''Too Cool to Kill'' is a 2022 Chinese

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

, based on the 2008 Japanese film '' The Magic Hour''. It stars Wei Xiang as an amateur actor who is invited to play a leading role in a film and ends up drawn into a dangerous situation. It was released in China on 1 February 2022 (

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

) and in the United States and Canada on 18 February 2022. It is Xing Wenxiong's feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

Plot

Harvey is a gang leader who a hitman named Karl sought to assassinate, but both were injured in the demolition of a building; Karl was crippled in the explosion and Harvey was injured by his astray bullet. While seeing a supposed employee in the hospital (not knowing it's his attempted assassin), Harvey receives news that his injury may not have been caused by flying debris from the building but instead by gunshot; the evidence provided being in the form of a shell casing with "Karl" engraved on it. Enraged, he vowed to seek out the hitman Karl. Meanwhile, Mi Lan's brother directed a film that failed in the box office, which meant Harvey lost money on his investment, prompting him to threaten said director. Harvey then gets startled by the popping of a balloon, mistakenly assuming Karl was in the vicinity. Mi Lan then uses this to say she knows "Karl" and can bring him to Harvey. This brings amateur actor Wei Chenggong into the picture, as Mi Lan sees him as a potential recruit to "play the role of a hitman", which draws him into an unknowingly risky environment that could possibly have the group killed by Harvey and his gang, the whole while Wei thinking it's a film set.

Cast

* Ma Li as Mi Lan * Wei Xiang as Wei Chenggong * Chen Minghao as Harvey * Zhou Dayong as Jimmy * Huang Cailun as Mi Le * as Karl

Production

''Too Cool to Kill'' is an adaptation of

Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest Rikishi, sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics ...

's 2008 Japanese film '' The Magic Hour''. It was written and directed by Xing Wenxiong (邢文雄), one of the writers of ''

My People, My Homeland ''My People, My Homeland'' () is a 2020 Chinese anthology comedy film. The film consists of five short stories that take place in Beijing, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hangzhou, and Shenyang. The film was a financial success, grossing over $433.2 million wor ...

''. It is Xing's feature film directorial debut. It was produced by Yan Fei (闫非) and Peng Damo (彭大魔). Filming began on 23 June 2021, and on the same day it was announced that the film would be released on Chinese New Year 2022. For one scene in the film, Wei Xiang had to speak Italian, a language which he had never studied and felt stressed about speaking, according to costar Zhou Dayong. Wei said in an interview that the crew gave him a translator, who spoke to him after shooting and helped him memorize the lines.

Release

The film was released in China on 1 February 2022 (

), and it was released in a limited number of cities in the United States and Canada on 18 February 2022 by distributor

Well Go USA Well Go USA Entertainment is an American independent and international film distributor. It distributes films in a variety of genres, including action films, American indie films, and martial arts films, on all types of platforms, including in ...

. It was the only pure comedy scheduled for release on Chinese New Year 2022.

Reception

The film has been one of the most successful of the 2022 Chinese New Year releases. The film grossed $217 million in its first six days, including $110.5 million in its opening weekend. It received positive reviews from advance screening audiences, and on the day of its release, it got an average rating of 9.2 on

Maoyan Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Culture Media () is a Chinese company that owns the largest online movie ticketing website in China, maoyan.com, with 30% share of the market in 2015. In 2016, Wang Changtian of Beijing Enlight Media offered to buy a contro ...

. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a score of 78% from audiences.

References

External links

* * * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, too_cool_to_kill 2022 films Chinese comedy films 2022 comedy films Films about actors Chinese remakes of Japanese films Chinese action comedy films Chinese New Year films