Review | The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon movie review: Taiwanese crime thriller directed by Hong Kong’s Wong Ching-po is energetic if somewhat baffling
- Ethan Ruan stars as a hitman who wants to turn himself in after being diagnosed with cancer, but finds out he isn’t public enemy number one
- He decides to become Taiwan’s most wanted criminal by taking out his rivals for the role in this slick and stylish crime drama
3/5 stars
In the nine years since his last feature film, Hong Kong director Wong Ching-po has lost none of his affection for visually stylish crime thrillers championing losers and outcasts existing on the fringes of society.
The result is an energetic, unwieldy and ultimately somewhat baffling genre film likely to perplex audiences as readily as it entertains.
Set in Taiwan, the film stars Ethan Ruan Ching-tien as Chen Kui-lin, also known as The Kuilin Kid, a notorious hitman responsible for assassinating a high-ranking Taichung gang boss.
We first meet him at the funeral for the aforementioned gangster, where he brazenly guns down another senior mobster in front of a hall full of underworld mourners. Kui-lin is pursued by cop Chen Hui (Lee Lee-zen), who loses an eye in their scuffle.