During the early nineties in Hong Kong, the prolific screenwriter, producer, director and sometime actor Wong Jing made quite a number of crowd-pleasing action comedies which was a highly popular genre back then. Although wacky and action packed in nature, his films like “Tricky Brains”, “Royal Tramp”, “Legend of the Liquid Sword”, “Flying Dagger”, “Holy Weapon” and so on were commercially successful productions. Fast forward to 2011 and with a bigger Mainland budget, plus the help of two award-winning actors, Wong ws back and doing pretty much the same old thing. Set in White Horse Town, ancient China, “Treasure Inn” revolves around young Master Kung (Nicholas Tse) and Lo Pa (Nick Cheung), two lowly and underappreciated constables who work in the courthouse kitchen and laundry instead of doing proper investigating duties.
One day, some thieves break into the Zhang family mansion, besides committing a mass murder they also steal their huge priceless jade statue of Guanyin. Accordingly, since they arrive at the crime scene first, Kung and Lo discover that five expert martial arts masters using different techniques are responsible for the mass killing way before the lead investigator Captain Tieh Wu Ching (Kenny Ho) turns up. After reviewing their findings, Tieh ties both Lo and Kung to the massacre and throws them into jail.
The next day and during their execution, two young con sisters, Lady Fire Dragon (Huang Yi) and Lady Water Dragon (Charlene Choi) manage to rescue them. Before long, love blossoms and Water Dragon Lady falls madly for Kung while Fire Dragon Lady takes a shine to Lo. After a quick investigation, they believe that the jade Guanyin is probably on its way to an auction at Treasure Inn, a desert hideout where crooks from all over jianghu exchange stolen goods. During their journey, the quartet also befriend Wen Wen Qie (Tong Da Wei) a wandering doctor highly skilled in martial arts. So it looks like everyone including a greedy general and the five killers are all heading for a showdown to claim the statue.
It is no secret that Wong makes lots of silly yet entertaining films and he definitely knows how to please his selected audiences. The early part of “Treasure Inn” plays like a road movie with characters clashing into one another. Even though the mode becomes a bit more serious towards the end, the whole production is still an all over the place experience in a typical Wong Jing fashion. Furthermore, he borrows heavily from other films like “New Dragon Gate Inn” and especially Stephen Chow's “Kung Fu Hustle” as seen in the musical instruments oriented fight scenes accompanied by the heavy use of CGI sonic waves. Unfortunately, there are also some cringe-worthy moments as a result of some extremely exaggerated sequences which show Lo Pa's cartoonish extended body after he is tortured. Then the pair of lovers during their romantic encounters, cheesy animated hearts can be seen floating around them.
However, aside from the expositionary nature of Wong's script, the saving grace of the film lies in those well put together fight arrangements from veteran Corey Yuen which are amazingly inventive. Furthermore, the inclusion of real martial artists like Philip Ng and Yuen Tak is a bonus. Although looking a bit bored at times, Nicholas Tse is convincing during his action sequences but in general he is there to accentuate coolness. On the other hand, almost unrecognizable with huge fake teeth and silly hairdo, Nick Cheung just looks dimwitted and wacky. It is puzzling that these two film award winners from “Beast Stalker” and “Stool Pigeon” are willing to portray such kinds of characters. Still they both seem to be having great fun, especially Cheung.
The female cast is quite strong but it is the energetic Mainland actress Huang Yi who fares much better alongside the subdued, unimpressive and whiny Charlene Choi. Elsewhere, Wong has Liu Yang run and dance around in skimpy clothes trying to be sexy as the feisty inn owner Yue Ling Ling. Besides being easy on the eye, Pan Shuang Shuang is much more memorable and shines as the pipa wielding villainess whose instrument sends out powerful sonic waves like the ones in “Kung Fu Hustle”. As the Imperial Gold Constable, Captain Tieh, Kenny Ho also has a strong screen presence throughout.
Overall it is quite obvious that all the actors are in this production mainly for a jolly good time while doing as little as they can. In fact there are viewers especially in Asia who like this sort of wacky action comedy fantasy and Wong is just the right filmmaker to fulfill their needs. Far from being a sophisticated wild ride with depth, “Treasure Inn” is nevertheless bearable and not that annoying.
