Directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Chen Liang, after a critical intelligence leak, a national security unit launches an intensive investigation. But successive setbacks in their arrest operations reveal a shocking truth: the trail leads back to within the unit itself. Amidst a storm of trust and betrayal, a silent battle begins to unfold. Starring: Jackson Yee, Zhu Yilong, Song Jia, Lei Jiayin and Yang Mi.
As soon as Scare Out opens you can sense the type of ultra-modern, sharp, technology focused style that Zhang Yimou is going for. If that’s not for you, you might struggle with this one as it’s a lot of drone and CCTV footage, high-tech tracking of suspects and sweeping high definition views of the city. It makes for some great visuals but at the same time it can feel exceptionally cold, which means that you then need the characters to warm things up, which unfortunately Chen Liang’s writing doesn’t excel at.
The way that the characters interact can feel, for the most part, clinical. That’s not surprising given Scare Out is a tale of espionage that follows tactical outings, but without some form of emotional connection, there isn’t enough to keep viewers hooked. There is a good bit of camaraderie from Jackson Yee and Zhu Yilong, and the women of the film do try to add a bigger range of emotion and connection but on the whole, it doesn’t amount to much. There isn’t a lot of personality, and the story is exceptionally familiar. So, while the performances are good, they’re mostly hitting the same notes.
Another part of that problem is Scare Out moves surprisingly slowly. Considering there are some great chase sequences that keep things on the move, the story itself feels drawn out. There’s also a bit too much effort to try and speed things up during those action-led moments, with overly quick edits constantly throwing back to drones and overhead shots, taking things out of the moment. Whereas the score work is best in those chase scenes but weakens to something soap-opera like in the quieter moments, undercutting scenes.
Scare Out is a great choice for viewers that love some high-tech espionage, but it may struggle to hold the attention of others. It moves fairly slowly and goes over the same ground that we’ve seen time and time again. It still holds entertainment value, it has a really sharp visual, decent performances and a good sleek energy, even if the style is quite cold. Basically, it does tick the right boxes for this type of film, but it’s lacking a strong lead character or a bigger reason for viewers to invest other than simply that there’s a double agent in their midst.
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