Iceman: The Time Traveler

冰封侠   时空行者

China, 2018, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 86 mins.

Director: Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip].

Rating: 5/10.

Long-shelved sequel to Ice Man 3D  is not much good, but still fun in a silly, undemanding way.

STORY

Hong Kong, autumn 2013. Following a titanic battle on Qingma bridge, from which He Ying (Zhen Zidan) – a time-travelling member of the Ming dynasty’s military police, the jinyiwei – was last seen falling into the sea, his body is recovered in a search led by assistant police chief Zhang Yiming (Ren Dahua), who secretly keeps him alive in a mortuary. Zhang Yiming is actually Yuan Long, one of He Ying’s three sworn brothers from jinyiwei training school, who time-travelled to Hong Kong 18 years earlier, took the identity of a lookalike policeman and rose up the ranks, waiting for He Ying to arrive. Though Yuan Long has the starting key, the linga, He Ying is the only person who knows the mantra that will activate the Space-Time Golden Dish that He Ying was entrusted with by an old sage (Yiliga’er) in the Western Region back in 1624. Yuan Long revives and releases He Ying and the latter contacts his bar-girl friend Guo Xiaomei (Huang Shengyi), who’s delighted he’s still alive. Yuan Long also frees another sworn brother, Nie Hu (Yu Kang), and the three men fly to Beijing where an old underworld contact (Lin Xue) gives Yuan Long the location of the Space-Time Golden Dish in a cave outside the city. There, Yuan Long lies to He Ying that their fourth sworn brother, Sa Ao (Wang Baoqiang) – who also disappeared in the sea off Qingma bridge – is dead, so the three of them don’t need to wait for him to travel back to their own time. Horrified by the news, He Ying demands proof that Sa Ao is dead. Then Nie Hu arrives, dragging in Guo Xiaomei, whom he and Zhang Yiming have kidnapped to force He Ying to reveal the mantra. He Ying has no choice, and Yuan Long and Nie Hu travel back in the time machine. Soon afterwards, He Ying and Xiaomei manage to do the same. But they land not in the Ming dynasty but in 1927 Republican China, where they beat up some Japanese bullies on a train. Continuing their time-travel, they finally arrive in the Ming dynasty and ride to He Ying’s native village, Taoyuan. They are greeted by He Ying’s mother (Bao Qijing) and the other villagers, though He Ying’s childhood sweetheart Yuniang (Jiang Shuying) is troubled by his obviously close friendship with Xiaomei. He Ying realises he must change history, and tries to convince everyone to evacuate the village before they’re all exterminated by the vengeful young emperor (Wu Junyu). Meanwhile, in the capital Yuan Long and Nie Hu have resumed their posts in the jinyiwei, and Yuan Long plans a coup against the throne with the help of Japanese pirates who’ve been raiding the coastal regions. Then, in Taiyuan village, Sa Ao unexpectedly turns up, dressed as a jinyiwei.

REVIEW

The original cast of Ice Man 3D 冰封   重生之门3D (2014) – in which Zhen Zidan 甄子丹 [Donnie Yen] time-travelled to the present pursued by his Ming-dynasty enemies (see poster, left) – belatedly returns in Iceman: The Time Traveler 冰封侠   时空行者, which isn’t half as bad as its Mainland box office (a mere RMB34 million) and enraged netizens would have one believe. Shot at the same time but shelved for years following the first film’s poor reception (RMB143 million), this 2-D sequel is still a long way from being much good but is still perfectly entertaining in a fun, silly way. Where most of the original – based on the slapdash Hong Kong production Iceman Cometh 急冻奇侠 (1989), directed by Huo Yaoliang 霍耀良 [Clarence Fok], with Yuan Biao 元彪 and Zhang Manyu 张曼玉 [Maggie Cheung] – was set in modern-day Hong Kong, this one follows Our Hero back to the Ming dynasty, where he tries to alter history and save his native village from annihilation between being harassed by his pals-turned-enemies and various Japanese pirates.

