Movie Review: Animal World

This movie isn't clowning around

Remember last week when we went over Shanghai Fortress, and I talked about how godawful it was? Well, this week you're in for a treat because this is actually a really good Chinese movie. Released last year for the 21st Annual Shanghai International Film Fest, and later on released in Chinese cinema to critical acclaim beating even Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at the box office which when you think about it is a phenomenal feat for a domestic movie to beat a American one at the Chinese box office. Once you watch the movie, it's easy to see why many people love it. The movie stars popular Chinese actor, and singer Li Yifeng as Zheng Kai-si, a man who struggles with psychological issues, but is extremely smart and has a heart of gold. When conned into a debt by the man he considered his friend, Zheng is forced to partake in a deadly game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, trust me it's actually really good. 

 

The movie begins with a very surreal action sequence. The main character explains that when he was younger, there was a cartoon called, "Super Clown", and on his eighth birthday, something very traumatic happened. Ever since that day, anytime he gets emotional, he claims "the clown takes over", and he starts perceiving normal people as monsters that he as the clown must kill. I'll admit, it's really confusing. To make matters more confusing it's established early on that many of the action sequences play out in his head, giving us a unreliable narrator, which can work when done properly, and I feel like this was done right. I always was on the edge of my seat wondering what was reality, or his imagination. Meanwhile in reality though, he works for a dingy arcade, and his mother is in a coma at the hospital, so he works hard so she can stay there. Luckily though his childhood friend, Liu Qing (Played by Zhou Dongyu) helps him with finances when needed. His other friend Li Jun (Played by Cao Bingkun) tricks Zheng into selling his home, and transfers a great debt to Zheng without him knowing. 

The next day Zheng is kidnapped by a suspicious man in black, when he comes to he meets a unnamed man played by Micheal Douglas, for simplicity we'll just call him Micheal Douglas since his actual character is unnamed. This is when he explains to our protagonist what is going on, and that Zheng has a debt that would take him more then thirty years to pay off (And here I thought my student debts were bad)! Although he is given a choice, either he can be a slave, or he can go aboard a ship called Destiny for a chance to win a game for not only his freedom, but also for any money he earns during the game. At first Zheng is reluctant, though he quickly agrees given his circumstances. He bids farewell to Liu, and tells her that if he doesn't return in a week then to pull his mother's plug. When taken to the special meet up point where he, and others in the same situation are being drugged so then they can be taken to the ship without revealing the location. We enter another daydream sequence as Zheng fantasizes about escaping, but as soon as he attempts to run away, he is shot with a dart, making him fall into a deep sleep. when he comes to, he is suddenly branded, given a tattoo with the number [072] on his neck. Zheng also sees that it isn't just Chinese people here, but people from all over the world; America, Italy, China, etc. They are then funneled into a large room where Micheal Douglas explains the game to the unfortunate players.

The game is Rock-Paper-Scissors, except you use cards instead of your hands, and you can only use a card once before it is recycled. The rules are that each player starts off with three stars, and twelve cards. In order to win they must have no cards, and at least three stars. If they fail to meet the requirements they are eliminated, losing all three stars also gets you eliminated. How they win or lose stars is that they play the game among each other, and the winner gets the losers star for each win. The only way to not lose stars is if you get a tie. Hopefully my butchered nutshell will help out a bit, it gets pretty complicated; not that i'm complaining. The group is given four hours to complete the game, and immediately people get to work as the clock starts ticking. Folks i'm going to be quickly honest right here, I don't think i'll be able to properly go over the plot after this point as it is pretty complicated. 

"Wait a minute Lauren, is that a Paw score down there? WTF were not even halfway through the movie!", I know, I know you're probably thinking that at the moment, but god, I can't bring myself to spoil this movie. Animal World is phenomenal, it's weird as hell, and that's awesome. This movie really needs to be watched, I went in totally blind, knowing nothing about this movie, and came out wanting more. You need to watch this while you're only partly blind to the plot because oh geez, this movie is really good. This movie easily gets a 5 out of 5 from me. Please, go watch this right now, it's on Netflix (not sponsored btw uwu).