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四人幫之錢唔夠洗 (1999)
The Untold Story III


Reviewed by: Arshadnm6
Date: 04/09/2005
Summary: Untold Story...Unsatisfactory Plot and Unreasonable Gore!!!!

A below average movie with little to offer in regards to plot and character development. The young fresh ‘Sam Lee’ stars alongside ‘Danny Lee’ and a few other recognizable actors, including ‘Samuel Leung Cheuk-Moon’ (whom you might recognize from better roles in movies such as ‘Bio-Cops’ and ‘Young and Dangerous 3’) and Monica Chan Fat-Yung (from ‘Casino Raiders 2’ and ‘Full alert’). Although this movie has a vast number of average stars, this is not enough to improve on its predecessor ‘Untold Story I and II’. ‘Danny Lee’ (thoughtfully named as ‘Inspector Lee’) and his team of investigating officers look into the strange disappearance of a somewhat respectable but inexperienced Loan Shark played by the infamous ‘Ken Lo’ (whom fans might recognize from better roles in ‘2000AD’ and ‘China Strike Force’). Somewhere down the storyline they catch the four individuals including ‘Sam Lee’ and ‘Samuel Leung’ and interrogate them ruthlessly until one of them confesses. Once that is over most of the rest of the movie occurs as back-flashes, where each of the guilty parties explains his version of how and why they murdered the Loan Shark (which pretty-much occupies 60% of the screen-time).

To say this is an average developed movie with little plot is over emphasizing, since the plot is obvious to the viewer within 30 minutes into the movie and fans looking for any kind of gore or horror (for that matter) will be deeply disappointed. The most goriest bit in this movie occurs about 10 minutes before the end, where the guilty party explains in detail how they mutilated the body and then dispensed off the body parts in the most obvious way (without any real imagination), in a bin-liner with all the rest of the rubbish. Also throughout the movie some of the back flashes into the four individuals’ lives are explained in too much detail than is necessary. Danny Lee produced this movie and as usual his role in this movie did do some help if anything into portraying this as a serious realistic movie, although at some parts it was over-the-top acting. For fans of the genre looking for the same kind of Gore as in ‘Untold Story’ will be very disappointed, but if you do occasionally enjoy crime / murder mystery sort of movies might find this a little more up their alley.

Overall a good movie that needed much more work and imagination on it before it’s release, but if better said this classes as a B-Horror movie at best.

Overall Rating: 5.0/10


Reviewed by: ryan
Date: 11/21/1999
Summary: Untold Story III, The (1999)

When I first heard the name of 'The Untold Story III', I wondered if it's another story about using human meat. In fact, if you know the Chinese title of the movie, you'll find that the movie is unrelated to the previous 'Untold Story' series. At least, you won't find Anthony WONG Sau-sang in the movie. In fact, this is a story about youth crime.

'The Untold Story III' commenced with the report of the death of Juno MA's daughter (CHAN Ching-wan). Juno MA, is a middle-aged guy who has been missing for months and the case has still not been processed by two lazy PCs. Finally, Inspector LEE (Danny LEE Sau-yin) takes over the investigation and first interviews WONG Wing-man, a.k.a. Chicken Man (Sam LEE Chan-sum). After interviewing Man, Lee's team capture LUI Ka-cheung (LAM Chi-sin) and HAU King-yeung (Samuel LEUNG Cheuk-woon) who admit that they and another guy CHENG Chung-kam (CHAN Chi-hang) killed Juno MA in December 1997. Juno MA and Man had been good friends for over 15 years. One day, Juno had asked Man if there was any way for him to make money with his savings and Man suggested Juno become a loan-shark. When Juno starts his business Man even becomes Juno's first client. However, Man found that as time went by he and his other three friends borrowed too much money from Man and they cannot repay the interest. Then they have to take the last step ......

Simply, 'The Untold Story III' is a story about the murder of a loan shark by his clients but the plot lacks sufficient detail to be convincing. The script lacks the detail required to build up the relationship between MA and Man and, similarly, lacks convincing motivation for the guys to kill MA. This is the most crucial aspect of the whole case and also potentially the most interesting part of the plot but was left unexplored in this film.

The crew have tried their best despite a limited script. The use of flashback is a suitable way for them to flesh out the script with more detail. Danny LEE Sau-yin successfully plays the same role he played in his previous Organized Crime movies.

The director has effectively shown the fear of the four criminals after killing MA. The approach is similar to that used in ghost stories. On the other hand, the first few minutes may be the worst part of the movie as the over-acting of CHIN Ka-lok and Emily KWAN Bo-wai is very annoying. Personally, I wonder if it necessary to have them in the movie at all.

As the focus of the movie is on Sam LEE Chan-sum, Samuel LEUNG Cheuk-moon and LAM Chi-sin, they stand out in the movie. Out of the three, Sam LEE is the most outstanding actor for his unique facial expressions. The emotional strength of Samuel LEUNG in the movie is also remarkable.

In short, 'The Untold Story III' is a movie unrelated to the previous series. It's about how a group of youths kill a loan shark. The movie lacks elaboration in building up the relationship of the cast. The flow of the story is unexciting. Luckily, the performance of the leading cast are above average.