David Stratton said before the movie that this was film noir Hong Kong style and its main theme was the paranoia of the decade leading up to the Chinese Takeover of Hong Kong. The movie was very dark and there was a feeling of hopelessness running through the movie, but I am not sure that the paranoia is the major theme. Rather I think it is the hopelessness of life as the inevitable comes closer.
To the characters of the movie, the handing over of Hong Kong to China is like death. It is something that has to be done and it is something that they cannot escape. They are not paranoid, but rather fearful, and this fear manifests in the desire to be secure. The handover creates a sense of insecurity within the characters of the movie, and as such they will resort to anything to escape it. The main character seeks to go with his estranged wife who is emigrating to Canada, while others have resorted to lucrative drug deals to gain enough money to escape.
The movie is also about escaping. The two main characters are trying to escape Hong Kong and their fate. The corrupt homicide squad are dealing with drugs to rake in enough money to escape, while the other two, who are being hunted down by the Hong Kong authorities, want to escape to the golden triangle so as to flee the persecution that will come on them. The two characters are a political CID officer and an assassin. The assassin was hired by the police to kill one of their own because she had discovered too much. The police were then going to kill her because they did not want any witnesses. The CID officer, whose wife was murdered, gets caught up in the affair when he captures the assassin. They decide to kill him as well because he knows too much. As such the two are forced together and to rely upon each other to survive. It is not two innocent people trying to bring justice; the assassin is clearly guilty. As such she is an anti-hero. She is flawed in the fact that she is guilty of her crimes and there is no justice that can help her. Merely by associating with her, the CID officer is also guilty. He has to turn her in, but if he does he is likely to be killed as well. Either way he is trapped. He seeks revenge for the murder of his wife, but cannot fulfill it because to do so would be to remove any hope of escaping.
The ideas that come up in the movie are very good, but I feel that the structure does not do it justice. Unfortunately, being in Chinese, we loose a lot in the translation, and thus we cannot see the anguish that the CID officer must face. I did not find the structure of the movie supported the ideas that I discussed fully. That is where the movie fell down, I could see the ideas on the surface, but the characterisation and the fear that is supposed to accompany that is not seen. As such, On the Run turns out to be a simple Hong Kong action flick.
To the characters of the movie, the handing over of Hong Kong to China is like death. It is something that has to be done and it is something that they cannot escape. They are not paranoid, but rather fearful, and this fear manifests in the desire to be secure. The handover creates a sense of insecurity within the characters of the movie, and as such they will resort to anything to escape it. The main character seeks to go with his estranged wife who is emigrating to Canada, while others have resorted to lucrative drug deals to gain enough money to escape.
The movie is also about escaping. The two main characters are trying to escape Hong Kong and their fate. The corrupt homicide squad are dealing with drugs to rake in enough money to escape, while the other two, who are being hunted down by the Hong Kong authorities, want to escape to the golden triangle so as to flee the persecution that will come on them. The two characters are a political CID officer and an assassin. The assassin was hired by the police to kill one of their own because she had discovered too much. The police were then going to kill her because they did not want any witnesses. The CID officer, whose wife was murdered, gets caught up in the affair when he captures the assassin. They decide to kill him as well because he knows too much. As such the two are forced together and to rely upon each other to survive. It is not two innocent people trying to bring justice; the assassin is clearly guilty. As such she is an anti-hero. She is flawed in the fact that she is guilty of her crimes and there is no justice that can help her. Merely by associating with her, the CID officer is also guilty. He has to turn her in, but if he does he is likely to be killed as well. Either way he is trapped. He seeks revenge for the murder of his wife, but cannot fulfill it because to do so would be to remove any hope of escaping.
The ideas that come up in the movie are very good, but I feel that the structure does not do it justice. Unfortunately, being in Chinese, we loose a lot in the translation, and thus we cannot see the anguish that the CID officer must face. I did not find the structure of the movie supported the ideas that I discussed fully. That is where the movie fell down, I could see the ideas on the surface, but the characterisation and the fear that is supposed to accompany that is not seen. As such, On the Run turns out to be a simple Hong Kong action flick.