Running on Karma

Template:Infobox Chinese Film Running on Karma (simplified Chinese: 大只佬/大块头有大智慧; Literal Title: Big Guy/Big Guy has big wisdom; traditional Chinese: 大隻佬), also known as An Intelligent Muscle Man, is a 2003 Hong Kong film, produced and directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. It is ultimately a Buddhist parable about the nature of karma. There were some cuts in the Mainland China edition to meet the requirements for release there.

This is the second film starring Andy Lau in which he wears a prosthetic suit. In his previous film, Love on a Diet, he wore a fat suit, while in this film, he wears a muscle suit.

Plot

Big was a Buddhist Monk, but he gave up this occupation when he realized he could see a person's past life, which would mean he would be able to predict what would happen to that person because of Karma. Now a bodybuilder, Big (Andy Lau), was working in a strip bar when he ran into Lee Fung-Yee (Cecilia Cheung). Fung Yee was a cop in the CID who initially busted him for his strip show, but Big became entangled in another police case to catch a murderer when he tried to escape. The event which caused him to abandon his life as a monk has left him with the ability to see other people's karma and it is obvious to him that Lee Fung Yee needs his help.

Big was running away from Lee Fung-Yee's pursuit, when he saw a police dog and has visions of the dogs previous life. The dog was a child who beat up dogs, and it was ultimately shot by a stray bullet meant for the criminal. This was the first time that Big showed his ability to see the past, and later saw the past life of Fung-Yee, a Japanese soldier slaughtering civilians.

Big (after realizing that Fung-Yee was kind-hearted), decided to help her in the investigation of a homicide, but also swore to leave her after they solved the case. After Big had inspected the corpse, he once again demonstrated his ability to see the previous life of the organism, defined as "ability to see the cause and effect". The deceased's, in his previous life, once betrayed the murderer who was killing people now, and before the murderer died, cut off a one-horn beetle's left arm. Big, then, was able to conclude that in the current life, there would be a lady without a left arm who would help the present murderer. In the end Big successfully helped the police to arrest the murderer, and he saved Fung-Yee's life in the process, as well. Her karma gets broken as well. But soon, Lee Fung Yee's karma returns. He also stopped an angry police sergeant who was beating the murderer by saying to him, "One thought Heaven, One thought Hell"(一念天堂，一念地獄).

Fung-Yee, now realizing that she was, in her previous life, a Japanese soldier, made efforts to compensate for the atrocities she committed in her previous life. Deciding to do a good deed before she dies, Lee Fung Yee decides to find Big's childhood friend's killer, and she thinks the killer is hiding the mountains somewhere. She went to the mountains and on the sixth day of her journey, she encounters the killer at some part of the mountains where Big never went to find his friend's killer. The killer runs away from her while she tries to help him. Then, the killer comes behind her, and drags her to a rocky place where she was hit by a rock in the head, and beheaded by the murderer, and we know this because it was recorded by her video camera. Big sees the video after a police officer shows it to him and he gets angry and went to the mountains. When he is on the mountains, he hears Lee Fung Yee's watch. He follows the sound to her buried body. He finds Lee Fung-Yee's body buried in the dirt and her head in a tree. He becomes enraged and suddenly finds himself pursuing a mountain man into an underground temple. He intends to find his enemy in the cave and does, but it turns out to be his future self, a killer, still bloodthirsty and vengeful. They argue and fight and come to terms peacefully in meditation. Nothing can be brought away, only the karma that follows (萬般帶不走，唯有業隨身). Big becomes a monk again and lives on the mountain. After five years, he meets his childhood friend's killer again, and in forgiveness, escorts him kindly to the police. In the end, at the "place where Big couldn't jump over," we see the positive karma that Lee Fung Yee cultivated and radiated ultimately saved Big.

Cast and roles include

• Andy Lau as Big
• Cecilia Cheung as Inspector Lee Fung-Yee
• Cheung Siu-Fai as Inspector Chung
• Chun Wong
• Karen Tong
• Yu Wen Zhong
• Hou Lian Sheng
• He Sheng Wei
• Zhang Meng

See also

• List of films set in Hong Kong
• List of Hong Kong films
• Johnnie To filmography

External links

• Running on Karma at IMDb
• Running on Karma at AllMovie
• Running on Karma at LoveHKFilm.com
• Running on Karma at Rotten Tomatoes