Bodies at Rest

沉默的证人

US/China/Hong Kong, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 92 mins.

Director: Renny Harlin.

Rating: 5/10.

Efficient but uninspired action drama doesn’t live up to its promising first half.

STORY

Hong Kong, 24 Dec 2017. As the city prepares for some record rainfall during the night and public transport shuts down, staff at the Kuiyong [Kwai Chung] Public Mortuary, in the New Territories, are surprised by three masked gunmen who break in, demanding an incriminating bullet from the recently delivered corpse of Zheng Anqi (Yi Seong-min), 28, a triad boss’ daughter whose body was found after a shootout in Shenshuibu [Sham Shui Po] district, Kowloon. The gunmen are led by Santa (Ren Xianqi), plus Rudolph (Feng Jiayi) and his crazed younger brother Elf (Chen Jiale). Forensic pathologist Chen Jiahao (Zhang Jiahui), who still mourns his wife’s murder by an uncaptured killer, and intern Qiao Lin (Yang Zi), who’s due to return to Beijing next week, have not yet processed Zheng Anqi’s corpse. However, Chen Jiahao extracts the bullet from her corpse and hands it over. After locking Chen Jiahao, Qiao Lin and security guard Jin (Ma Shuliang) in the cooler with the cadavers, the gunmen leave; but en route to disposing of it, Santa realises it’s not the right bullet, so the three return to the mortuary. Meanwhile, Chen Jiahao, Qiao Lin and Jin have broken out of the cooler and accessed police records, discovering that four men were found dead alongside Zheng Anqi, in what seemed to be a drug deal gone worng. A cat-and-mouse game ensues between the gunmen and the mortuary staff, further complicated by various arrivals during the night.

REVIEW

The third of three Chinese films directed by Finnish-born, previously US-based Renny Harlin, mortuary thriller Bodies at Rest 沉默的证人 promises to be the best of the bunch but is gradually let down by a growing reliance on Hong Kong action cliches. Based on an original script by US writer David Lesser, relocated to an actual Hong Kong mortuary, but shot mostly in Beijing in late 2017, the efficient but uninspired action drama took a very so-so RMB180 million on Mainland release this August – nowhere near the surprise success of Harlin’s Cheng Long 成龙 [Jackie Chan] vehicle Skiptrace 绝地逃亡 (2016; RMB890 million) but considerably up on his costume flop Legend of the Ancient Sword 古剑奇谭之流月昭明 (2018; RMB14 million). At least for the time being, it looks like Harlin’s Asian sojourn is over.

Bodies is doubly disappointing as it starts out with a neat idea – three gunmen break into a mortuary on Xmas Eve to retrieve an incriminatiing bullet from a corpse – and has a strong lead cast in two veterans, Hong Kong’s Zhang Jiahui 张家辉 [Nick Cheung], 54, who’s always worth watching, and Taiwan actor-singer Ren Xianqi 任贤齐 [Richie Ren], 53, who’s getting better with age. Add in a spunky action performance by Mainland actress Yang Zi 杨紫, 27, plus the plot’s single-location setting during a long, rainy night, and the film has all the makings of a tense, offbeat action thriller.

And so it seems during the first half as the script by Wu Mengzhang 吴孟璋 (who’s worked with Hong Kong genre twins Peng Fa 彭发 [Danny Pang] and Peng Shun 彭顺 [Oxide Pang]) and Chang You 畅游 efficiently sketches the setting and two of the main characters, a forensic pathologist (Zhang) still bitter from his wife’s murder and a Mainland intern (Yang) who’s due to return to Beijing next week. When three gunmen in goofy masks, calling themselves Santa, Rudolph and Elf, break in, steal the bullet and lock the staff in the cooler, the screenplay starts going through some agreeable gymnastics as the criminals realise they’ve taken the wrong bullet. A cat-and-mouse game ensues between them and the staff as they return to get the right one.

A further wrinkle is that the gunmen are not exactly who they seem to be, a development that keeps the plot bubbling along until the midpoint. Thereafter, however, action dominates, and of an increasingly Hong Kong filmy type that jars with the opening realism. Boosting the unbelievability and lessening the tension is that both Zhang and Yang’s characters suddenly turn from everyday pathologists into sturdy action heroes with no explanation; despite the okay action staging by Hong Kong’s Huang Mingsheng 黄明升 (Mainland comedy Father and Son 父子雄兵, 2017) it all seems more and more unlikely. The hospital-set crime/action drama Three 三人行 (2016), directed by Du Qifeng 杜琪峰 [Johnnie To], brought off a similar idea much better.

Reunited on-screen after more than a decade, Zhang and Ren still make strong leads despite weaknesses in the material, and Yang (memorable in offbeat psychodrama Insistence 守株人, 2012) more than holds her own alongside the older stars. Ren is especially good as the grizzled leader of the gunmen, who spends as much time trying to hold together his psycho team (colourful Mainlander Feng Jiayi 冯嘉怡, Hong Kong actor-singer Chen Jiale 陈家乐) as trying to fulfil his mission. Mainland TV/theatre veteran Ma Shuliang 马书良 is solid as the mortuary’s asthmatic security guard and Swiss-born Korean actress-model Yi Seong-min 이성민 | 李成敏 [Clara Lee] pops up in a flashback as the gangster’s trashy daughter whose corpse causes all the trouble.

Key technical credits (dominated by experienced Hong Kongers) are generally fine, from the widescreen photography by Pan Yaoming 潘耀明 [Anthony Pun] to the cutting by Zhang Jiahui 张嘉辉 [Cheung Ka-fai]. However, the wallpaper action score by Chu Zhendong 褚镇东 [Anthony Chue] adds nothing. The film’s Chinese title means “Silent Witness(es)”, presumably referring to the cadavers in the mortuary.

CREDITS

Presented by Wanda Media (CN), Media Asia Film Production (HK), Wanda Pictures (Hong Kong) (HK). Produced by Riche Productions (US).

Script: Wu Mengzhang, Chang You. Original script: David Lesser. Photography: Pan Yaoming [Anthony Pun]. Editing: Zhang Jiahui [Cheung Ka-fai]. Music: Chu Zhendong [Anthony Chue]. Production design: Zhang Yinghua. Costume design: Tong Yao. Styling (for Zhang Jiahui): Xi Zhongwen [Yee Chung-man]. Sound: Hao Gang. Action: Huang Mingsheng. Visual effects: Luo Weihao, Xie Zhaoji.

Cast: Zhang Jiahui [Nick Cheung] (Chen Jiahao/Nick), Ren Xianqi [Richie Ren] (Santa), Yang Zi (Qiao Lin/Lynn), Feng Jiayi (Rudolph), Chen Jiale (Elf), Ma Shuliang (Jin, security guard), Ouyang Jing (Wei/Wyatt, night cleaner), Guo Jin’an (Jie, driver from funeral home), Wu Zhuoxi (Li, police constable), Guo Xianni (Chen Jiahao’s late wife), Ming Peng (Wu, police constable), Yi Seong-min [Clara Lee] (Zheng Anqi/Ankie).

Premiere: Hong Kong Film Festival (Opening Film; Gala Presentation), 18 Mar 2019.

Release: US, tba; China, 16 Aug 2019; Hong Kong, 22 Aug 2019.