Treasure Hunt (1994) | Region-Free (Blu-Ray) | Starring Chow Yun-Fat

Title: Treasure Hunt (1994)

Alternate Title: Hua qi shao lin

Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Plot Synopsis:
A Chinese American CIA operative is assigned to escort a Chinese national treasure to the United States. Upon arriving in Beijing, he stays at a Shaolin temple, where he encounters cultural conflicts and forms unexpected friendships, leading to a transformative journey.

Cast and Crew:

• Director: Jeffrey Lau
• Writer: Jeffrey Lau
• Cast:
  • Chow Yun-Fat as Jeffrey Cheung Ching
  • Jacklyn Wu as Mui Siu-ching
  • Gordon Liu as Abbot Hung Chi
  • Chin Han as Tong Ling / Captain Chiu
  • Michael Wong as Michael

YouTube Trailer:
Treasure Hunt (1994) | Trailer

IMDb Link:
Treasure Hunt (1994)

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. Lou (rhymes with wow!) – ★★★☆☆
   “Ruthless heroic bloodshed flick… sappy romantic comedy… martial arts actioner… goofy fantasy flick… it’s as if Jeffrey Lau couldn’t decide what he wanted to make with Treasure Hunt, so he just made every type of movie that was popular in Hong Kong at the time. This doesn’t work well as a traditional movie, but Chow Yun-Fat and Wu Chien-Lien make sure it’s always entertaining to watch.”
2. HKFanatic – ★★★☆☆
   “Want to say this is the single most random and scattershot film I’ve ever seen from Chow Yun-fat, which might come down to director Jeffrey Lau seemingly being more in his element when working with Stephen Chow on films like ‘A Chinese Odyssey’ and ‘All for the Winner.’ See if you can follow this premise: Chow Yun-fat plays a CIA operative whose cover is a college professor in Southern California who routinely wards off the advances of his female students… when he’s assigned to retrieve a lost artifact from Mainland China, he ends up waylaid at a Shaolin temple where he falls in love with a young woman with ESP (Jacklyn Wu). See, I’m out of breath just typing that! The film is all over the place, but it’s hard to dislike when Chow Yun-fat is so effortlessly charming and Jacklyn Wu is so lovely.”
3. Sean Gilman – ★★★½☆
   “To get the most important thing about this movie out of the way first: Chow Yun-fat opens the film wearing what appears to be a suede vest over a fluffy knit sweater. The next day, he’s wearing a different knit sweater, but over that he’s got a leather vest with fringe. It’s a remarkable look, and one I hope to see more of in the future. The movie itself is a weird mix of CIA spy thriller, Shaolin monk slapstick, and supernatural romance, with Chow as a Chinese-American agent sent to retrieve a ‘national treasure’ from a Beijing temple, only to fall in love with the treasure, who is of course a beautiful young woman with psychic powers. It’s a mess, but a fun one, with Chow and Jacklyn Wu making an appealing couple and Gordon Liu showing up as the abbot.”

Meta Description:
“Treasure Hunt” (1994), directed by Jeffrey Lau, is a Hong Kong action-comedy that follows a Chinese American CIA agent’s mission in Beijing, where he encounters cultural clashes and unexpected relationships at a Shaolin temple.