Divergence – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Director

Benny Chan

Cast

Aaron Kwok Suen Siu-yan
Ekin Chang To Hou-sung
Daniel Wu Coke
Gallen Lo Yiu Ting-chung
Angelica Lee Fong/Amy
Ning Jing Ting

DVD Release Date: January 30, 2007
Rating: R
Running Time: 101 Minutes on 2 discs

The Movie

Mr. Suen (Aaron Kwok) is an inner-city cop who is famous for being the host of a police video show. Trying to just live his life and do his job is kind of a difficult task when he’s recognized almost everywhere he goes. He would give up all the adoration if he could just see his girlfriend (Angelica Lee) one more time. Well, one more time in person because she has been missing for close to ten years now and he sees her face wherever he goes. No matter what case he may be on, he’s destined to still find out what happened to his love.

Mr. Suen is right in the middle of a huge case as his instructions are to go to Canada and pick up a protected witness back home so he can testify in a money laundering case against mobster Yiu Ting-chung (Gallen Lo). Yiu is in a huge spot as the witness is on the way in and he also has had a lot of money frozen by the government and he can’t even get near. Yiu’s lawyer To Hou-sung (Ekin Chang) is doing everything he can to try and unlock his assets and keep his client calm. To has another problem to deal with though as he arrives at a party one night that is under surveillance by Mr. Suen and another office. Mr. Suen soon realizes To’s wife looks just like his missing girlfriend Amy.

Yiu is able to let his blood simmer just a little bit as he finds out that as soon as the witness Mr. Suen is bringing in has been assassinated and every bit of information he had provided is now useless. The dead-on hitman who made the kill is a guy by the name of Coke (Daniel Wu) who just so happens to be in a not-so-healthy relationship with the woman who gets his work for him and tells him which hits he is to make. Coke is also connected to Mr. Suen as he once knew Amy and knows the ordeal that his nemesis is fighting with trying to find his love. He had a chance to kill Mr. Suen at the time he murdered the witness, but allowed the officer to live.

The lives of these four men continue to get closer and closer by the events that are connecting them and they don’t even realize it. Mr. Suen and the police force is hot on the trail of Yiu trying to lock down any evidence they can to nail him, but their biggest weapon is now dead. Mr. Suen is not only on the Yiu case but has to also figure out who murdered his witness. Coke continues to keep an eye on the entire situation but now has a new concern as he learns that a contract has been taken out on his life. And then there’s the lawyer To who is trying to proclaim his client’s innocence and doesn’t even know his wife is the spitting image of Mr. Suen’s love. Throw in the fact that Yiu’s pop star son has just gone missing and all these men are now in a tighter bond, and the worst is yet to come.

Divergence is a film that has all the capability of being a great one, but just tries to do too much in a little over an hour and a half. The DVD case boasts it as being the story of three men who’s lives come together for a deadly confrontation, but they seem to forget about To who plays an integral part. The idea is there, but it just really never comes to fruition because there have to be at least eight different stories going on when there should really only be four that lead into one.

You’ll notice early into the film that Mr. Suen’s obsession with where Amy has disappeared to takes precedence over everything else that is going on. I don’t see much of a problem with him imagining that he sees her face in girls passing by or even imagines her face on girls he sees in a magazine ad. It’s when there are actual scenes of Mr. Suen sitting there in his car and having flashbacks to when she went missing, or time spent on the beach, or conversations they had that make it overkill. A lot of the flashbacks could have been left out to explain other situations considering how confusing things get early on.

Divergence is not the action-packed thriller that some may expect it to be coming from the Tartan Asia Extreme label. The story is truly interesting, but there’s just way too much going on to enjoy it. Take into account that the action isn’t there and it makes the film even more disappointing. During the first half of the film there is a car crash and a total of about three shots fired. Director Benny Chan went for drama and thrills and end up with total confusion and letdown.

The Video

The film is shown in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and looks absolutely beautiful as most films from Tartan Asia do. The colors are bright and the video looks fantastically sharp and clear.

The Audio

The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, although there are a few other options you can choose from, and sounds alright. There are English subtitles in order to follow along of course in case you don’t understand Cantonese. The problem I found is that the subtitles are very off and come up either late or go off the screen way too fast for someone to read them. I did a little checking up on this because it was extremely noticeable throughout the film; and it seems that Tartan is aware of the problem and working on replacing the discs if necessary.

Special Features

Audio Commentary By Benny Chan – The commentary really isn’t all that bad from the director, but he of course speaks in Cantonese with subtitles, but even the subtitles are in broken English and difficult to understand at times. And not being able to also follow along with the movie during his times of silence since it’s in another language got boring very fast.

Making Of Divergence – This isn’t even your basic “making of” segment as they simply got a few quotes from each of the actors and filmmakers on what they think the film is about and then show a few scenes from the film itself.

Photo Gallery – About 35 still frames from the film. Nicely taken shots, but nothing too interesting.

Gala Premiere – The entire cast gets on the red carpeted stage at the premiere of the film, but if you don’t speak Cantonese, be prepared to not understand much of what is going on because there are no subtitles. From what I can gather, the cast simply is answering a few questions for the crowd about the film and then the fans give their thoughts on the film.

Original Korean Divergence Trailers

Divergence Teaser

TrailersOldboy Special Edition, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Another Public Enemy, Heroic Duo, and H

The Inside Pulse

Never have I been so disappointed with a DVD from Tartan Asia or Tartan Asia Extreme then I was with Divergence. The film was confusing as all hell even though it had the opportunity to be so great. Then to give us a two-disc edition for special features when there’s maybe enough to fill up an hour? What gives? It was just a total letdown from the start of the first disc to the end of the second one. There are so many more worthy films in Tartan’s library. Go choose any other one but this one.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Divergence
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

5
THE VIDEO

7
THE AUDIO

6
THE EXTRAS

4
REPLAY VALUE

4
OVERALL
4
(NOT AN AVERAGE)