Review of Connected (2008) by Thomas F — 21 Feb 2011

Standard Hollywood operating procedure is to take an exceptional film in a foreign language and make it over in the most turgid fashion imaginable. This Hong Kong thriller is on exactly the right lines in taking the superlative premise that was let down by shoddy handling in 2004's Chris Evans/Kim Basinger vehicle "Cellular", and improving on it by several notches.

The set-up is identical - a kidnapped woman manages to place a call to the mobile of a complete stranger, obliging him to investigate the crime - but "Connected" gains a dimension from the off by making the stranger in question (Koo) not some bland hunk on board to pull in a particular demographic, but a fully grown, frazzled debt collector busy enough trying to get across town to see a son from whom he's become increasingly estranged.

(And in a succession of hilariously mid-range cars, at that.)... This version busts out some tremendous stunt driving moves (worth the rental price on their own), but also preserves [original writer Larry] Cohen's best jokes, like the distracted mobile phone salesman the hero encounters at one point.

Even if you know how it's likely to play out, there's something marvellous in the way it takes an original that was middling, with some nice William H. Macy moments, and transforms it into a genuinely witty and suspenseful watch: the action - including a last-reel forklift truck rampage (!) - is all director Benny Chan's own, but the framing brings it closer than anyone expected to the version of "Cellular" Hitchcock would have made.