Saving Mr. Wu is a suspenseful drama inspired by real events. It tells the story of a movie star named Wu who gets kidnapped by criminals pretending to be police officers. The kidnappers then force him to ask a friend to pay a ransom for him or else he would die after twenty-four hours. In order to survive and give another kidnapped man some hope, Wu uses his wits to get to know more about his kidnappers, put himself in their shoes and find a way out. Meanwhile, the police is tracking down the leader of the gang as time is about to run out.The most interesting element about the movie are the conversations between Wu, the victim, and Zhang, the leader of the kidnappers. The two empathize with each other to a certain degree and develop a certain type of code of honor, based upon honesty and respect. The film also has a quite sinister atmosphere as it mostly takes place at night and in small rooms. An interesting sidenote is that the man who was actually kidnapped in real life has a supporting role in this movie which makes this movie quite authentic.On the other side, the movie fails to truly stand out and leave a mark despite the interesting characters. The film sometimes loses itself in lengthy and repetitive conversations instead of adding some pace and urgency. The way the story is told doesn't help either since the movie starts with a sequence that actually takes place towards the middle of the film, therefore spoiling half of it and making the whole plot quite predictable.To keep it short, Saving Mr. Wu isn't a bad movie and worth your attention if you like tense dramas with profound antagonists and protagonists. The story is too predictable though and the filmmaking sometimes tedious. Watching this movie once is an overall entertaining experience but it simply isn't memorable and I wouldn't recommend purchasing it.

It's realistic (quite sadly) that someone dressed in police uniform can get away with much, and we see that here where a top notch movie star is kidnapped in such a manner. Actually, it is based on a true story and the actor who suffered this fate appears in the movie!This has "Hollywood remake" all over it, and already I can imagine what Hollywood would have in store for a remake. Kudos to the producers of Saving Mr. Wu for making a taut thriller that stands on its own. The ending was quite poignant and kind of a redemption of sorts. The movie start sort of made peace with his kidnapper so that was good to see. Saving Mr Wu is worth watching and if there's a DVD actor's or director's commentary then that would be worth listening to for sure.

I regard this film is somewhat a remake or tribute to Akira Kurosawa's Tengoku to Jigoku (Heaven and Hell) - a detective story of a kidnap that depicts the detectives, the kidnapper and the kidnapped (though for the former it is the father of the kidnapped that is the main character).With both being shot in semi-documentary styles (the film is actually based on a true story in China) and focused on the investigation procedure, it is the kidnapper in both that steal the show. Ruthless, relentless and with hatred for the society, both are ready to do anything for money. Lau, who played the victim in the present film, even with good acting and a script tailored-made for him, actually overshadowed by the kidnapper.With the case slowly reviewed, the evils of present-day 21st century China are also reviewed. The use of apple as the main source /key for solving the case is a nice human touch to a very depressing and inhumanistic story and make the key message more in line with the Chinese official (i.e. criminal listen you rip what you sow) or the cause and effect Buddhist philosophy.All in all, despite its conventional tone, it is a good film with a good acting, good script and good cinematography all round and a positive message for the folks of a socialist society that turn more materialistic and capitalistic day by day.

A huge movie star gets kidnapped for ransom and the police must find him before time is up.At first I though the movie was going to be similar JCVD, and it does have elements of that in the movie, with Andy Lau playing a actor who could have easily gotten himself out of the situation he was in if he was one of the characters he plays, but instead he's stuck in a house with a series of men who, though love him as an actor, seriously mean business.I loved the relationship Lau has with a fellow kidnapper. As Mr. Wu, he attempts to keep up his Star power persona to make him more claim. It was brilliantly done. For the most part, the movie was about the crime unit assigned to find Mr. Wu with the missing person's clock ticking. The guy who they got to play the leader of the kidnappers really took over the screen. it was all about him, and he made an impressive villain to watch. Overall, I have to recommend this police drama. Impressively done.