Octopus With Broken Arms 误杀3 (2024) Review: A Competently Made, Though Overwhelmingly Labyrinthine Kidnapping Thriller
The third Sheep Without a Shepherd film series, Octopus With Broken Arms marks the first time the franchise’s movie is based upon an original screenplay. By contrast, the first two movies — Sheep Without a Shepherd and Fireflies in the Sun — are respectively remakes of Drishyam and John Q, both of which starred Xiao Yang. All three movies carry the literal Chinese title of Manslaughter, even though they are just spiritual sequels with the same lead actor playing different roles.
So, here we have Xiao Yang once again and this time, he plays Zheng Bingrui, a wealthy businessman overseeing a cosmetic company and a single father, whose eight-year-old daughter Tingting (Ye Quanxi) is kidnapped at her birthday party. Her schoolteacher Li Huiping (Tong Liya), who is close with the family happens to be there at the time of her kidnapping.
The Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) force led by Zhang Jingxian (Duan Yihong) is tasked to investigate the case as they subsequently uncover more secrets surrounding the abduction, one of which has to do with the 619 incident that occurred on June 19th, 2017. The kidnappers, however, are always one step ahead, leading Zheng and Li on a desperate mission to locate Tingting at all costs.
The Sheep Without a Shepherd film series once again follows the trend of enlisting different directors for each instalment with the first two being Sam Quah and Dai Mo while Jacky Gan (2019’s Vortex) is calling the shots for Octopus With Broken Arms. His workmanlike direction navigates Chen Sicheng, Wu Pipi, Li Peng and Hu Xiaonan’s labyrinthine screenplay which by now, feels like a standard template for a twist-filled thriller dominating the Chinese movies these days.
If you have seen enough of them from Sheep Without a Shepherd to Lost in the Stars, Go for Broke and A Place Called Silence, you know how the mechanism of the story works. Gan crams his movie with lots of twists and turns as the story gradually unfolds with new information from shady character motivations to misdirection and plenty of detailed flashbacks. The latter is especially true with the story addressing some of the characters’ past and how it affects the present during the second half of the movie.
Thanks to its constantly busy plot, Octopus With Broken Arms throws enough red herrings to keep you distracted from questioning the narrative logic. I must admit the movie can get too overwhelming at times as if the director worries about the audience’s short attention spans while the rest might have to play catch-up on how everything in the story is linked.
Not to mention it reminds me of a certain Chinese movie that I watched last year, notably the similarity in the way both movies are orchestrated, albeit in different subject matters. But as much as I enjoyed Gan’s competent direction, the movie somehow lacks the pulpy thrills and above all, a fresh angle to the now-saturated twist-filled thriller tropes to elevate Octopus With Broken Arms to a substantial creative height.
As for the actors, Xiao Yang does a good job playing a relentless father trying to save his daughter, even though there are times he tends to overact in some scenes. The supporting cast, namely Tong Liya and Duan Yihong deliver decent support in their respective roles as Li Huiping and Zhang Jingxian. Overall, even with its few shortcomings, Octopus With Broken Arms remains reasonably fun to watch how the dots are connected with all the multiple flashbacks laying out in the open. At least, the third Sheep Without a Shepherd movie is a step above the overly sentimental Fireflies in the Sun.
