Vortex (China, 2019) Review

"If you take me with her I will never see my father again"

Director: Gan Jianyu.
Screenplay: Gan Jianyu.
Cast: Da Peng, Ou Hao, Li Meng.

Liu is a gambler addict who owns a repair shop where he usually schemes. He needs money desperately after losing everything. A friend of dubious legality offers him a simple job to earn quick easy money. He just needs to steal an unregistered car and resell it. The simple scam complicates when he finds a girl in the trunk of the car.

We usually think that money can fix all our problems and that it really would give us that happiness that all mortals wish. But what do we really need to be happy? The actors of Vortex belong to the lower class in the society, think that money is everything and can solve their problems. We are humans and we make a lot of mistakes, but we try to learn from them. At the end, we all wish love and happiness in life. Welcome to Vortex.

Director Gan Jianyu films this frantic thriller shoot in a classic mood and impeccable execution. A race for survival in a hostile world full with insatiable predators, where only the smartest will emerge alive.

The movie has a well-structured screenplay with rhythm and the sufficient drama needed in the story, almost a mandatory pause to slow down the violence that suffers the main character in this relentless chase.

When we talk about action, Vortex leans more to violence than to pleasant choreographies, giving the plot a visual severity that suits the film very well. This all makes sense since the main character is a person used to run and hide, but not fight.

The movie is excellent in the interpretative level achieving that we empathize with the main characters as well as the villains, because in Vortex, the Director emphasize the emotional links from both sides. Little Qiqi is amazing in her role as victim with a performance worth to see, intense and emotional for such a little girl.

The music soundtrack highlights the movie with overwhelming compositions that mix with the urban sounds, surprising us with some brilliant scenes.

In short, Vortex is a thriller that the genre lovers will like, but will not surprise those who are looking for fresh and new emotions. A well-executed film with a necessary message. Enjoy!

The best: The performances, especially little Qiqi.
The soundtrack.
The story rawness

The worst: A classic plot seen in other productions of the same genre.

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