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Victim

1999 1h 43m Mystery & Thriller List
Reviews 83% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
What starts off as a kidnapping becomes something far more horrific than detective Pit (Tony Leung Ka Fai) could ever have expected. Manson Ma (Ching Wan Lau), a computer programmer, is reported missing by his family, only to turn up in a house that was once the site of a gruesome murder-suicide. With the perpetrator still on the loose, Pit keeps an eye on Ma and his wife, Amy (Amy Kwok). The programmer, meanwhile, starts exhibiting strange behaviors, as if something inside him has changed.

Audience Reviews

View All (5) audience reviews
Audience Member Interesting concept of adding horror film elements to heist film genre. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member An interesting Ringo Lam thriller, but not that well paced.  I did like how Lam set it up as a horror film before getting into the main plot of the film.  Some nice violence too. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Grosse attente face à ce film, forcément. Prenez Ringo LAM à la mise en scène, avec en tête d'affiche Tony LEUNG Ka-Fai et LAU Ching-Wan avec en bonus une musique de Raymond WONG, ça ne peut que créer des attentes justifiées. Comment Ringo lam s'en sort-il? Eh bien justement en faisant du Ringo Lam pur jus, où l'on reconnait la fascination du réalisateur pour dépeindre des personnages enfermés dans leur psychologie, se laissant descendre le long du fil des événements comme une araignée qui ne descend son fil que dans la mesure où elle le sécrète à chaque instant. Et tous le métier de Ringo Lam est là pour consolider cette atmosphère de renfermement, grace à des plans assez courts et un montage qui rend les transitions d'une précison quasi chirurgicale. Si l'on est assez proche de Full Contact ou de Full Alert, Victim se caractèrise par son entrée en matière bien particulière, laissant planer un soupçon de fantastique, et une des réussites du film est de nous convaincre que la réalité est à la fois bien plus simple et plus effrayante. Comme souvent chez Ringo Lam, il n'y a pas de position morale irrévocable, et à cet égard le traitement du personnage de Tony Leung KF est bien révélateur de la frontière extrèment floue qui sépare le bien et le mal. Mais peut-être que ce film reste avant tout marqué par le jeu de Lau Ching-Wan, qui nous donne là ce qui est à ce jour son dernier grand rôle dramatique. Jeffy cinemasie.com Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Before going back to Hollowood and a series of insipid movies starring JCVD, Ringo Lam returned briefly to Hong Kong for the brilliant genre bender Victim. What stars out as a supernatural thriller, with appropriately arresting cinematography by Aussie DP Ross Clarkson, soon turns into a suspensful heist flick with some unexpected social comment to boot. Because Lau Ching Wan, in a monumental acting part, is not only the kidnap victim of the movie's title, but also a victim of the financial crisis in the late nineties, and being unemployed in economically tough times can sometimes be scarier than any horror story. As always with Lam, Victim features some very strong characters and superb actors who fill out their parts completely. Lam's last great moment. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member Nice overlap of Film Noir and horror. Keeps you guessing until the end. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Victim

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Movie Info

Synopsis What starts off as a kidnapping becomes something far more horrific than detective Pit (Tony Leung Ka Fai) could ever have expected. Manson Ma (Ching Wan Lau), a computer programmer, is reported missing by his family, only to turn up in a house that was once the site of a gruesome murder-suicide. With the perpetrator still on the loose, Pit keeps an eye on Ma and his wife, Amy (Amy Kwok). The programmer, meanwhile, starts exhibiting strange behaviors, as if something inside him has changed.
Director
Ringo Lam
Producer
Ringo Lam, Joe Ma
Screenwriter
Joe Ma, Ringo Lam
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (DVD)
Jun 11, 2003
Runtime
1h 43m