Tam
always kept a good head on his shoulders, until he was diagnosed with terminal
cancer. Now he keeps his head on the body of a murdered assassin, thanks to the
breakthrough technology of “Uncle” Ma (who technically isn’t either). That
muscle memory is a trip, but it will be awkward when the dead man’s nasty
associates will come looking for him in Victor Vu’s Loi Bao (trailer
here),
which screened during the 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Like
Condorman’s alter ego, Tam used his superhero graphic novels as his own wish fulfilment
fantasies. He also wrote bizarrely tragic historical epics about fathers dying
in battle that will be little comfort to his wife and pudgy son as they wrestle
with his prognosis. However, Uncle Ma has the technology. He just needs a
viable body, which very conveniently delivers itself, along with a hail of
bullets from his murderers. It is a good thing Tam and Ma happened to be in the
right forest at the right time, because they are able to sneak the body back to
his lab for a head switcheroo.
Suddenly,
Tam knows Kung Fu, but his hands need to relearn how to draw. He also might be
getting flashes of the previous tenant’s memories, especially when he visits a
pretty young emergency room doctor after some of his early heroics. Inevitably,
Tam starts saving children from burning buildings and the like. He also does a
lot of parkour. However, his new body won’t be so much fun when an organ trafficking
gangster starts threatening Tam’s family.
Since
Charlie Nguyen ran afoul of the government censors, Vu has become a veritable
one-man Vietnamese film industry. He has been working his way through the catalog
of genres, so it was probably inevitable that he would give superheroes a go. Frankly,
the action in Loi Bao is pleasingly
gritty compared to the films coming from the Mouse House and Bugs Bunny’s corporate
masters, including quite a bit of slickly choreographed gunplay.
The
biggest drawback is Vu’s predilection for melodrama, which remains undiminished
in Loi Bao. Like clockwork, the film
comes to a screeching halt so Tam’s wife can lecture him about calling undue attention
to himself or suspect him of getting up to some hanky-panky with Dr.
Young-and-Available. Seriously, give us all a break. On the other hand, there
are at least two wildly over-the-top third act revelations that perfectly
reflect the spirit of superhero comic books.
Cuong
Seven is just okay as Tam, but he is definitely at his best performing action
director Vincent Wang’s fight scenes. The entire ensemble is rather uneven, but
Ngoc Anh Vu is the clear, unchallenged standout as Dr. Temptation.
