Zhang Yimou’s murder mystery earns its laughs through Shen Teng and Jackson Yee, but stretches its complications too far. The pair make it worth considering; at 157 minutes, the film asks rather more patience than the case deserves.
Full River Red is an amusing murder mystery that would be easier to recommend if it knew when to stop. Zhang Yimou combines a comic partnership with an investigation that keeps changing direction, and for a while the two work well together. We can enjoy the company while trying to untangle the case, without needing either part to carry every scene. At 157 minutes, though, the film gives us too much time to notice when a fresh complication is merely postponing an answer.
Shen Teng’s Zhang Da and Jackson Yee’s Sun Jun are the reason to persist. The pleasure comes from watching them together: their comic timing gives a scene something to enjoy even when the investigation has become difficult to track. We laughed at their double act, and were grateful for the relief it brought to so much plot. That reaction matters in a mystery this busy, because the pair keep us interested in people when the writing risks reducing everyone to their function in the next complication.
Zhang Yimou makes good use of the spaces through which the investigation moves. His maze-like staging turns the business of getting from one place to another into part of the entertainment, with bursts of action breaking up the detective work. Lu Wei’s production design serves that staging well, making the surroundings feel restrictive rather than merely decorative. The trouble is that Zhao Xiaoding’s dim photography offers too little visual variation, so following the movement becomes less pleasurable as the film goes on.
Li Yongyi’s editing is most effective during the action, where the film briefly feels as brisk as it wants to be. The longer stretches of investigation are another matter, and the final act continues beyond the point at which extra complication is welcome. Han Hong’s music helps maintain the film’s energy, but cannot make this much plotting feel necessary. A shorter cut would have helped the jokes as well as the suspense, giving us less time to recognise how often the story has delayed us.
A comic mystery has an awkward duty: it must let us relax enough to laugh while still making us care about the answer. The screenplay, by Zhang Yimou and Chen Yu, manages that balance in stretches, and its cleverness should not be dismissed simply because there is too much of it. Some changes of direction reward the attention they demand; others interrupt tension that has only just begun to build. The cumulative effect is tiring, especially when the film asks us to reconsider the case yet again.
This is better suited to an evening when untangling a complicated enquiry still sounds like recreation. Anyone primarily hoping for the comic partnership may find the detective work a rather substantial additional commitment. Give it a go for Shen Teng and Jackson Yee, provided an overlong murder investigation is a price worth paying for their company.
