Touch, The (2002)

Members of a Chinese acrobatic troupe tasked with protecting and reclaiming an ancient spiritual artifact attempt to find it before a greedy criminal and his henchmen do.

Michelle Yeoh returns to the screen after her memorable appearance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) to star in an English language adventure that aspires to greatness, but is ultimately burdened by mediocrity.

The film begins with a glitzy acrobatic show where Pak Yin Fei (Michelle Yeoh) is the main attraction. We learn that she belongs to a family of Chinese acrobats who have been given the task of preparing for the physically challenging day when they will reclaim an ancient Buddhist artifact known as the Sharira, which incidentally looks like a bowl of lime Jell-O. Their mission gets a boost when another artifact known as the Heart of Dun Huang, which is the key to finding the Sharira turns up in the hands of an old acquaintance named Eric (Ben Chaplin). He was adopted into the circus family and was trained by Yin’s father, but he has used his skills as a thief. The trouble is that the man he just stole the artifact from wants the Sharira too and he doesn’t play nice. The crook kidnaps Yin Fei’s younger brother who ran off with the Heart of Dun Huang to find the Sharira on his own. Eric joins Yin Fei in attempting to save her brother and recover the Sharira.

It is a shame to begin an analysis of a Michelle Yeoh film this way, but The Touch was doomed from the get go. The whole mystical artifact plot device is as old as the hills and doesn’t get any better with age. But what initially drew me in was the idea of how a family of acrobats are the the ones who must find it. Yet, the potential for showing off a lot of acrobatic stunts is wasted on completely unrealistic wirework and CGI effects. The film’s climatic ending takes place in a booby-trapped cavern where platforms rise from the floor as flaming arrows shoot from the walls and a combustible liquid which floods the room ignites into a raging inferno. All I have to say is that Yuen Wo Ping did it better in Iron Monkey (1993), on a smaller scale and budget. I won’t blame action director Phillip Kwok. He does squeeze out one good martial arts sequence as Yeoh fights in and around a trailer. There is some wire use, but the action is not noticeably undercranked and well… its Yeoh doing her thing which is always fun to watch.

The most serious fault in this film is a strong artificial veneer that is generated by a awkward script and unconvincing acting. In my opinion, Michelle Yeoh is certainly capable of matching her impressive action with equally impressive acting. But, no one seems comfortable with their roles, least of all Ben Chaplin. Yikes! Someone please give this guy a dose of charisma. Its understandable that he should play second fiddle to Yeoh, but his action scenes are unimpressive and his relationship to Yeoh’s character is weak. Yeoh easily upstaged Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) so you would think she would consider casting a male lead able to match her onscreen presence as Chow Yun Fat did in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Richard Roxburgh does his best to portray a painfully shallow villain who blithely postures and spouts dreary dialogue such as, “Can’t anybody kill anybody?” All of the supporting stars are just as poorly played. Having Roxburgh’s henchmen play mostly for laughs doesn’t work well. The only roles that were convincing at all were the two Tibetan monks that appeared for all of 45 seconds at the very end of the film. That’s a sad commentary indeed.

The film’s best quality is the cinematography by Peter Pau. This is the fellow responsible for the camera movements and photography on Crouching Tiger. His camerawork in The Touch glides effortlessly around the action scenes and highlights the outdoor scenery magnificently. But, sadly his eye for imagery does not appear to match his understanding of story and character structure and the film suffers as a result. Despite the film’s relatively high production values and polish, it just can’t rise above being average material. This is all the more painful since Michelle Yeoh is such a talented individual who put a lot of effort into the production by doubling as producer and story conceptualist. I would still recommend the film to her fans who will likely put aside the film’s many faults for another chance to see her in action.