the scenario. But Hong Kong action fans looking for clever lightweight reflexive fun simply can't do any better. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

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