Agent Mr. Chan 棟篤特工 (2018) - Hong Kong
Reviewed by Andrew Chan
It’s been almost too long since stand up comedian Dayo Wong appeared on the big screen. Most of them were cheap and disposable films that bombed out in the local box office. However with Agent Mr. Chan this is about to change. Opening during the lunar Chinese new year period, the film already grossed over $20 million HK during the 4 days holiday. Whilst there are plenty of laughter and laugh out loud moments, Wong manages to steer clear of genre cliches and produces something awkwardly enjoyable if not entirely successful.
Dayo Wong stars as agent Mr. Chan who uses woman as a means for greater world peace. Charmaine Sheh plays one of those woman who ended up becoming Police Commissioner and eventually the Secretary of Justice. Sheh have wonderful and natural chemistry with Wong as the duo stare in the successful TVB drama You’re Hired, almost a decade ago. The film is basically how Sheh takes revenge on Wong, but end up requiring his help to solve the mysterious case of the truth defining drug HyDroGen. Many HK stars appears to support Wong and most notably Sammi Cheng and Lawrence Cheng simply steals the scenes in their cameos.
All in all, Agent Mr. Chan is very much a lunar new year film that follows the over the top route without being entirely offensive. There are scenes to be enjoyed and even some moments worthy of laughters, but ultimately as a film it’s incoherent and the plot is pretty much non-existent. Still, the film marks the making of Dayo Wong as a bankable box office comedy star and that’s probably the most important accomplishment! Let’s hope the sequel is better than the first.
I rated it 3/5
Coming soon on DVD and Blu Ray at: NeoFilmShop.com
