The Treasure Hunter

Le Saboteur

Active member
Or, What Ever Happened to Short Round?

Despite being deep sixed by official sources, I always imagined a better ending for Short Round. Sure, he may have had to complete school but that was only so he could have his own two-fisted, white knuckle adventures! Seems that somebody in Taiwan thought so too.


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Released in 2009, The Treasure Hunter is a large scale action-adventure flick set in the deserts of Western China. Taiwanese pop sensation, Jay Chou (seen here as Kato in The Green Hornet), stars as Qiao Fei, a mysterious young adventurer, who has dedicated his life to repatriating antiquities acquired through dubious means. When a map to a fabled Lost City said to contain a giant glowing pearl turns up, it's up to Qiao Fei to team up with petty criminal Pork Chop (Eric Tsang), a secretive archeologist, and his mentor's daughter to find the city and protect its secrets from the criminal underworld.

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Director Chu Yin-ping (Kung Fu Dunk) wisely sets the action amidst the dunes of Northwest China, but quickly loses track of the proceedings. A good action sequence (with plenty of whip action) in a bar that wouldn't look out of place in a Western gets the ball rolling, but stumbles repeatedly once out of the gate. Relationships remain undefined, other seemingly plot pivotal characters show up for half a minute only to never be seen again, and it all feels rather disjointed. Which is disappointing, because if the exposition hadn't been left on the cutting room floor, it had the potential to be good.

There's an intriguing group of nomads(?) in the Sandstorm Legion and a subplot involving a previous expedition but it all acts as so much filler. It's almost as if they had the germ of an idea and decided to go ahead and film that because Chou's celebrity status in Asia would put butts in seats. Thankfully Asian audiences demand better and the movie was a box office failure.

Ultimately, 2.5 stars, thumbs down. Still, it's not terrible. The action is decent to good, the FX are generally well done for a Chinese production, and the scenery is all above par. If you have nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon, check it out on Netflix or pick it up on Amazon. It's what Short Round would want.
 
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