The Soul

Cheng's latest is probably his biggest production to date, sadly the quality of his films isn't following the same trajectory. While not a bad film, The Soul is the type of mystery that renders itself irrelevant by slowly explaining everything away. Touches of crime, sci-fi and drama were added to keep things interesting, but in this case, less would've been more.

Liang is a prosecutor diagnosed with cancer. When Wang, the CEO of a major conglomerate, is brutally murdered in his own home, Liang is put on the case. The more Liang finds out about Wang's affairs, the more complex the case becomes. Of course, nothing is what it seems, which is explained through a series of twist in the second half of the film.

Performances and direction are decent, the sci-fi elements help to make things a bit more intriguing, but the film is too basic. I'm not a big fan of films that slowly unravel a mystery through some twists and endless explanations, and with 130 minutes on the clock, Cheng takes too much time getting to the end. With the material at hand, I'd hoped for something a bit more cinematic.