11. The Liquidator; movie review

THE LIQUIDATOR
Cert TBA
124 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

The hits keep coming. My brain has had to be firmly in gear during the first week of the 2018 everyfilm challenge.
Even during this Chinese blood-fest, there is fiendishly clever detective work and deep mind games between serial killer and pursuer.
Xu Jizhou's movie begins at the chase of what appears to be a vigilante who is methodically bumping off those who have been vilified in news headlines.
The focus appears to be on Shi Shi Liu who is leading the investigation and, during the movie's opening scenes, is portrayed as a no-holds-barred chaser of criminals.
But soon the emphasis switches to a criminal psychologist (Chao Deng) who is asked to unravel the killer's unusual modus operandi.
The Liquidator's fearsome action scarcely lets up but, thankfully, does allow for a game of intellectual cat and mouse between the psychologist and his target (Ethan Juan).
The latter is a superb villain - absolutely unrepentant and shocking in his actions. Meanwhile, Feng is utterly compelling as his adversary whose cool is gradually melted by the fiendishness of the murderer.
I very much enjoyed The Liquidator but would accept that it would not be for everyone.
For starters - its subtitles spin by very quickly. Do the Chinese really speak as quickly in real life as they do during movies?
It is also so dark that it is not always easy to work out exactly what is going on and there is stomach-churning gore which may turn off the faint-hearted.
But I found it riveting and the clash between the key players is as intense as any is likely to be at the movies in 2018.

Reasons to watch: Very fast-flowing ultra-dark thriller
Reasons to avoid: Demands high-level concentration just to keep up with the sub-titles

Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 8/10

The big question - do the Chinese all speak this quickly?

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