Endgame (2021)

One night an accident in a bathhouse leaves an elite assassin with amnesia and a failing actor with his keys. As the actor tries to assume the assassin's identity, the amnesiac struggles to piece together the life he genuinely has no memory of living, and turn it around.

ENDGAME starts off promisingly, with an assassination filmed in bold, stylish colours and some genuinely witty humour. Unfortunately the premise doesn't have enough meat on its bones to sustain this energy, and by about half an hour in it has devolved into a pretty standard romantic comedy with positive vibes, occasionally interrupted by a snarling villain who is waiting for the hit she ordered to be carried out.

Apparently it's a remake of a Japanese film from 2012 called KEY OF LIFE. It looks like it follows it quite closely, but I haven't seen the original so I can't say how this compares. The film is a pretty decent spin of the romcom wheel, with all the sincerity and life advice you could hope to get... I assume that's what people hope to get out of them? I have no idea. It's not the film I thought I was going to get though, and not the film the first 20-30 minutes seem to promise.

It's good to see Andy Lau still doing well for himself, navigating the vastly different waters of mainland cinema. His costars Xiao Yang and Wan Qian are likeable enough too.