Rape Trap
Reviewed by YTSL
There have been certain Hong Kong movie actresses
and actors -- most notably, Michelle Yeoh, Charlie Yeung, Jet Li and Takeshi
Kaneshiro -- who caught my eye in the very first film of theirs that I
viewed. For others (including Brigitte Lin -- really, truly!), it’s
been a case of my having taken a while to develop an appreciation of their
now patently obvious abilities. The popular TVB star who this (re)viewer
thought possessed an immensely electrifying presence in “Love and Sex among
the Ruins” -- and is the primary reason for my electing to check out this
Category IIB offering with the kind of exploitative sounding English language
title that makes one think that it’d be a sure fire bet to a Category III
work -- is one such individual who I have latterly recognized as falling
into that second category.
As things stand, the largely pedestrianly put
together RAPE TRAP owes much of what watchability it has to Ada Choi’s
against-the-odds compelling portrayal of a young woman who had the misfortune
of loving a miserably spineless man who is not above persuading his girlfriend
to enter into a paper marriage with a stranger in return for a quick and
theoretically no further strings attached $600,000 payment. To be
sure, there are bigger names, like Anthony Wong (whose trouble causing
character is referred to as Ted Huang in this effort’s frequently frustratingly
typo ridden -- cf. there being many an occasion when someone is asked to
“keep clam” rather than calm... -- English subtitles) and arguably also
Michael Tse (who has a pretty thankless role as the physically attractive
but otherwise quite contemptible Liang Chun Hwa), in the cast of this1998
movie.
For some people, there might be the additional
draw of RAPE TRAP’s possessing supporting appearances by former kung fu
movie star, Eddy Ko (who plays a police Captain Keng Tung Wai) and the
she of the infamous “Mystical Breasts”, Diana Pang Dan (as an unnamed but
quite noticeable good time gal). However, the duo who look to have
been disproportionately charged with infusing the seriously unsophisticated
film’s story with a significant amount of often anguished humanity along
with some degree of sincerity and sense of common decency are Ada Choi
(whose Li Shan Shan character is the work’s most put upon -- plus major
sympathy-earning -- as well as main personality) and the surprisingly effective
Woody Chan (who essays a well meaning lawyer by the name of Chen Chi Pang).
The far from high budget or concept RAPE TRAP
begins with a scene -- that takes place in Mainland China proper, like
the rest of this Steve Cheng directed effort -- in which she who soon is
revealed to be sought after by the police as well as is called Li Shan
Shan is shown getting some of her blood transfused to an unconscious man
who later gets identified as a Hong Kong businessman named Ted Huang.
After spotting some of those who were looking to track her down, the desperate
acting woman bolts out of the hospital, hops on a motorbike, and -- with
the cops in hot pursuit -- speeds off on a perilous path that ends with
her meeting with an accident, being thrown into the sea, getting washed
ashore, having a head injury and waking up in (another) hospital with amnesia.
As if this was not already a bad enough situation to find oneself in, as
we get to the movie’s seven minute mark, this vulnerable -- and hardly
stereotypically criminal -- appearing individual is seen plus heard getting
informed by a judge that “You shall be hanged at 7 a.m. tomorrow”.
By way of a flashback format, Shan Shan is shown
during what initially looked to be happier times but are quickly revealed
to be disturbed by her unworthy boyfriend’s dissatisfaction at being the
furniture shop owner’s assistant rather than the (co-)restaurateur that
he seeks to be. Despite Chun Hwa telling the supposed love of his
life that “I don’t want you to suffer”, he gets Shan Shan involved in an
illegal scheme that placed her in a position to easily fall victim to a
RAPE TRAP hatched by the devious man that she had fairly innocently sought
to help. And sure enough, this -- which, it ought to be noted, was
not shot in all that tantalizing a manner (and thus is not a scene that
I can envision satisfying violence and/or sex craving smut-hounds) -- is
what happens.
Understandably traumatized by the ill doing that
was wrought unto her, Shan Shan gets her woes considerably added to as
a result of getting accused, and then found guilty (despite the efforts
of her caring legal counsel), of attempting to murder her rapist.
At this juncture, there should be little doubt that RAPE TRAP adheres more
to the conventions of a melodramatic crime drama than any other kind of
film. Accordingly, it is only to be expected that this eventful --
but actually not all that exciting... -- effort is one whose main tale
would encompass some salient as well as sudden twist that will reveal itself
just before the movie draws to a close. In a better work, this structural
maneuver would bring about a satisfying tying up of remaining loose ends
or be the bonus flourish on an already niftily bowed package. Tellingly,
this often disappointingly shoddy offering proved to, instead, possess
the sort of concluding narrative turn that I found myself greeting with
some incredulity plus even ridicule, and served to confirm how pointless
as well as slight it is.
My rating for the film: 5.5