Instead of journeyman Luo Yongchang 罗永昌 [Law Wing-cheong] at the helm, it’s fellow Hong Konger Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip] (Lost on Journey 人在囧途, 2010; The House That Never Dies 京城81号, 2014;  Cook Up a Storm 决战食神, 2017) who turns in a typically polished, good-looking product even though the script by his regular colleague, veteran Hong Kong film-maker Wen Jun 文隽 [Manfred Wong], appears to have been thrown together during a lunch break. Aside from the key cast, Hong Kong stylist Zhang Shijie 张世杰 [Stanley Cheung] and Mainland chief creative producer Huang Jianxin 黄建新, most of the other Hong Kong/Mainland tech crew are also new, but do a fine enough job, richly photographed by Hong Kong’s Chen Chuqiang 陈楚强 (Call of Heroes 危城, 2016) and veteran Li Yaohui 黎耀辉 [Lai Yiu-fai]. The action isn’t up to the standard of the first film’s (which was supervised by Zhen himself) but is okay. The biggest problem is Wen’s script, which jumps here and there like an old-style Hong Kong movie, with dialogue that’s purely functional and has much less of the humour that underscored the original. Still, given that there’s only 70 minutes or so of new plot (after deducting the opening 10 minutes that recap the first film, plus the four minutes of end titles), things keep moving across the potholes at a nippy pace.

Despite still looking trim in his early 50s, Zhen is more muted this time round, with only flashes of the original’s spoofy humour. Mainland actress Huang Shengyi 黄圣依 (Its Love 白蛇传说, 2011) has less to do, but is okay in the quieter scenes, as when showing the Ming village girls the contents of her 21st-century handbag. As the sworn brother-turned-enemy, Hong Kong veteran Ren Dahua 任达华 [Simon Yam] improves on his villainy with a darker turn; likewise, Mainland bozo comic Wang Baoqiang 王宝强 has less fooling around here (and no chicken-curry jokes). Busy Japanese veteran Kurata Yasuaki 仓田保昭 turns up as yet another bad guy – and surprisingly doesn’t even get a mention in the front titles.

CREDITS

Presented by Western Film Group (CN), Zhongmeng Century (Beijing) Investment (CN), Zhongmeng Century (Beijing) Media (CN), Goldsome Pictures (Beijing) (CN), Le Vision Pictures (Beijing) (CN), Jetsen Cultural Media Group (CN), Dongyang Jetsen Ruijixiang Film & TV Media (CN). Produced by Western Film Group (CN), Zhongmeng Century (Beijing) Media (CN).

Script: Wen Jun [Manfred Wong]. Photography: Chen Chuqiang, Li Yaohui [Lai Yiu-fai]. Editing: Zheng Weilin, Xu Hongyu [Derek Hui], Ye Wanting. Music: Jiang Hui. Art direction: Yuan Feng, Zhao Lulu (China); Li Qingyu (Hong Kong/Japan). Costumes: Zhang Shijie [Stanley Cheung]. Sound: Chen Xiaoxia, Yang Jingyi. Action: Yan Hua (China); Huang Weiliang [Jack Wong] (Hong Kong). Car stunts: Luo Lixian [Bruce Law]. Visual effects: Huang Hongda, Choi Baek-jeon, Yu Tianlong, Xie Yiwen, Kuang Zhenbang.

Cast: Zhen Zidan [Donnie Yen] (He Ying), Huang Shengyi (Guo Xiaomei), Wang Baoqiang (Sa Ao/Gou), Ren Dahua [Simon Yam] (Yuan Long/Zhang Yiming), Yu Kang (Nie Hu), Jiang Shuying (Yuniang), Bao Qijing [Paw Hee-ching] (He Ying’s mother), Hu Ming (chief eunuch), Zhuang Simin (Jacqueline), Gao Jun (Du Yuelai), Chen Huihui (Mimi), Bao Yumeng (Taoyuan village child), Wang Wenqi (Yanran), Lin Xue [Lam Suet] (Deng Yonggen), Wu Junyu (Tianqi emperor), Kurata Yasuaki (Hojo, Japanese general), Minowa Yasufumi (Japanese general), Li Xiaochuan (Xiaochuan), Lv Yilai (patriotic young man), Gao Ye (patriotic young woman), Wang Zitong (Hua), Han Zhi (Da Zhi), Chen Ziying (Da Zhi’s wife), Chen Guantai (Jiuqiansui), Jiang Shimeng (fat village girl), Yiliga’er (old sage).

Release: China, 2 Nov 2018.