Ren Chao Xiong Yong, internationally known as End Game, is the remake of Japanese movie Key of Life that had already been remade as Luck-Key in South Korea. This means that this film is already the third version of the same story. Let's hope that Hollywood won't desire to create a fourth movie. This film reminds of several Hong Kong action comedy films from the eighties and nineties starring actors like Jackie Chan, Samuel Hui and Sammo Hung. Genre fans will appreciate what they can watch here but this movie certainly lacks creativity, drive and novelty.

The story revolves around an unsuccessful actor living alone in a dirty apartment who has tried to commit suicide on a few occasions. His life changes radically when he coincidentally causes an accident that sends the visitor of a bathhouse into a coma. Upon discovering that the victim owns an expensive car, has lots of money and lives in an elegant apartment, the actor decides to change his identity and enjoys life to the fullest. After awakening from his coma, the victim is led to believe that he is indeed a poor actor and decides to organize some changes in his life. Problems emerge when the actor finds out the true identity and job of the person he is now incarnating and when the man suffering from amnesia slowly but surely remembers more and more details about his past and tries to go back to the life he once had.

While the plot sounds amusing at first contact and starts this movie dynamically in the first thirty minutes, the interesting concept fails to develop upon the interesting premise. Many jokes are extremely childish, others become quite predictable and some are exhaustingly repetitive. The movie's middle section in particular features significant lengths and fails to get to the point.

The performances by the two lead actors Andy Lau and Xiao Yang are very good. The former is a versatile veteran actor of Hong Kong cinema and the latter a popular comedian from Hebei. The supporting actresses and actors however fail to leave lasting impressions as they are unable to exploit their characters' full potential.

The movie's action scenes and special effects are also of meandering quality. The opening thirty minutes look quite impressive in this regard. The entire middle section overstays its welcome. The ending of the movie tries to quicken up the pace but it's too little too late.

In the end, Ren Chao Xiong Yong, internationally known as End Game, is based upon an interesting plot idea and features two great lead actors but everything else from side characters over elements of humour to special effects is of average to below average quality. Watching the original Japanese movie is a much better option than giving the South Korean or this Hong Kong and Chinese remake any attention. Another recommendable option would be to rediscover Hong Kong's action comedy classics such as Aces Go Places, Armour of God, City Hunter, Drunken Master and Police Story to only name a few examples.

In the Mainland China Spring Festival in 2021, in addition to guest appearance in "Detective Chinatown 3", Andy Lau also produced and starred in "End Game", directed by Rao Xiaozhi, Mainland director, co-starring Xiao Yang and Regina Wan, the film is a remake of the Japanese movie "Key of Life", directed by Kenji Uchida, starring Masato Sakai, Teruyuki Kagawa and Ryoko Hirosue, who won the Awards of the Japanese Academy for Best Screenplay that year; and was later remade by South Korean director Lee Kae-byeok into a "Luck-Key", starring Yoo Heo-jin and Lee Joon. And this time Rao Xiaozhi made the story inland, the plot details are greatly revised, and the story structure is preserved. It tells the story of Xiao Yang's frustrated actor Chen Xiaomeng and Andy Lau's killer Zhou Quan. In an accident, the two changed their identities.

What's interesting is that Andy Lau played the role of amnesia again. Some comments said that his performance in "Shock Wave 2" was better than this film, but the so-called amnesia scene in "Shock Wave 2" accounted for the proportion. In fact, there are not many, and the plot has taken a turn for the worse. The audience has no time to savor his performance. On the contrary, "End Game" can make him perform better. It is no wonder that he will serve as a producer, and the director has happily embedded Andy Lau's past films into it, including "As Tears Go By", "Shanghai Grand", "Full Throttle", and "A Moment of Romance", which are also complemented by their soundtracks. Among them, there is a scene where Andy Lau pretends to be a knife and dies, which is reminiscent of Andy Lau's death performances in past movies. This is also a classic performance with Andy Lau's characteristics. In the same scene, Xiao Yang joked that "it's over", as a trainee from an orthodox academy, the director and Xiao Yang have a bit of irony in his performance, which can also be regarded as Andy Lau's self-mockery and reflection on his past acting skills.

