The Mysterious Mr. Wong 2002 Horror Movie Review

Confucius was the most famous of all the sages of China and lived in Changtung province. Should any one man possess all twelve coins he would gain extraordinary power in the province of Keelat. The film begins when a man falls on the street, and another runs up to pick his pockets. It is a mysterious killing in Chinatown. Three high-binders present their coins to Mr. Wong. Is it his fate to rule Keelat? A reporter is sent to Chinatown to search for Mr. Wong. He visits the scene of the last murder. [Is he tampering with evidence?] Wong allows no excuse for failure. [Was it faulty orders?] “Make it look like an accident.” [Does Bela Lugosi speak Chinese with an accent?] The Professor reads about the Golden Coins of Confucius on that laundry ticket.


The reporter uses a trick out of “The Front Page”. Some of the scenes are still funny. When Foo Wong hears a noise he shoots through a curtain with his .32 revolver, but no one is there. Then another body falls on the street. A relative of Sam Toy shows up to read that slip of paper. Will it help China? “Maybe.” Will someone stumble onto something? The clunky script drops a coin for the reporter. The incidents are more comic than scary. Things start to drag. Will he wish he never interfered in the affairs of Wong? Will they find a phone? Will Officer MacGillicuddy find a clue? Will the police arrive in time? You know there will be a happy ending to what was meant to be a scary mystery. [So what became of those twelve coins?]


That story about the twelve coins is a parable. Anyone who possesses all the coin of a realm already has extraordinary powers in politics and banking. That is why the portrait of a ruler is placed on coins or currency. [The Chinese invented paper money.] There is little magic in a handful of coins by themselves. There was a similar “Sherlock Holmes” story where a man tried to collect all the items in a set. Aside from its exotic setting in Chinatown, it is a classic morality play where an evil man triumphs for a while until he gets justice.