Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “The Mummy”, “Tomb Raider”, “Hidalgo”

In Kevin Chu's "Treasure Hunter", "The Mummy" gets an Asian treatment as Taiwanese tomb raiders go to Mainland China and frolic about in the deep desert to cook up some Indiana Jones adventure. To drive the picture, the "Kung Fu Dunk" director re-teams with regional pop prince Jay Chou and ropes in supermodel-turned-actress Lin Chi Ling, who gets another big picture after debuting in John Woo's "Red Cliff".

Poor Jay Chou. Fans mother him and keep him protected, as his crossover pet project as a big screen actor has not been easy, considering most older audiences won't give him the time of day. Since his relatively successful turn in "Secret", the talented musician can't get any respect for starring in "Kung Fu Dunk" and nobody likes the fact that he's Kato in the upcoming "Green Hornet" either instead of Stephen Chow. Media spotlight is heavy on a such a marketable star and many say the man (with a facial expressions range that is notoriously limited) ought to stick to what he knows best.

Perhaps it's then a case of low expectations because Mr. Chou does manage to do better this time around. He's a devil-may-care, bike-riding cowboy drifter who's also the guardian of an ancient city. Armed with kungfu and long flowing rebel hair, he also finds time to fall in love with a young author played by a vibrant Lin Chi Ling. Throw in a mysterious treasure map and some generic villains and you get a full feature with enough visual rewards to make it worth your time.

However, the obviously derivative elements in "Treasure Hunter" won't find too much support among more discerning adventure movie fans. The hybrid production set combines worlds that are both ancient and modern, so the movie can be very unsettling at times. Still no fan of Chou's will give this a miss and his star appeal will be enough to elevate this to some level of box office success. Perhaps in territories like China where the influx of Hollywood movies are capped and governed by law, everyone will think that Jay Chou cracking a whip is the birth of a new hero icon. The rest are probably just happy that he didn't spot a fedora.


Cinema Online, 23 December 2009