bs3dc Chow Yun-Fat plays Chang Ching, a CIA agent sent to China to recover a 'National Treasure' for the USA, but when he reaches its location at a Shaolin Temple, he discovers that it is a woman with supernatural powers and it soon becomes apparent that there are sinister motives at work. He himself has more pure ambitions and decides to protect the woman at any cost... The woman in question is played by Chien-lien wu who makes a longer appearance in this than in the Return of the God of Gamblers, and again has considerable on screen chemistry with Chow Yun-Fat.The tone and style of Treasure Hunt is extremely uneven, which will be familiar to fans of Hong Kong cinema, with violence entwined with a surprisingly lengthy romantic subplot and some comedy. The action scenes are limited, but well choreographed by Phillip Kwok, who appeared with Chow Yun-Fat in Hard-boiled and doubled for him at some points in Once a Thief. He also has an amusing role as an irate taxi driver and enjoys probably the best fight scene of the film. The gun play scenes fall short of films such as The Killer, A Better Tomorrow or Flaming Brothers, but that is not to say they are terrible.The setting of the Shaolin Temple is unusual in a piece set in the modern day and the location is used to its best effect by cinematographer Peter Pau (The Killer) who does a typically excellent job in the clearly freezing conditions. The special effects are very primitive for such a recent film, but this can be easily overlooked as they are wisely kept to a minimum.Overall, Treasure Hunt is not one of Chow Yun-Fat's greatest or well-known films, but it gives him a chance to show more range than in most of them. Fans of his will know that he excels in roles with less than constant violence (e.g. Anna And The King). The patchy tone leads to some frustration as this film never really seems to know what genre it wants to belong to. However it is definitely worth a look.

TanjBennett This sure is a strange mix, though it works as a pleasant passtime.Although it is not unusual for kung-fu movies to have a romance in the story line, this one does spend an unusual amount of time in romantic interludes where not a lot happens except flowers, stars, snow, and two hearts beating as one. The fights which do occur are brisk and well choreographed but not gory - even the gory, ruthless action is mostly bloodless. And the mandatory kung-fu philosophical dialogues are mixed up with some quite unexpected western arguments.That this odd patchwork flows along successfully is something of an achievement for the director and actors. It will never be a great film, but if you just want to kick back and enjoy a short film with some nice scenery, good looking actors, and are not in the mood for something heavy, this might be it.The actors have done better work elsewhere if you want more serious fare. See Chien-Lien Wu in Eat Drink Man Woman. See Yun-Fat Chow in Hard Boiled or A Better Tomorrow.The DVD is clear and sound is unremarkable. The music is repetitive and simple, but only invades the romantic interludes. I chose the Mandarin sound track which sometimes was odd since parts of the dialog are supposed to be in English or Cantonese (which is what the actors were using) and the translation couldn't make up its mind which to use at times. The English subtitles were occasionally mistimed or ungrammatical but generally clear.

John2k This film is what I call a good film. Why? Well, I personally thought that it spoked to me if that´s a way you can call it(you can call it anything belive me). But seriously this film is a great one. As many people can tell nobody nór one can fell the same of a movie. Not to the precise motion in your soul can is reveal the same emotions to any person. This film is about a man called Chang Ching(Chow Yun-Fat). He is a CIA agent that is assigned to Beijing(China) to return a "treasure" back to the US. He is settled at a shaolin temple to his surprise. There he meet a girl named Mei(Wu Chien Lin) who appears to have supernatural powers. Ching does not realize that she is the National Treasure of China(cheezzez). His mission becomes more troublesome than he thought.How will it go? A happy ending? Yes? No?The surrounding is beautifully captured in the movie. Some scenes are just so amazingly made that I wished that I could be there just for a while. I now know why it is called "Treasure Hunt"This is a drama movie with a bit of comedy(really fun comedy I think) and some action. If you are going to se it for action-non-stop I guess another movie would do you more good. "A Better tomorrow" I & II, "the Killer" or "Hard Boiled" are perfect in such a situation if your interested by other movies with Chow Yun-Fat that are more towards Hong Kong action. I really recommend them all.This film with the English name "Treasure Hunt" is a Top of the list film to me. I recommend it to any one interested in an all genres film that can be seen and just has to be seen.

cxd What can you say about a sweet love story with Chow Yun-Fat? It has everything. A great Hong Kong film. Love, flying, action, kung-fu, fire, machine guns and romance. If you love HK films this is a must see.