The Treasure Hunter

Rating: 2.2/10

Genre: Action

Overall value for money and time: 0.5/10

A rumoured city of treasures lying in the midst of the northwest desert is supposedly protected by the 'sandstorm riders' led by the 'eagle of the sand'. An immoral group of treasure hunters decided to kidnap the precious daughter of the mapkeeper to force the map over from him...

If there's one word to sum this movie up, it would simply be "Horrendous". There's nothing likeable about the movie, I'm so disappointed with it that I can't even be bothered to get the proper terms of the characters right. After this film, I've decided to stay away from Hong Kong movies for a while and definitely a "NO NO" to any future Kevin Chu's films - I'm surprised he spent so much on publicity and had the audacity to market the line "a Kevin Chu film". One thing's for sure, this movie is extremely damaging to his reputation and he should seriously consider retiring after this...

The 2.2 rating is constituted solely to the casting and CG - 0.8 Jay Chou, 0.8 Lin ChiLing, 0.6 CG. Mind you, it is the very presence of Jay Chou and Lin ChiLing which gives the rating and not their acting, because throughout the movie, the demise of it is also contributed by bad acting. Bad acting on all casts, cheesy and lame scripts, bumpy and illogical storyline (flow was extremely bad) and a total insult to anyone's intelligence and a utter waste of time and money. In the midst of it, I even gave up false laughing and was trying so hard to stay awake. Unengaging, boring and totally uninteresting. Fake, Forced, Flop and Fumbly.

*Spoilers ahead* First off, the mystical beings which were created from "magic" felt so unprofessional and dumpy-like - 2 scenes in particular, one which duelled Jay Chou at the start which showed it moving around like a slow, lost man in armoured suit and the second where the group of sandstorm riders were trying frantically to slow down a moving vehicle. That second scene itself didn't make sense with all the well-organised dynamite bombings even though Eric Tsang supposedly threw them out 1 at a time.

Secondly, there were too many forced, awkward conversations between the two leads which made it feel too cheesy and lame. Absolute bad acting. Even if you're a fan of either, there is no way you can forgive their acting... aggravated by bad scripting and possibly bad directing.

Thirdly, the last scene emphasised too much on the story of Master whatever-his-name-is (Chen Daoming)... almost felt like it was the "real treasure" and made it too drama... and it wasn't even a surprise or a twist cos' it was made so obvious throughout the movie. The rationale of conjuring spirits, possessing Lin ChiLing (making her look utterly ridiculous when the possessed person could have been the Master) and ultimately disintegrating the priced pearl didn't make sense to me.

Flow of the plot was horrible with random lines, random happenings and no follow-up... There was a mummy-like character at the start but he disappeared after that; The chief of the sandstorm riders had a coarse and low voice at the start but after her mask was slashed off (identity disclosed, woohoo, a female!! shocking?? what's the rationale?), no longer put it back on; The immoral treasure hunter met up with his men at some traders market (that convenient?); Everyone entered the city of treasures after a sandstorm (no accountability), sudden unrelated scenes of kid playing spanish guitar in the background during a duel (created a low budget lame feel); flashback to a "lost" drunk/confession scene which no one knew about and wouldn't care about (outrageous flow)... basically, an endless list of "why you should not catch this movie" to prevent ending off the year 2009 with curses and swears.

Without a doubt one of the worst movies I've watched so far, if I could trade my time lost with the same amount I paid for that movie, I would do it 10 times over. Stay away from this movie even if you're a fan of Jay Chou and Lin ChiLing because the only "treasure" you will discover after this movie, is how precious your free time can be...