Rating: C+
Dir: Zhonghuai Sun
Star: Qiangba Caidan, Yidan Zou, Lingling Su, Qiuchi Han
I will be sending a strongly-worded memo to the makers of this film, since they seem oblivious or indifferent to the differences between bees and wasps. Maybe just this image. For, despite the title, what we have here are, very clearly, wasps of unusual size. Though from the point of view of horror, it’s fine by me. I have no particular phobia of bees: live and let live. Wasps, however, I hate with a passion. One of them, at normal scale, is enough to get me flailing like a windmill on meth. A synopsis like we have here – “A company’s experiment mutates wasps into raging giants” – is truly the stuff of my worst nightmares.
They are the product of research carried out by the IF Corporation, the latest in a long line of questionable Chinese scientific companies. They are looking for a cancer cure. Except, of course, shit happens, and the research facility, located deep in a mine in a remote area, goes dark. A week later, a rescue party are sent to investigate. They include Tian Li (Caidan), whose father was the lead scientist on the project, and whose daughter Niuniu is one of the cancer patients being treated. There is a distinct Aliens vibe here, not least in the survival of Niuniu, whose name is suspiciously close to that film’s small child. In general too, there’s a fair amount of creeping around corridors, and the soundtrack at points does appear informed by James Horner.
At a mere 65 minutes long though, this is certainly less well-developed. There are some weird, dangling elements, such as one of the rescue team developing a glowing eye, which never amounts to anything of significance. Similarly, the geezer brought along, with a mental link to the insects. Or the thread about the swarm mistaking “the estrogen in Niuniu’s body for queen pheromones.” It’s as if the script was written for a two-hour movie, then only half of it was filmed. The effects are functional. There is an oversized model wasp used occasionally, which is nice. The CGI is not great, but was good enough to pass muster from my phobia’s easily-pleased vantage point. Specifically, behind the sofa and through my fingers. We do get a great subtitle: “(The shrill cries of giant bees)”.
I would have liked to have seen more direct battles between the humans and the wasps. The best comes right at the end, when the few survivors are heading up in an elevator (top), after triggering the complex’s self-destruct program. Two creatures peel open the lift like a tin-can leading to a hand-to-hand battle which is quite effective (someone kung-fu kicking a giant wasp did make me laugh). I did want to see more flamethrower action: this proved highly effective, not least because the CGI fire never set anything else alight except for the CGI insect. It demonstrates a certain sloppiness which is quite prevalent here. But given my fears, the movie still played out well enough to push a few personal buttons.
This review is part of our feature, When Chinese Animals Attack.