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Review by
Calvin
McMillin: |
Perhaps riding the recent wave
of Sixth Sense retreads, Phantom Call is yet
another movie about a man and a ghost. In the flick, Anthony
Wong plays the curiously named Lee Siu-Lung (that's Bruce
Lee to you and me), a penny-ante loan shark in need of some
quick cash. After a silly run-in with a debtor that provides
few dividends, our man "Bruce" crosses paths with
his triad superior Bill (played by perpetual heavy Ng Chi-Hung),
who promptly gives him an ultimatum to pay up, defacing poor
Bruce with red paint in the process. To make matters worse,
when Bruce gets home, he finds his wife cheating on him and,
shall we say, less than apologetic. And to top it all off,
Bruce accidentally gets himself caught up in a robbery! The
thieves, deciding Bruce has seen too much, take him out to
the woods, have him dig a hole and, well, it's bye, bye, Bruce!
With our protagonist now dead,
Sam Lee enters as Pui, a hipster doofus who's pining after
a local cake vendor named Maggie. While visiting his father's
grave, Pui stumbles upon Bruce's dropped cell phone, which
henceforth psychically connects the two. After the standard
"scary" misunderstandings, Bruce and Pui become
friends, Pui agrees to help Bruce take revenge, and the friendly
ghost consents to aid the lovelorn guy in his quest to win
Maggie away from a wealthy suitor. And, in one fell swoop,
there's the simultaneous intertwining of a basic "revenge
from the grave" plot with your typical, sappy romantic
comedy.
If you haven't guessed already, Phantom Call is more than a little screwed up. At first,
the film seems to be a commentary on the prevalence of cell
phones in our society. By the end though, the movie becomes
a meditation on the futility of revenge. But that's really
just philosophical window dressing for this would-be horror
comedy. I say "would-be" because the movie's not
scary in the least, nor was it probably intended to be (though
seeing Sam Lee in drag is nothing less than horrifying). Phantom
Call is not that funny either; the humor is either nonexistent
or just plain bizarre. Consider this non-sequitor: shortly
after Pui finds Bruce's cell phone, a young woman who randomly
appears in the film gets possessed by the spirit of the real
Bruce Lee and promptly begins mimicking the legendary fighter.
Is Anthony Wong's character Bruce supposed to be the reincarnation
of the Little Dragon? Nope, the identical names are just a
sorry excuse for a groan-inducing Bruce Lee parody—which,
by the way, is never supported by anything else in the film.
In other words, don't bother
trying to gleam any higher purpose out of this film because Phantom Call is really just a chance for Sam Lee and
Anthony Wong to mug for the camera while earning a paycheck.
The film makes for light viewing and can be somewhat enjoyable
if you've gone in with lowered expectations, but don't expect
putting it on any comedy "ten best lists." And if Phantom Call ends up on your DVD shelf, be warned.
Next to your copies of John Woo crime dramas and Jackie Chan
action flicks, you'll have a real phantom menace on your hands…to
your film collection's credibility. (Calvin McMillin 2003) |
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