This is a disaster movie, no doubt. Only the cause of the disaster is the mechanical plotting of Hung Tzu-hsuan.
We already know the formula: a high-speed train, a bomb that will detonate if the train slows down, a hero (or several) trying to stop the explosion and evacuate the passengers, all while trying to uncover the identity of the criminal. Substitute the train with a car, a boat, a bus, or any other vehicle, and you'll get more or less the same set of scenarios, the same disaster formula.
Director: Tzu-Hsuan Hung
Writers: Yi-Fang Chen, Tzu-Hsuan Hung, Wan-Ju Yang
Stars: Po-Hung Lin, Vivian Sung, Bo-Chieh Wang
In 96 Minutes, director Hung Tzu-hsuan, along with co-writers Yang Wan-ju and Evonne Chen, ups the ante by placing two bombs on two different trains. Furthermore, if one bomb is defused, the other automatically detonates. What motivated our evil genius to devise such a wicked plan? The answer lies in the opening scenes, where a police officer says that to save the lives of the majority, he had to sacrifice a few. The police officers aren't superheroes; this one openly admits his human limitations and expresses his regret at not being able to save everyone from a disastrous situation.
Of course, among those few who lost their lives was someone very close to our criminal. Now they want police officers Song Ken-Ren (Austin Lin) and Li Jie (Lee Lee-zen) to experience what it feels like to lose someone, what it feels like to be powerless. This quest for revenge provides 96 Minutes with its emotional core, which Tzu-hsuan elevates to such a high and relentless level that it ultimately loses its intensity, its force.
I don't think I've ever seen such a tearjerker of a thriller. The film wants to show humans as vulnerable, as crazy, as saviors, as survivors, and at the same time, it wants to excite our senses with ticking clocks and a dangerous stunt where a man jumps from one train to another. There's very little of the latter, as the film is far more interested in showing real people trapped in a terrible situation. However, these characters are nothing more than sentimental figures lacking any depth. They serve a rather superficial function: to make us cry or elicit a sigh of tenderness (Ken-Ren and his wife, Huang Xin [Vivian Sung], plan their honeymoon by exchanging affectionate text messages).
It's no surprise, then, that we feel no connection to the characters. And since there are no spectacular scenes or unexpected twists (Tzu-hsuan, unfortunately, maintains an overly subdued tone), it makes you want to leave the movie theater. Even dedicating 90 minutes to 96 Minutes is too much; I already wanted to leave after 30 or 40 minutes. It's a disastrous film, without a doubt. The cause of the "disaster," however, lies in Tzu-hsuan's forced sentimentality.
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