Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin, who has directed the likes of Die Hard 2, is probably one of the reasons behind the stylised genre production that takes place entirely within the morgue facility.
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Heavy thunderstorms on a Christmas Eve night in Hong Kong. A group of masked villains decide to break into a morgue/forensics facility where they command a handful of employees to do as they say. It’s set in Hong Kong with a native cast but its script and premise scream Hollywood.
Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin, who has directed the likes of Die Hard 2, is probably one of the reasons behind the stylised genre production that takes place entirely within the morgue facility. Bodies at Rest presents a simple and no-frills approach towards engaging its audience with a straightforward story, sensational action scenes and committed cast members.
If there is one word to be used to describe Bodies at Rest, it would be linear. Linearity may not necessarily be a bad thing in the case of this film where it follows the traits of a past era of genre cinema that is common in the 1990s.
Harlin is keen to pit his onscreen characters against one another than anything else, which pays off especially with the impressionable performance by the film’s lead villain played by Richie Jen, forensic scientist played by Nick Cheung and forensic intern played by Yang Mi. The cast performance alone could be worth the ticket price, despite the predictable plot and implausible physics in place.
Backstories of the characters are kept to the minimal where they are mostly discussed briefly to serve as plot devices. They hardly matter to the main cat-and-mouse game that is at play between the masked villains and the facility employees.
A lot of effort is invested in crafting a dynamic power shift between the two parties several times across the 94-minute running time. The shift usually takes place just when a party thinks it has the upper hand. This will be the primary tool of engagement where the film captivates viewers nearly from start till the end.
Along with above-average production values, Bodies at Rest should entertain the general audience well on a weekday or weekend night while viewers’ minds are at rest.
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