Time Raiders

盗墓笔记

Hong Kong/China, 2016, colour, 2.35:1, 3-D (China only), 123 mins.

Director: Li Rengang 李仁港 [Daniel Lee].

Rating: 4/10.

Bromancey tomb-raiding extravaganza lacks  narrative coherence and involving characters.

STORY

The Himalayas, on the Nepalese border. Hendrix (Vanni Corbellini), head of Coral Scientific, is looking for the last of the 24 Divine Pieces (small copper tablets) that will secure him the secret to immortality for which he’s been searching all his life. He and his private militia try to bully its location out of a Himalayan tribe but are beaten off by super-warrior Zhang Qiling (Jing Boran). Years later, a wealthy antiques collector, Wu Xie (Lu Han), recounts the story of his life to a ghost writer (Nanpai Sanshu): how he was born into an extended family of tomb raiders and was raised by his uncle Wu Sanxing (Wang Jingchun). As a young adult, while poking around in the so-called Widow’s Tomb of the Warring States Period, he and his uncle discovered a lower chamber which described the location of the fabulous Tomb of the Snake Empress (Mallika Sherawat), who had the secret of immortality and passed it on to her lover King Xiang (Hong Tianzhao). Making off with a mechanical device they later discovered was a timer-cum-key, and helped by the Tomb-Robbing Notebook 盗墓笔记 of Wu Xie’s grandfather, the two realised they had eight days to find the tomb in the lost kingdom of Tamutuo before the 2,000-year cycle renewed itself. Joining the eight-man expedition was the mysterious Zhang Qiling, who won a place through his fighting prowess. During the journey to China’s western borders, Wu Xie managed to befriend him a little. When the team arrived at the location, Wu Sanxing locked Wu Xie in the van for his own safety, before blasting open the entrance to the tomb. However, a team of English-speaking foreigners hirdby Hendrix and led by Ning (Ma Sichun) also arrived. Ning wanted the key to the tomb, but a gun battle ended in stalemate. Wu Xie turned up later and re-joined his uncle’s team. After escaping some homicidal figurines in an antechamber, the team ended up in another chamber that was infested with carnivorous insects. After escaping from them with the help of Wu Xie, Ning and her team re-appeared. As the various tomb raiders gradually penetrated the labyrinthine underground complex, the two sides were eventually forced to co-operate when the Snake Empress was reborn and her powers were unleashed.

REVIEW

Staying in the costume action-fantasy genre he’s inhabited for the past decade (14 Blades 锦衣卫, 2010; White Vengeance 鸿门宴, 2011; Dragon Blade 天将雄师, 2015), variable Hong Kong journeyman Li Rengang 李仁港 [Daniel Lee] comes up with another big-budget extravaganza aimed at the Mainland market that manages to equal Blade in narrative incoherence, lack of character development and production overkill, topped by a central bromance of toe-curling proportions. Incredibly, Time Raiders 盗墓笔记 grossed a giant RMB1 billion on Mainland release, thanks partly to the popularity of the source novels, a TV drama-series version (The Lost Tomb 盗墓笔记) that began airing last year, and two metrosexual leads tailored to the young female market.

Just as the recent Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe 九层妖塔 (2015) and Mojin: The Lost Legend 寻龙诀 (2015) were adapted from a popular series of tomb-robber novels, so Time Raiders traces its source to a similar series, 盗墓笔记 (2007-11, literally, “Tomb-Robbing Notebook”), by Zhejiang-born Xu Lei 徐磊, 34, writing under the name Nanpai Sanshu 南派三叔 (literally “Southern School Third Uncle”, aka Uncle Three). Curiously, director Li, who normally takes a writing credit, takes none this time, with the script officially the sole work of the original author (who cameos in the movie as a ghostwriter, haha). Li does, however, take his usual production design credit, so can officially be blamed for the movie’s overblown, magpie visual style that blends steampunk with Central Asian exotica via any number of other far-flung fantasies.

The screenplay is extraordinarily badly structured, starting with a sequence in the Himalayas that introduces the western villain and a Chinese super-hero, before veering off to recount the life story of Wu Xie, the other leading character, who’s a young member of a family of raiders. His antics in an ancient site, along with the uncle who raised him, complete the awkward 30-minute exposition, which sets up the main story of two groups vying to unlock a tomb that contains the secret of immortality. Few characters are established during the exposition, and once the tomb raiding gets going there’s no room for any development between the setpieces. Some of the latter are diverting – a self-generating lighting system, homicidal wooden puppets – while others seem second-hand – carnivorous CG insects in their thousands. But the film soon gives up on the idea of the teams having to overcome a series of obstacles in favour of a lot of mumbo-jumbo about immortality and reincarnation.

