Treasure Hunt (1994)

Absolutely amazing

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Chow Yun-Fat plays Chang Ching, a CIA agent sent to China to recover a 'National Treasure' for the USA, but when he reaches its location at a Shaolin Temple, he discovers that it is a woman with supernatural powers and it soon becomes apparent that there are sinister motives at work. He himself has more pure ambitions and decides to protect the woman at any cost... The woman in question is played by Chien-lien wu who makes a longer appearance in this than in the Return of the God of Gamblers, and again has considerable on screen chemistry with Chow Yun-Fat.The tone and style of Treasure Hunt is extremely uneven, which will be familiar to fans of Hong Kong cinema, with violence entwined with a surprisingly lengthy romantic subplot and some comedy. The action scenes are limited, but well choreographed by Phillip Kwok, who appeared with Chow Yun-Fat in Hard-boiled and doubled for him at some points in Once a Thief. He also has an amusing role as an irate taxi driver and enjoys probably the best fight scene of the film. The gun play scenes fall short of films such as The Killer, A Better Tomorrow or Flaming Brothers, but that is not to say they are terrible.The setting of the Shaolin Temple is unusual in a piece set in the modern day and the location is used to its best effect by cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer) who does a typically excellent job in the clearly freezing conditions. The special effects are very primitive for such a recent film, but this can be easily overlooked as they are wisely kept to a minimum.Overall, Treasure Hunt is not one of Chow Yun-Fat's greatest or well-known films, but it gives him a chance to show more range than in most of them. Fans of his will know that he excels in roles with less than constant violence (e.g. Anna And The King). The patchy tone leads to some frustration as this film never really seems to know what genre it wants to belong to. However it is definitely worth a look.

This film is what I call a good film. Why? Well, I personally thought that it spoked to me if that´s a way you can call it(you can call it anything belive me). But seriously this film is a great one. As many people can tell nobody nór one can fell the same of a movie. Not to the precise motion in your soul can is reveal the same emotions to any person. This film is about a man called Chang Ching(Chow Yun-Fat). He is a CIA agent that is assigned to Beijing(China) to return a "treasure" back to the US. He is settled at a shaolin temple to his surprise. There he meet a girl named Mei(Wu Chien Lin) who appears to have supernatural powers. Ching does not realize that she is the National Treasure of China(cheezzez). His mission becomes more troublesome than he thought.How will it go? A happy ending? Yes? No?The surrounding is beautifully captured in the movie. Some scenes are just so amazingly made that I wished that I could be there just for a while. I now know why it is called "Treasure Hunt"This is a drama movie with a bit of comedy(really fun comedy I think) and some action. If you are going to se it for action-non-stop I guess another movie would do you more good. "A Better tomorrow" I & II, "the Killer" or "Hard Boiled" are perfect in such a situation if your interested by other movies with Chow Yun-Fat that are more towards Hong Kong action. I really recommend them all.This film with the English name "Treasure Hunt" is a Top of the list film to me. I recommend it to any one interested in an all genres film that can be seen and just has to be seen.

What a delight for Chow Yun-Fat fans. He is looking for a "girl just like the girl" plus being on a CIA mission. His quest takes him on a mystical journey and to a temple with a funny little boy monk who becomes his admiring friend. He also finds a magical young woman and they have ups and downs on the way to true love. I love this film and recommend it for true romantics.

"Treasure Hunt" is an aimless movie that is a big letdown for any fans of Chow Yun Fat. He plays a teacher who also works part time as an employee of the CIA in Hong Kong. The first action sequence in the picture involves a particularly brutal rescue of a kidnapped Japanese bigshot. A lot of this movie takes place in a temple Chow is staying at. At one point, in accepting the blame for something the priests are punishing a student for, Chow gets lashed on the back about 5 times. This movie has nothing going for it.