Ocean Flame

Ocean Flame is that rare cinematic endeavor that’s almost entirely devoid of positive attributes, and it certainly goes without saying that the film ultimately establishes itself as a monumentally tedious piece of work that’ll leave most viewers shaking uncontrollably with anger. The utter worthlessness of the movie is established early on, as filmmaker Liu Fendou’s uncommon incompetence is firmly in evidence right from the very first shot – with his subsequent emphasis on pretentious and downright frustrating directorial choices certainly cementing his place as a talentless hack of epic proportions. Yet even if one were willing to overlook Fendou’s meandering sensibilities and hopelessly bland visuals, Ocean Flame would still find itself saddled with an insurmountable obstacle in the form of star Liao Fan’s astonishingly inept performance. The actor, cast as a gritty underworld type with a penchant for cruelty, proves utterly unable to convincingly step into the shoes of his tough-guy character, with the majority of his painfully overwrought performance boiling down to a series of hard-boiled poses and facial expressions. There’s never the feeling that this guy is a real threat to anybody, and it’s subsequently impossible to take him seriously even for one second (this proves especially problematic when his character comes face-to-face with the film’s few convincingly menacing figures). The movie, which goes from tedious to interminable virtually immediately, is certainly not worth of its place within TIFF’s Vanguard program, and, judging by the way it cleared out a fairly crowded press screening, it’ll surely slink back into obscurity where it justifiably belongs.

no stars out of ****