The Touch (2002)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Peter Pau

Writers:

Julien Carbon (writer)
Laurent Courtiaud (writer)

Release Date:

1 August 2002 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Adventure | Action | Romance

Plot:

A sister and brother, the last heirs of a family of acrobats, are called upon by a Buddhist monk sect to retrieve an artifact that their ancestors have protected throughout the ages. |

Plot Keywords:

Artifact | Acrobat | Martial Arts | Buddhism | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Michelle Yeoh	...	Pak Yin Fay
Ben Chaplin	...	Eric
Richard Roxburgh	...	Karl
Sihung Lung	...	The Monk-Dun Huang
Brandon Chang	...	Pak Yeuk Tong
Margaret Wang	...	Lily
Dane Cook	...	Bob
Emmanuel Lanzi	...	Draco
Kenneth Tsang	...	Ping
Gabriel Harrison	...	Sam (as Gabriel Hoi)
Winston Chao	...	Yin's Father
Zhenghai Kou	...	Silvio
Liu Chang Sheng	...	Pang
Hua Qin	...	Fat-Wah
Sua Lang Rao Deng	...	The monk - 700 Yrs. Ago

Also Known As:

Tian mai chuan qi (China: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence.

Runtime:

China:103 min

Country:

China | Hong Kong | Taiwan | Japan

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

Aruze Corporation

Quotes:

Eric: [to Karl] She says she'd gonna shove the diamond so far up your ass, it'll take a team of proctologists in scuba gear three weeks to find it.

A Good Idea Gone Bad

I guess it was inevitable that someone would remake INDIANA JONES with a female in the lead. Then again, American TV has been doing this for a few years now, what with RELIC HUNTER and the Angelina Jolie movie TOMB RAIDER.

Essentially a starring vehicle for producer Michelle Yeoh, THE TOUCH isn't all bad. Yeoh is good as the Indiana Jones wannabe, and Ben Chaplin is not half bad as her love interest/adopted brother. The inclusion of the two siblings, though, brings the whole thing down.

Also, a finale involving heavy CGI and a lot of ridiculous wireworks sinks the movie. INDIANA JONES was immensely popular, and it didn't need flaming arrows shooting all over the place or floors being engulfed by a sea of flames. In the end, the movie was just too bloated for its own good.

5 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie or full-length reviews of other foreign films)