Satirising the current mini-trend for murder mysteries and costume detectives, Deadly Will is a lightly funny vehicle for comedian Guo Tao that's sustained by some good screen chemistry between the cast and an air of not taking itself very seriously. Guo looks much more at home here than in the recent 3-D extravaganza Don Quixote , where his deadpan style was overwhelmed by the production and special effects. As the doofus detective Ka Naiji (a pun on "Nike card"), who is asked to solve the brutal murder of a rich man's elder son, Guo has a good screen partner in TV actress Cecilia Han as an unlikely martial arts expert assigned to help him, as well as co-stars Ju Wenpei as the plot's femme fatale and Hong Kong's Patrick Tam as a devious family doctor.
The corkscrew plot, revolving round a complicatedly structured will, just about makes sense, and fends off close examination thanks to mobile direction by Hou Liang . Production values are on the modest side but okay, and after apparently concluding at the 70-minute mark the script blithely adds an extra act with a few more surprises. The film is more likably humorous than laugh-out-loud, but a plot development involving a Korean character is genuinely funny. The Chinese title involves several untranslatable puns.(By Derek Elley)
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