Review by gloria wong.

Mad Detective is the kind of unique, high-concept film that often ends up getting remade into a neutered Hollywood piece of shite, to a chorus of internet-based whining. Funnily enough in the case of Mad Detective, a remake might not be a terrible idea, since this fun little cop thriller is just short of great.

The latest collaboration from Johnny To (the prolific director who made Heroic Trio) and Wai Ka-Fai centres around Inspector Bun, a brillant (and possibly insane) 'method' detective. Bun sets the tone of the film in the first five minutes; investigating the murder of a young girl, he orders his awed assistant to zip him into a suitcase and throw it down two flights of stairs. At the bottom, after being freed from the suitcase, Bun declares, "it was the ice cream shop owner". Bun may or may not be 'blessed' with the very unique ability to see people's true selves; that, coupled with his phenomenal sense of intution, helps Bun to solve seemingly uncrackable crimes. Unfortunately (and inevitably), Bun's eccentric behaviour leads to his early 'retirement' despite his brilliance. Even more true to formula, he gets called back in a number of years later by an ambitious young cop to consult on a case that no one else can solve.

Fortunately, as in most decent genre films, formula is just a shortcut for laying groundwork to set up our expectations, only to confound them later. This setup involves a cop who's been missing for a year and a half and the brutal crime spree that the cop's gun has been linked to. The resolution to that mystery, unlike the answer to the question of whether or not Bun is delusional, gifted or both, will keep most people guessing til the end. Flawed but entertaining.

Mad Detective
Johnny To/To Kei-fung & Wai Ka-Fai | Hong Kong | 2007 | 89min

Fri. Sept. 28 | 9:30pm | Ridge
Sun. Sept. 30 | 4:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Tue. Oct. 2 | 7:00pm | Empire Granville Theatre