Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Saving Mr. Wu Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 5, 2016

Is there something in the air engendering films about actors kidnapped and taken hostage? The Coen Brothers took a relatively whimsical approach with this kind of odd subject matter with their recent Hail, Caesar! , a film which touched on several interesting ideas about politics and the film industry, even if it never truly explored any of them in any great detail. The Coens' odd sensibility provided their typical attention toward production design if perhaps a slight deficit in the laughs department (admittedly I was laughing helplessly at the silly but hilarious vignette featuring Frances McDormand as the film editor having an “Isadora Duncan” moment with her Steenbeck). The Coens’ fictionalized tale may have played things ostensibly for laughs, or at least gentle amusement, but Saving Mr. Wu is based on a real life event that saw Asian actor Wu Ruofo abducted in 2004, which is played in a deliberately gritty and relatively realistic style in the film. Structurally the film is fairly rote, with the abduction placed up front before the audience really has a grasp as to what exactly is going on, and then after Wu (and another victim) are “safely” ensconced as hostages, with a series of flashbacks providing context and additional information. Saving Mr. Wu may not really push the envelope in any meaningful way, but it’s well crafted and often rather tense, as Wu realizes that his captors have no real regard for the outcome other than for the bucks they may rake in as ransom.

The real life Wu plays a supporting role in this film, but the “character” of Wu is handled by Andy Lau. Wu (this and following referents are about the character, not the real life actor) is a successful and well known actor in the Asian film industry and is at a celebratory party as the film opens. He has a kind of bizarre interchange with some policemen, or at least guys who say they’re policemen, even if Wu suspects something is a little “off” about the encounter. When Wu starts to question the guys, the gloves come off (metaphorically and actually), and Wu is suddenly roughed up a little bit and taken prisoner.

Within moments the film starts employing what might be termed a “nesting doll” strategy in terms of interlocked flashbacks. The timeline in Saving Mr. Wu is extremely fluid, ping ponging back, further back, and forward at a moment’s notice, in a kind of freewheeling approach that is one part The Usual Suspects, another part Memento. For instance when harried police investigator Cao Gang (the real life Wu Ruofo) asks one of the bad guys about a cache of weapons that’s been found, one flashback quickly details the discovery of the guns, and then another almost immediately branches off detailing how the bad guys actually obtained them. As such, at least portions of Saving Mr. Wu play out as a series of interlocked vignettes, something that can tend to give the overall narrative arc a bit of a lurching quality.

If The Usual Suspects played with the audience’s perception of the “acting” abilities of Verbal Kint, Saving Mr. Wu makes no such similar pretense, and in fact openly indulges in the gambit that Wu understands his predicament and realizes a bit of performing may in fact help him extricate himself (and his fellow captive) from it. That then tends to play out in a series of sparring interchanges with bad guy Zhang Hua (Wang Qingyuan) who has already made it clear he’s in this for the money and couldn’t care less about the ultimate outcome in terms of the victims’ “health” at the end of the enterprise. There are therefore two different cat and mouse games at play throughout much of Saving Mr. Wu, the one between Zhang Hua and Wu, and another between the cops and Zhang Hua, as the police sort through sometimes vague clues in order to piece together what’s happened and where exactly the bad guys have the hostages stashed away.

What’s kind of interesting about Saving Mr. Wu is how it builds tension in a frankly traditional action-adventure ambience without relying very much on big set pieces to up the adrenaline ante. The film is actually surprisingly talky, again like The Usual Suspects, though the handheld camera style and a tendency to rely on rapid fire editing gives the film a brisk feel nonetheless. The perhaps overly convoluted structure is overtly theatrical in a way and will perhaps detract from the story’s forward momentum, at least for some, tending to distract from the “countdown” aspect (the hostages will probably be meeting their fate in a supposed ninety minute deadline conceit). The whole countdown aspect encounters detours anyway simply due to this very structure which tends to dart to and fro as it slowly but surely fills in the missing pieces of how the situation came to be and what exactly the villains are “really” out to accomplish.

Saving Mr. Wu offers a nice showcase for Andy Lau, who seems to be matriculating more and more into substantial character parts and away from from “rock ‘em sock ‘em” action hero types. His Wu is a smart cookie who nonetheless starts to give in to increasing feelings of panic as his predicament escalates, or at least isn’t ameliorated right away. While the film’s intentionally dispersed structure tends to work against an organic understanding of this, or in fact any, character in the film, Lau’s nicely modulated performance anchors things as best as they can be, given the roiling waters Saving Mr. Wu explores. This is an action film without a surplus of actual action, and the fact that it succeeds so surprisingly well is a testament to Lau’s believability as well as the taut direction of Ding Shen.

Saving Mr. Wu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Saving Mr. Wu is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Once again the IMDb is strangely silent on what camera was used for this shoot, but this has a typical digital look, one that tends to offer a kind of hazy miasma a lot of the time since so much of the film was shot either at night or at best in very dimly lit environments. Detail levels are still generally quite commendable, though blacks aren't "milky" so much as "pea soup-y", often tending toward a kind of green-yellow look that often sucks at least a bit of detail out of a lot of shots. Director Ding Sheng favors "jiggly cam" throughout the presentation, something else that tends to give at least the perception of softness, since the frame is so variable and it's hard to get a "lock" on fine detail as a result. On the flip side, Sheng also favors close-ups, sometimes at extreme levels, and that proclivity tends to support detail, especially when the camera calms down and remains stationary.

Saving Mr. Wu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps because Saving Mr. Wu tends to shy away from "slam bang" action elements, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in Mandarin) isn't quite as bombastic as some might expect (or at least hope). That said, there's quite consistent immersion at play, with urban noises dotting the surrounds when the film ventures out and about, and even the confined locales of the hostages' lair providing discrete placement of ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and is well prioritized, though again it's frequently not in "competition" with other, noisier elements. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range reasonably wide despite the lack of over the top action sequences.

Saving Mr. Wu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Mr. Wu offers the following interviews:

  Andy Lau (1080i; 3:08)

  Director Ding Sheng (1080i; 3:05)

  Liu Ye (1080i; 2:56)

  Wang Qianyuan (1080i; 3:01)

• Deleted Scenes

  50 Grand (1080p; 00:50)

  Loyal (1080p; 00:44)

  Girlfriend (1080p; 00:25)

  Grenade (1080p; 1:06)

  Headshot (1080p; 00:41)

  Labor Camp (1080p; 00:38)

  Paparazzi (1080p; 00:52)

  Police Story (1080p; 00:30)

  Red Socks (1080p; 00:40)

• Trailer (1080p; 1:43)

Saving Mr. Wu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those going into Saving Mr. Wu expecting a traditional Asian action blockbuster, the film probably won't provide the requisite adrenaline rush. This is a slower building property, one that builds suspense and tension without resorting to huge action set pieces. It's a talky film, and one with a somewhat thorny structure, but it's often riveting, and Lau is excellent as an actor under duress. While the fact that Wu obviously survived his ordeal, as evidenced by the fact that he appears in this film, might imply there's nothing much to worry about in terms of the ultimate outcome, the film manages to make things surprisingly intense at times. Technical merits are generally strong, and Saving Mr. Wu comes Recommended.