Review | Nezha movie review: Taiwanese racing drama starring Hannah Quinlivan, Tsao Yu-ning is thoroughly derivative
- A gamer with no experience of driving joins a motor racing team with a rare female driver (Quinlivan) … and a sports drama morphs into a sappy romance
- With a cliché-riddled script and underwhelming racing scenes, this is condescending drivel from producer and Taiwanese pop icon Jay Chou, who has a cameo role
1.5/5 stars
A world champion gamer (played by Tsao Yu-ning) with no prior driving experience is recruited by a professional rally team in Nezha, Jem Chen Yi-xian’s frustratingly derivative motor racing drama. Not since Armageddon sent roughnecks into space, rather than teach trained astronauts how to drill a hole, has such an implausible plot device been embraced so enthusiastically.
Jack (Tsao) dissolves into a quivering puddle of nerves whenever he gets behind the wheel of an actual car, but that doesn’t stop desperate rally team the Lions from signing him up after Lily (Quinlivan) is injured in an on-track altercation with Jeff (Van Fan Yi-chen), the team’s increasingly bitter and insecure captain.
Chou is no stranger to the racing genre. In 2005, he played the lead in the Hong Kong-produced adaptation of popular Japanese manga Initial D. So it comes as no surprise that he saves a little cameo appearance for himself. It’s a small and insignificant role, but one that carries a whiff of Vin Diesel, and hints at Chou’s vision of a larger Nezha cinematic universe to come. Eagle-eyed viewers may also catch a couple of sly nods to Initial D along the way.
