‘The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon’ Netflix Movie Review - Wong Ching-Po’s Crime Drama is Great Fun

The official synopsis of Wong Ching-po's The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon on Netflix goes like this: Upon discovering he's only Taiwan's third-most-wanted fugitive, an ambitious criminal embarks on a quest to overtake the top two. A description like this elicits titters, yet the movie - on Netflix - is labeled "Emotional." I clicked on the play button with a puzzled face. The opening scenes, too, unfolded as per my expectations (we get an action scene with a comic as well as a brutal touch). But before I could blame someone for putting the wrong label, the movie jumped four years forward, and it's from here we start getting all the sad sentiments.

First, we learn about someone's death. Then, a man is told he has stage 4 lung cancer. He is Chen Kui-lin (Ethan Juan), the above-mentioned fugitive who wants to take the first position. Consider the scene where this desire within him is born. After learning about his condition, Kui-lin decides to surrender himself. He goes to the police station and is shocked to discover that he is treated like an ordinary criminal (an officer tells him to wait in line). Kui-lin wants fame and respect - he wants to leave a mark on this world. And so, he decides to kill the top two criminals. They are Hongkie (Ben Yuen) and Lin Lu-ho (Chen Yi-wen).

With Hongkie, the movie hits us with physical violence. Bodies fall from a height, bones get crushed, legs are broken - you know, the usual. Hongkie also sexually abuses and assaults a woman named Cheng Hsiao-mei (Gingle Wang). Ching-po films the action scenes with a violent force. We flinch when characters are injured. The scene where Hongkie places a knife on Kui-lin's neck does not make you nervous or excited, but you smile when the film cuts to Hsiao-mei's perspective and reveals that she is seeing Kui-lin's gun in the mirror. Ching-po knows how and when to give information to the audience. He proves to be a talented craftsman. It's his technique that initially sucks you into this film. The story has its effect on you a bit later. More precisely, when Kui-lin arrives at a cult church (the movie now shifts from physical to mental violence).

Here, a priest informs him that Lu-ho is already dead. I sat up. Where will the film go from here? What will Kui-lin do now? Also, for a man who has cancer, how is Kui-lin not feeling extreme levels of discomfort? The answer to the last question arrives near the end (you do get the answer near the beginning, but the film manipulates you into thinking something else). As far as the first two questions are concerned, after a while, I understood what was happening with Kui-lin in the church. The movie could have maintained suspense by locking us into Kui-lin's subjective vision. However, since we also see what other characters are doing when Kui-lin is not present, we soon realize where the story is headed.

Still, that doesn't take the fun away from that bloody shootout. Even those last scenes between the two lovers manage to move you with their emotional strength. One thing continues to bug me, though: How was Kui-lin able to dig a grave so energetically after getting stabbed with a knife? Did the wounds magically heal by themselves? Never mind. The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon is well-made and well-acted. I went in with zero expectations and came out rejuvenated. The film is great fun.

Final Score- [8.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times