In fact, "End Game" uses the identities of the two protagonists to change, and tells about the acting skills shown in real life, which are quite consistent with the acting skills in the drama world, or even more exciting. This theme can't help but think of "King of Comedy" by Lee Lik-chi and Stephen Chow, and "End Game" also embeds many elements of "King of Comedy", including Xiao Yang's Chen Xiaomeng meeting his ex-girlfriend, and his farewell to Zeng Jiurong, played by Cheng Yi, uses the soundtrack of "King of Comedy"; and at the end, the Li Xiang played by Regina Wan who hugs Zhou Quan played by Andy Lau like a koala, the scene of Cecilia Cheung holding Stephen Chow. Of course, in "King of Comedy", Russian drama master Konstantin Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares" also became an element of the film.

However, there are obvious differences between the two films with the same subject matter, which has a great relationship with the creator of the film. Rao Xiaozhi graduated from the directing department of the Central Academy of Drama, and then founded the Spring Drama Studio with Li Yapeng, directing many plays. His first directorial debut was the 2016 adaptation of the stage play "The Insanity" starring Regina Wan; two years later, he directed the famous work in film "A Cool Fish", starring Chen Jianbin, Ren Suxi and Zhang Yu. It is an absurd comedy full of black humor. The box office and reputation are quite good. "End Game" is the third work he directed. As for the actor Xiao Yang, who played the Thai police officer Kon Tai in "Detective Chinatown" and Song Yi who played in "Detective Chinatown 2" and "Detective Chinatown 3", graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 2011 who was selected to participate in the Sino-American Film Talent Exchange Program in the United States for four years, and went with Chen Sicheng, director of "Detective Chinatown" and Guo Fan, director of "The Wandering Earth". Regina Wan graduated from the Shanghia Theater Academy. She played Nini in "Paradise in Service", and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress, and also played Madam Qi in "God of War" directed by Gordon Chan. It can be seen that they are all academically trained talents. In addition to studying Stanislavski and other drama theories, they have also undergone a long period of practice. A fiend from the Drama Academy of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts said: "An Actor Prepares" is not for reading, but for doing. In fact, the first part of this book is to describe the one-year experience of student Kostya under Stanislavski's performance teaching, from which the principles of stage art and various attitudes in practice are described by the students' feelings and the tutor's teaching, and the challenges and impacts they faced. Therefore, this book needs to be experienced in practice, rather than understandable from reading.

As for "King of Comedy", Lee Lik-chi and Stephen Chow collided with each other to create a set of comedy effects from the specific environment of the TV studio. Neither Lee Lik-chi nor Stephen Chow received drama training in the academy, but with their creativity and talent for comedy, they became the king of comedy, from TV series to film, has achieved brilliant achievements. However, both of them have an inexplicable curiosity about the so-called academic acting. The source of the creation of "King of Comedy" comes from this. To a certain extent, the two actually disapprove of the academic acting. Therefore, "An Actor Prepares" is taken out, with the elements of joking or "kicking the hall". The so-called "from the outside to the inside, and then to the outside" has become the laughing point of the film. Finally, in the scene where the undercover detective played by Ng Man-tat asked Stephen Chow to play the role of a delivery boy to detect criminals, Lee Lik-chi tried to express the acting skills Ng Man-tat needed in real life, which was more superb than Stephen Chow, who loved drama. It can be seen that Lee Lik-chi really has the intention to understand the connotation of academic acting, but he failed to grasp the essence of it. Therefore, in the end, "King of Comedy" did not express this theme clearly.

In contrast to "End Game", Rao Xiaozhi was able to express this theme clearly. When Zhou Quan lost his memory, he thought he was Chen Xiaomeng, so he tried to take the role of Chen Xiaomeng. When Li Xiang found a hemp rope for hanging on the beam, Zhou Quan said, "Have the old face, whose name is Xiaomeng (so cute), should want to die." This is how the actor experiences the psychological state of the character. He reads Chen Xiaomeng's books in the house, learns how to be an actor, and make the best of things. After he recovered his memory, he taught Chen Xiaomeng how to act at home, a contest of acting skills. In the end, the two were injured in a hospital bed, and Zhou Quan read "An Actor Prepares" and the book "The Open Door: Thoughts on Acting and Theatre" by British drama master Peter Brook, reprimanded Chen Xiaomeng has only read ten pages of each book, so how can he become a good actor? The characterization of the problem is derived. Regardless of the drama stage or real life, as long as you make the best of things, you can achieve your acting skills.

By Kam Po LAM (original in Chinese)