iBookThere4IM I had a crush on Michelle Yeoh, I am still a big fan and tries to catch every film that she's in. And with high hopes going in watching this movie, I poised myself for a big let down. Even with gorgeous locations and good castings, this movie always just teetered on developing a good story but did not carry through. Actions and fights were almost actions but not quite. It just everything were "almosts." And one thing about CGs: you can't do CGs on the cheap! It looks cheesy, and any kind of "suspension of disbelief" up to that point goes right down the drain. At the end of the day, it was "almost" an action drama, almost a movie.

caipirina7 Over the last 2 days I managed to waste 103 minutes of my life watching The Touch, Michelle Yeoh's movie after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.While ambitious in many ways, it does not really succeed in any category:spoilers ahead-It tries hard to cater to both, western and asian audiences and fails miserably: The bad guy is your stereotypical blonde caucasian with some semi british accent, surrounded by dumb henchmen (mixed crowd) ... his motivations (going after some artifact) are never explained, though "immortality" is mentioned once-the "love story" (to please the chick audience) is laughable and has no credibility. It is also an utter waste of time.-the action is wanna-be up to date and totally destroyed in the final fight scene, which is, while setup quite nicely with lots of candles and fire, overshadowed by campy CGI effects, a set that looks just like a big soundstage, a totally wasted "sacrifice" (they let a cute female character we never even started to feel anything for die, last minute, no real reason, just so the audience can say "Awwwwwwww") and again, we just keep wondering WHY the characters are doing what they are doing ... -Hmm. Nice landscape shots, always a good idea ... especially when you havesomething as beautiful as the chinese desert .. looks a bit like a cheap version on Monument Valley :) Those shots are again totally wasted, don't do anything for story or setup .. and scream "it could have been better!-Why there is this family of acrobats and what is their point is never really used / explained. Or why they take in that western kid, who just stole stuff. (Why is this kid there anyway?)-The very set-up comedic moments make you squirm. Bad bad writing! -Acting ... was anybody actually "acting" in this? Felt more like line-reading my martial artists ... then again, I doubt that movie was ever going for any Oscars.Well .. i could go on .. but I already spent enough time on that chunk of doodoo ... just wanted to safe everybody else some time ...

Simon Booth The Touch is Michelle Yeoh's first movie as producer, executive producer and writer (as well as star), and the first movie from her new production company. Now Michelle Yeoh is a smart and sensible woman (and she can kick ass with the best), so expectations for this big budget production with Peter Pau in the director's chair were naturally high - certainly I had high hopes for it. That changed when it came out and it seemed to be universally acclaimed a major disappointment. I almost decided to pass it over completely, but you know sometimes you have to see a certain movie even if you know it's going to be bad, 'cause it's still a 'significant' or 'important' film in some sense.Thanks to all the negative press, my expectations for the movie were much lower when I sat down to watch it. I mean, we're talking the kind of expectations that make The Blacksheep Affair look like a good film... so it's not really a surprise that I found myself enjoying The Touch. But I mean I found myself *really* enjoying it. A lot!First with the bad, the reasons people were presumably disappointed. There are some very cheesy moments in places, moments and lines that feel too artificially inserted, too 'script'. There's some bad acting in places - some from the bad guy's goons but most notably from Brandon Chang, who plays Michelle's younger brother (his girlfriend was pretty bad too, but she didn't have as much chance to show it). And most notably there are some really terrible special effects in the final climax - about 15 years out of date But then with the good! First surprise, it's really funny! Most of the humour comes from the guest Gwei Los Ben Chaplin and Richard Roxburgh, both of whom have really good characters and some brilliant lines. They also break a long tradition of white actors in HK films by being really good, and not at all annoying. Richard Roxburgh's villain in particular is a charismatic classic. Then there's the story, which is all quite cheesy but reasonably involved and well developed. It's a good old fashioned adventure yarn. And then there's the production values... especially the great sets and locations filmed beautifully by Peter Pau. The soundtrack is really good too, though it sounds very Hollywood (I'm not normally a fan of Hollywood's overblown and generally forgettable soundtracks, but I like this one).It must be said that The Touch does in many ways feel more like a Hollywood movie than a Hong Kong movie - the fact that it is 95% filmed in English undoubtedly being part of it. Hong Kong film makers normally fail miserably when they attempt to make a Hollywood style movie, but I think that this case represents a near success. If it weren't for those dreadful special effects I think it would have a very good chance of competing on the Hollywood distribution circuits. And I believe the production company have taken the unusual step of hiring a different firm (the normally excellent Centro) to completely redo the special effects for a US release. This may be one case where the US version of a HK movie actually improves on the original.One thing that is expected of a Hong Kong movie starring Michelle Yeoh is obviously a high calibre of action. This is perhaps where the movie disappoints, as there isn't as much action in the film as I expect most viewers would have liked. There are a couple of fight scenes that show off Michelle's skills well, but Philip Kwok's choreography isn't all that exciting unfortunately. Not bad, but not up to the standard of Michelle's fights in Royal Warriors, for example. Especially disappointing is the final climax, which should have been a raw bone crunching showcase of martial arts prowess but is in fact a limp showcase of terrible CGI. Bad call to go the special effects route, Michelle!If I hadn't had my expectations lowered by those who saw the movie before me, I guess there's a fair chance I'd have ended up disappointed in The Touch too. Because I wasn't expecting too much I found much more to enjoy than I bargained for. In fact, I'd say I enjoyed the movie more than any other 2002 Hong Kong movie I can think of (not saying much admittedly, since 2002 was a terrible year for HK movies). It's a movie I will happily watch again (though I'll wait for the US release perhaps) and have no hesitation recommending to others.

jhs39 Expensive looking but bloated and dull martial arts fantasy. Film was shot in English with Anglo villains and an Anglo lead, obviously with a hope towards international success. Unfortunately after a strong start the film has a very saggy middle, turning into a second rate Raiders of the Lost Ark wannabe. Many of the fight scenes and effects are also far too digitized, making the film look about as real as a video game. A huge waste of talent and time.