While Tribe and Mojin sported an array of juicy characters and plenty of rough humour, Raiders has little of either. Aside from dependable character veteran Wang Jingchun 王景春 (To Live and Die in Ordos 警察日记, 2013; The Witness 我是证人, 2015), who plays a grizzled grave-robber and keeps the film semi-grounded until the VFX take over, there’s not much juice among the other leads. In a change from his hopeless hero in Monster Hunt 捉妖记 (2015), top-billed Jing Boran 井柏然, 27, glowers silently as all-powerful warrior Zhang Qiling, and performs some credible action; but he remains as much of a mystery to the viewer as to his fellow tomb-raiders. Ramping up the central bromance is co-lead and former boybander Lu Han 鹿晗, 26, who, unlike in Miss Granny 重返20岁 (2015) and The Witness, makes no attempt here to scale back his girly looks – in fact, quite the opposite – resulting in scenes of “friendship” between the two young guys that seem borderline gay.

Beyond the supports, led by Hong Kong’s Jiang Haowen 姜皓文 [Philip Keung] as a veteran raider, the only other character with some juice is played by China’s Ma Sichun 马思纯, who was so good as the lead’s rebellious female friend in The Left Ear 左耳  (2015). Ma, 28, plays a hard-arsed raider, though the script has her speaking in so-so English for most of the time and, like Jing, just glowering a lot. The only other actress in the film, Bollywood’s Mallika Sherawat, simply spits and snarls under a mass of CGI as the evil Snake Empress.

Li’s usual Hong Kong tech team, including d.p. Zhang Dongliang 张东亮 [Tony Cheung], composer Li Yunwen 黎允文 [Henry Lai] and image designer Zhuang Zhiliang 庄志良 [Thomas Chong], clock in as expected, with the last having another field-day with his richly imagined costumes (especially for Sherawat). As usual, Li marks time with a noisy but uninspired score, here flecked with ethnic wails. As in so many Mainland action-fantasies, the VFX (just OK here) go into overdrive during the final half-hour, in defiance of any logic, geography or previously established ground rules.

Though not acknowledged in the credits, the film is adapted from the fifth novel in Nanpai Sanshu’s series, 蛇沼鬼城 (literally, “Snake Marsh Ghost Town”), plus a sequel novel, 藏海花 (“Hidden Sea Flower”).

CREDITS

Presented by Shanghai Film Group (CN), Le Vision Pictures (CN), Nanpai Entertainment (CN). Produced by Visualizer Film Production (HK).

Script: Nanpai Sanshu [Xu Lei]. Novels: Nanpai Sanshu [Xu Lei]. Photography: Zhang Dongliang [Tony Cheung]. Editing: Qiu Zhiwei [Yau Chi-wai]. Music: Li Yunwen [Henry Lai]. Production design: Li Rengang [Daniel Lee]. Art direction: Huang Jia’neng [Eddy Wong]. Costume design: Zhuang Zhiliang [Thomas Chong]. Sound: Zheng Yingyuan [Phyllis Cheng], Peter Mullen. Action: Liang Xiaoxiong, Tu Shengcheng. Visual effects: Wu Kaiwen (Trust Studio, Prana Studios).

Cast: Jing Boran (Zhang Qiling), Lu Han (Wu Xie), Wang Jingchun (Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie’s uncle), Ma Sichun (Ning), Zhang Boyu (Wang Pangzi/Fatty Wang), Jiang Haowen [Philip Keung] (Dakui), Ao Jianian (Zhong), Tu Shengcheng (Panzi), Mallika Sherawat (Snake Empress), Hong Tianzhao (King Xiang), Vanni Corbellini (Hendrix), Qu Jingjing (female ghost), Lin Peng (pingtan musician), Gao Yuqing (Laotou/Old Guy), Fang Xushi (Lv Dandan), Luo Jingmin (Wu Laogou), Li Yu (Wu Yiqiong, Wu Xie’s father), Ma Weijun (Wu Erbai), Nanpai Sanshu [Xu Lei] (writer), Liu Weisen (Wang Meng), He Xuan (Hendrix’s nurse), Zhang Jing (reporter), Chu Wenming (Tie Mian/Iron Mask), Lin Muran (young Wu Xie), Peng Bo (Xie Yuhua), Tang Zuohui (old hunchback), Harry Oram, Tomer Oz, Danny Salay, Roberto Gilabert, Michael Duchet, Troy Anthony Sandford, Nano, Damian Mavis (Ning’s teammates).

Release: China, 5 Aug 2016; Hong Kong, tba.