Hong Kong superstar Louis Koo is the driving force behind Back to the Past, a slim but amiable period adventure based on a long-dormant TV series, A Step into the Past.
Koo starred in the original as Hong Siu-lung, a special forces cop stranded in 250 B.C. when a time travel experiment goes wrong. He is befriended by Chiu Poon (Raymond Lam), destined to become the first Qin emperor. Hong later has a son, Hong Yu, who is destined to assassinate Chiu Poon.
In Back to the Past, Hong has retired to a rural village with his wives and son. He doesn't realize that his time travel caused the imprisonment in the present of Ken (Michael Miu). When Ken is released, he hijacks the time machine in order to take over the emperor's throne from Chiu Poon.
Ken and his daughter Galie (Bai Baihe) travel to the past with heavily armed soldiers equipped with a face-shifting app, Ant-Man-style shrinking motorcycles that transform into hoverboards, and other convenient inventions. Attacking Hong's village, they kidnap one of his wives, forcing Hong to lure Chiu Poon into a trap in order to free her.
But Hong and Chiu have become deadly enemies, Hong aware that the emperor will be seen in history as an evil despot. Most of the film is a back-and-forth tussle between one side and another, with Hong, Chiu, and Ken getting the drop on foes, only to be outwitted by harebrained plot twists. Ken might think he's captured Chiu, only it's Hong in a face-shifting disguise. Someone will escape, only return to free others and get captured again.
Pleasant but instantly disposable, Back to the Past can't work its way around Ken's absurd scheme to become an emperor. With all of eternity available, why chose to journey to a war-torn, disease-ridden backwater?
Louis Koo, one of the more powerful figures in the Hong Kong film industry, managed to assemble most of the original TV cast for the film. Koo and Raymond Lam, both distinguished stars, have a beguiling chemistry. The real highlights are the women in the cast. Joyce Tang pops up as a far more accomplished assassin than her male counterparts. Sonija Kwok, Jessica Hsuan, and Bai Baihe all make strong impressions.
Ng Yuen-fai and Jack Lai Chun-lung co-directed; Sammo Hung was the action director behind several crisp but brief fights and chases. Filmed in 2019, the movie was released in Hong Kong last December.
The film opens today, only in North American movie theaters, via Well Go USA. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.