Busted Water Pipes

Story: Yu Dahai (Eddie Peng) is a member of a SWAT team. During an operation, the team is given the wrong address, allowing a kidnapper to blow himself and his three hostages up. Dahai’s superior, Shannon (Prem Yadav), is to blame for the disaster but manages to strike a deal with the authorities: if Dahai takes the fall — thereby preserving Shannon’s chances of becoming a senator — the officer will merely be transferred and allowed to return once Shannon has secured the seat. Consequently, Dahai ends up in the small town of Hoping, where he is assigned to the local police station working for his new chief, Ge (Yang Haoyu), and alongside two colleagues. In reality, however, very little actual work gets done there. Dahai takes matters into his own hands, enforcing law and order in the town while longing for a transfer back to the capital. Seven years pass, and his daughter is now of school age. Thanks to Dahai, the crime rate has dropped to zero; Senator Shannon plans to close the precinct as part of his re-election campaign, simply because there are no longer any crimes to police. Dahai and his colleagues consider how to prevent this. Meanwhile, the guru Luo Siji (Ai Lun) is visited by his uncle, Luo Yin (Zhang Qi). The tomb of a legendary female pirate is said to be located in the city. Together with a group that includes Luo Yin’s psychopathic son Hao (Zhou You), who has just escaped from prison, the grave robbers aim to seize the pirate’s treasure. The only problem is that the tomb lies beneath the police station...

Review: Checking out comedies from China is always a bit of a gamble. The humor can be quite peculiar at times, not least because it often leans heavily toward slapstick. "Busted Water Pipes" heads in exactly that direction - or so it seems at first - and within just a few minutes, I was convinced I’d likely have to slog my way through the film. The fact that the story is set in a fictional Southeast Asian kingdom also gives it a somewhat cheap feel; after all, similar settings are often used in Chinese streaming movies. Then there is the over-the-top acting and questionable humor revolving around a recurring bull that, naturally, never gets hit by a single tranquilizer dart from the incompetent police force. Fortunately, though, all this buffoonery is confined to the first thirty minutes. Then the film shifts gears, and it actually becomes... entertaining.

Strictly speaking, the film remains an off-the-wall comedy, but as it unfolds, the humor thrives on chaotic moments, misunderstandings, and a certain kinetic energy that makes even the flatter jokes land surprisingly well. It also helps that, with every passing minute, more parties get drawn into the story, and none of the characters involved have a clear grasp of the situation, unlike the audience, of course. There is a surprising tonal shift when the cold-blooded killer Hao escapes prison and joins the gang of crooks hunting for the pirate treasure; things take a serious turn, people die, and blood is spilled. Yet, this shouldn't come as a real shock, given that the opening sequence with the SWAT team already demonstrated the film's ability to venture into serious territory and handle the action genre effectively. That said, the story's prologue had initially seemed like a standard setup designed to make our hard-boiled hero appear particularly pathetic against the backdrop of a sleepy small town where nothing ever happens.

Then again, it isn't actually true that nothing happens in the small town. Petty crooks have free rein because the police just laze about and turn a blind eye to trouble. Dahai has to clean things up first, a task he manages to accomplish within a few days. Then comes a seven-year time jump. The precise necessity of this eluded me, however. Sure, Dahai needs to realize that he’s been forgotten in this backwater, but that doesn't require so many years to pass. Perhaps the aim was to let the young daughter grow up a bit, though the girl feels more like an afterthought added to the script. In general, the screenplay isn't particularly well-conceived; the main goal seems to have been simply bringing as many factions as possible together for the grand finale. And surprisingly, it actually works quite well. After a somewhat rocky start, "Busted Water Pipes" picks up real momentum, and the various misunderstandings generate not only humor but also a delightful sense of chaos.

Eddie Peng ("Operation Mekong") undoubtedly plays the character meant to ground the film, and he succeeds in doing so. While he certainly has his humorous moments, he — alongside the murderous psychopath — ensures the movie doesn't devolve into pure slapstick. I appreciated the film's occasional serious moments, and the finale proves unexpectedly unique; after all, the big showdown takes place on a pirate ship. The plot itself might not be particularly compelling, but the situations the characters find themselves in certainly are. The action also impresses, which is a significant bonus. The finale even takes on a somewhat epic scale, thanks in part to CGI, though the quality of the special effects is hit-or-miss. That pretty much sums up the film as a whole: a colorful mix that’s fun to watch, provided you don't go in with high expectations.

Ultimately, however, I was bothered by the peculiar tone, which simply doesn't quite gel. The slapstick humor has already been mentioned, as has the fact that the film can take a more serious turn; at times, it even becomes extremely violent. The killer suddenly executes someone with a shot to the head and remains a genuine threat throughout, injecting an unusual amount of tension into the story. Yet, when the cop and the killer briefly team up against a common enemy, they share a fist-bump, leaving the viewer unsure of exactly what director Zhou Difei expects of us. In any case, it is impossible to root for Hao; his character is beyond redemption. Moments like this occur regularly in "Busted Water Pipes". It is a rough-around-the-edges action-comedy that gets off to a truly terrible start, embodying all the negative traits of a B-movie, only to grow in scale and conviction, thereby delivering some of the genre's positive qualities as well. It may not be a "good" film in the traditional sense, but the chaos, the later humor, and the action ultimately made me forget the negatives, resulting in an entertaining watch, provided you know what you’re getting into.

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