RUNNING ON KARMA (2003)
Label: Eureka Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 Minutes 11 Seconds
Audio: Cantonese PCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai
Cast: Andy Lau, Cecilia Cheung
Running On Karma, co-directed by Johnnie To (Running Out of Time) and Wai Ka-fai (Peace Hotel), is an offbeat Hong Kong action/crime thriller starring Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) as "Big", a former Buddhist monk turned body builder/stripper, who turned away from his spiritual calling after in a fit of anger over the death of a friend, he accidentally killed a bird, in the process discovering that he has the unusual ability to see the past lives of people, meaning he can see who they were in a former life and how their actions in that past life will karmically play out in this life. At the start of the film he is stripping at a bar when he is busted undercover female cop Lee Fung-yee (Cecilia Cheung, The Legend of Zu) for performing without a proper permit. He flees the scene and she gives chase on foot, while he is running naked through the streets he sees another police action, cops are chasing a serial kille on the same street, and he sees a police dog chasing the suspect. He has a vision of the dog's previous life as a small child who tortured dogs, and moments later the dog is accidentally shot to death with a bullet meant for the killer - this was it's karmic-fate This establishes his past life/karma visions, which he also observes with his arresting officer Lee Fung-yee, seeing her past life as a wicked Japanese soldier prone to decapitating civilians during wartime.
Recognizing Lee's inherent kindness, and hoping to help her change her karmic-fate through good deeds Big teams-up with the cop after showing her his inexplicable, gravity-defying supernatural Buddhist monk martial arts abilities and his karmic visions. He helps her investigate a murder, deducing through his karmic sixth-sense that the victim of the serial killer he saw while fleeing the bar had wronged the killer in their past lives, also noting that the killer will be caught by finding someone who is missing their left arm. The way this pans out, the person the missing left arm is quite a scene indeed, a karmic quirk that I did not see coming.
That's something I can say quite a bit about this one, it's weird and unusual, the tone shifts are tectonic, and the mashing-up of genres is absolutely breathless and unafraid. We get a crime thriller, a serial killer flick, rom-com flourishes, a supernatural martial arts flick, and a Buddhist meditation on karma and past lives. It's quite something, and on paper it sounds like a hot mess, but as directed by Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai it all comes together into this wonderful, weird and expectation defying slice of cinema that just won me over scene-after-scene. What felt like a revenge-minded crime-thriller about a supernatural serial killer sort of evolves into this beautiful film about the philosophical questions of spirituality, redemption and faith.
That's not to say its not batshit insane, it is, for starters lets address the elephant in the rom, the fact that Andy Lau performs wearing a muscle-suit throughout the whole film. Why this is necassary for the character is not quite clear to me, but somehow it worked for me and did not come off as ridiculous. It's a solid piece of body-suit work, sculpted beautifully, it is mostly seamless-looking, as he is seen in it nearly naked quite a bit I thought it held up well. There are fleeting moments when the folds and creases of the skin are a tad unnatural and uncanny, but I got say it works like gang-busters. The other thing is that Big tries to help the female cop, and seeing that her karmic fate has doomed her to an unfavorable end tries to keep his distance but is so drawn to her kindness that he tries to help her atone for her past karmic-sins. How this resolves was actually quite a shocking bit of business, involving a head bashed-in by a stone and decapitation by a sharp-edged rock - it once again defied by expectations, and even further more when this bit of violence triggers a justified quest for revenge, only to evolve into a spiritual journey of forgiveness.
This comes highly recommended, and is surely gonna be on my year-end list of 2025 film discoveries. It's a film that defied expectation at every turn, and that on paper sounds like a proper train wreck, but the sharp genre-bending direction, and the terrific performance from Andy Lau, keep this action-crime-fantasy flick on track, managing to be violent, silly, soulful, and action-packed.
Audio/Video: Running On Karma (2003) arrives on region A,B Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1), it looks terrific, the source is in great shape, colors are pleasing, black levels and shadow detail are solid throughout. The sole audio option is the original Cantonese PCM 2.0 stereo with optional, newly translated English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, dialogue is nicely prioritized and the Cacine Wong core sounds great in the mix without overpowering the scenes.
Extras include a new Audio Commentary by East Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and F.J. DeSanto; a new 25-min Reap the Whirlwind – Interview with Gary Bettinson, editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema journal; a 19- in Archival “Making of…” Featurette, and a 1-min Theatrical Trailer. This Limited Edition (of 2000) release arrives in a clear keepcase, with a Limited Edition O-card Slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow, plus a Collector’s Booklet featuring a new essay by David West of NEO Magazine.
Special Features:
- Limited Edition of 2000 copies
- Limited Edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow
- NEW! Audio Commentary by East Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and F.J. DeSanto
- NEW! Reap the Whirlwind – Interview with Gary Bettinson, editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema journal (24:50)
- Archival “Making of…” Featurette (18:39)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:18)
- Collector’s Booklet featuring a new essay by David West of NEO magazine
Screenshots from the Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray:
Extras:
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