I was given the chance to sit down to watch the 2015 "Saving Mr. Wu" (ak "Jie jiu Wu xian sheng") here in 2020, and seeing that the movie starred none other than Andy Lau, of course I jumped at the chance to sit down to watch it.

Granted, as I hadn't even heard about the movie prior to sitting down on the couch to watch it, I didn't know what I was in for here. So I will say that writers Sheng Ding and Alex Jia had every opportunity to impress me with this movie.

However, while "Saving Mr. Wu" was watchable, I have to admit that I found the movie to be really slow paced and tedious. For a crime movie of this sort, then not a whole lot of excitement was going on throughout the course of the movie. And it made the movie feel unfathomably long and very slow paced.

Sure, if you are into crime stories where the storytelling is the main aspect of the movie, one that is driven by a thoroughly written plot and realism, then I suppose you'll find enjoyment in "Saving Mr. Wu". However, for me, this movie was just a mediocre crime movie that offered very little entertainment for me, aside from Andy Lau's performance. But then again, he always delivers good performance, so there's that.

I wasn't impressed with this movie, and I was ready to give up on the movie two times through the ordeal. The first time I was at my rope's end was around 45 minutes into the movie, and then again at around 70 minutes in. It was seriously an ordeal and a struggle to sit through the movie. But I did manage.

My rating of "Saving Mr. Wu" lands on a very, very bland and mediocre five out of ten stars.

"Ding sets the sights on rendering the film a cinema vérité patina with frenetic editing, veridical setting and whip-panning immediacy, but the police procedural seems sloppy and too efficient, though Liu Ye is laudable as a diligent police vice captain who knows his stuff. Hemmed in by a noble fidelity to the facts, the game of cops and robbers is one-sidedly expedited, the thrill of the chase is deficient, and suffixing a fictive eleventh's hour rescue can only do a disservice to the dictates of fidelity, we all know the denouement, why bother?"

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

A huge movie star gets kidnapped for ransom and the police must find him before time is up.

At first I though the movie was going to be similar JCVD, and it does have elements of that in the movie, with Andy Lau playing a actor who could have easily gotten himself out of the situation he was in if he was one of the characters he plays, but instead he's stuck in a house with a series of men who, though love him as an actor, seriously mean business.

I loved the relationship Lau has with a fellow kidnapper. As Mr. Wu, he attempts to keep up his Star power persona to make him more claim. It was brilliantly done.

For the most part, the movie was about the crime unit assigned to find Mr. Wu with the missing person's clock ticking. The guy who they got to play the leader of the kidnappers really took over the screen. it was all about him, and he made an impressive villain to watch.

Overall, I have to recommend this police drama. Impressively done.