Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – A Witness Out of the Blue (2019) is an exciting murder mystery that is sure to thrill audiences with its heart-racing action sequences and subtle comedic relief. Screening as part of the 2020 virtual Fantasia Film festival, this crime thriller out of Hong Kong is written and directed by Andrew Fung.

Though the production quality for A Witness Out of the Blue is adequate and it looks modern, this movie reminds me of the classic crime thriller films of the 1990s. I feel like A Witness Out of the Blue would fit right in with that boon at the turn of the century, and would star Sandra Bullock and Mel Gibson or someone or other. It would be another summer Blockbuster hit with its subtle layer of humor intertwined with the action of exhilarating chase scenes set to rousing music. Compared to the crime thrillers of the present that are often influenced by the seriousness of a post-9/11 world, A Witness Out of the Blue captured that Blockbuster fun of the 1990s mixing action with a slightly ridiculous plot-point to make one very entertaining movie.

The film stars Louis Cheung as Larry Lam, a detective assigned to investigate the gruesome murder of a junkie who seems to be connected to a series of other crimes. Suspect number one is the leader of a small crime syndicate, Sean Wong (Louis Koo), who is well known to the department as having committed a heinous bank robbery 3 months before. The only witness to the murder is a talking parrot who seems to be able to communicate leads to Larry, casting doubt on the prime suspect and illuminating the involvement of surprising characters. Larry delves deeper into the case and finds himself at odds with his duty as an officer and getting to the truth.

Though the movie is undoubtedly entertaining with likable personalities, these comfortably cliché characters and action scenes do seem to pander to the audience a bit with the over-dramatics. This might be due to the movie’s tendency to use a seemingly stock action-movie soundtrack of high pitched strings to build intensity, which made the movie seem a little cheesy at times, but still, its world of high-stakes whodunit is gripping. Without its fast-paced camera editing style, the movie’s length would have been unbearable as it is nearly two hours long, and in my opinion, overstays its welcome for about 15 or 20 minutes.

There are a few instances where the CGI quality, particularly for fire and flames, belies the film’s maybe not so big budget, but this modern adaptation of classic crime thriller cinema makes up for it in its narrative’s most harrowing moments. A Witness Out of the Blue is chock-full of suspense as the plot mainly focuses on the investigation of one hapless detective that leads him down a path of investigating his own superiors. The movie is well balanced between its action and comedy, and thankfully only steps in a little bit of cheese along the way as it sidesteps making a mockery of the film, only featuring the parrot just enough to make him relevant to the story without making the film seem silly. The parrot is really unnecessary though, this film stands on its own without that gimmick and was about as good of a watch as so-so American action/crime flicks.

MOVIE RATING — 6.5 out of 10