Raped by an Angel 5:
The Final Judgement
Sometimes there is an implicit understanding between
a filmmaker and the audience about what a film should contain. This is
particularly true when it comes to a series of films whether it is Die
Hard, Scream or in this case the Raped by an Angel series. There is a formula
that the audience expects to be followed by the filmmaker. It may be trite,
it may be predictable – but there are rules to be followed.
The expectations from the audience for a Raped
by an Angel film are not especially high – some titillation, some non-PC
comedy, a sense of the absurd, a pinch of tension and for the rapist to
have a bloody, deadly ending awaiting him. Certainly every film does contain
a rape – but for the most part they are simply cinematic devices in which
to build a ridiculous plot around and feature some beautiful women. Little
more is asked from the audience than this.
What the audience is not asking for is to be continually
hit over the head with a story that is amazingly down beat and depressing,
that contains no humor and manages not to titillate at all. By the time
the end credits began scrolling down I felt numb and tired and wondered
why I had spent money and time to watch this – there must be medication
that works a lot faster than this in bringing you down.
One might expect more from a young and seductive
cast that includes Pinky Cheung, Gigi Lai, Kelly Lam, Anita Lee and Li
Fei, but director Billy Tang (Run and Kill, Red to Kill, Sexy and Dangerous)
simply misses the boat. He veers too much towards Red to Kill territory
when he should have been aiming for a more lighthearted Sexy and Dangerous
approach.
In the opening scene a young girl is raped by
an unseen assailant and her grandmother – Helen Law Lan – hires Gigi Lai
to find the culprit and bring him to justice. Gigi rounds up four other
women to help her out whom all have one thing in common – they are all
rape victims - which allows Tang to utilize a number of grim flashbacks.
Gigi is a psychiatrist, Kelly a lawyer, Pinky a street vendor, Anita a
Mamasan at a Hostess bar and Li Fei is a judo instructor – but none of
them are particularly bright it seems. Not only does it take them forever
to figure it out (when it takes the audience only a glance), but when Gigi
finally confronts the rapist with her accusations she does so in an unprotected
environment and seems quite surprised when this madman starts strangling
her.
The rapist – Jimmy Wong (no big spoiler believe
me) – is the coke snorting, Nazi worshipping brother of the girl and so
he knows immediately that the girls are after him. So he begins playing
with their heads – seducing them, playing them against one another, raping
them and killing some of them. Yes – not all five of these sweeties make
it to the end. The film plays out like falling into the black hole of someone’s
disturbed psyche.
On the positive side! – the girls look lovely
(while they are alive) - and Pinky has quite an in-depth tongue session
with another female (could this be where her nickname originates!). From
Sanney’s site I got the following quote from Pinky “That was the first
time I've ever kissed a woman on film. She is a Taiwanese actress.
Because of a language barrier, we didn’t communicate too well. She was
avoiding me and we ending up having to re-shoot the scene four times before
getting it”
And its nice seeing Li Fei once again. I think
she has a strong resemblance to a young Kara Hui Ying-Hung - and from what
I have seen of her in a few films, she has some of Kara’s action moves
as well. Now she just needs a better vehicle than this to present them.
(All pictures taken from Sanney's
site)
My rating for this film: As much as I hate giving
it to a Pinky film - 4.5