User reviews

I happened to get a chance to sit down and watch the 2017 Taiwanese crime drama "Shaowu the Bad" (aka "The Gangster's Daughter") here in 2022. Sure, I hadn't even heard about this movie from director Mei-Juin Chen prior to sitting down to watch it. So I didn't know what to expect here. But with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I wanted to watch it.

And as it turned out, then director Mei-Juin Chen utterly failed to deliver a movie that fell into my taste, liking or preference. The movie's storyline and narrative was just so utterly and insanely slow paced and pointless that the movie was a drag and a downright bore to sit through.

I wasn't familiar with the cast, but I will say that it wasn't exactly amateurish performances, just a shame that the actors and actresses didn't manage to have a script that offered me any type of entertainment or enjoyment.

This movie fell short of being worth the effort of sitting down to watch, and I have to admit that I gave up on it, not even halfway through. There literally was nothing that I enjoyed here. And believe me when I say that I am never returning to attempt to finish watching this movie.

My rating of this 2017 movie lands on a two out of ten stars. And that is primarily because of the production value that the movie had.

The cinematography is beautiful and I appreciates the subtle characterization. The actors were well directed and gave excellent performances. I especially liked Ally Chiu's portrayal of a rebellious teen. It's refreshing to see a film that focuses on relationships rather than lots of action and explosions. It was also interesting to get a glimpse inside the lives of the people who live on the tiny island of Kinmen.

Right from the start I could tell I was going to enjoy this tale. It is not really a gangster story it is about the relationship between a young girl and her estranged father.

Her father is a gangster with a strong moral code and certainly not a typical mobster. Shaowu grew idolising him with romantic notions of his lifestyle.

When she is 14 years old she becomes too much of a handful for her grandmother to look after so her dream comes true and she goes to live with her father. They become very close and the drama unfolds.

A beautifully filmed movie with strong performances and a very intelligently directed story. This is an excellent example of a good drama.. 10/10 in my book.