Journey of the Doomed

"Journey Of The Doomed" tells the story of a young girl who has lived all her life in a brothel (without "working" in it); her mother is dead, her father is unknown to all except the owner of the brothel. One day the girl runs away when she witnesses the mistreatment of another girl in the hands of a customer. When the two potential future emperors learn the secret identity of her father, they react in different ways: one of them sends a team of one man and two women to kill her, while the other sends a team of two men and one woman to protect her. But it's one guy who lives by a river that saves her life; after that she keeps following him around, and gradually they warm up to each other. The main problem with "Journey Of The Doomed" is that it tries to be a lot of different things at once (action movie, exploitation, fantasy, romance, conspiracy thriller) and does not fully satisfy at any of them. The biggest name involved, Kara Hui, plays one of the two female killers and, frankly, she is outshone by her partner who likes to arm-wrestle at her free time! (both are eliminated after the first half hour). The film has moments of sadistic and gratuitous violence, but also quite a few strange ideas (including a contemporary rock score at times), and a striking final image. (**)