Snakehead

Directed by Evan Jackson Leong, Snakehead follows Shuya Chang’s Sister Tse as she rises through the ranks within a New York City crime family led by Jade Wu’s tough-as-nails Dai Mah. First-time filmmaker Leong, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a rough-around-the-edges and predominantly underwhelming piece of work that contains few, if any, elements designed to capture and sustain the viewer’s interest, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the movie’s arms-length atmosphere is compounded by central character that couldn’t possibly be less engaging or sympathetic. The rote, by-the-numbers narrative is, as a result, unable to make the visceral and exciting impact for which Leong is clearly (and aggressively) striving, which is especially problematic within a high-octane second half that’s been suffused with all number of larger-than-life, over-the-top action beats and sequences. By the time the hopelessly anticlimactic final stretch rolls around, Snakehead has cemented its place as a seriously lackluster endeavor that succeeds as neither a gritty thriller nor a searing human-trafficking drama.

*1/2 out of ****