Running on Karma

Running on Karma
File:Running on Karma.jpg Movie poster
Directed by	Johnnie To Wai Ka-fai
Produced by	Johnnie To Wai Ka-fai
Written by	Wai Ka-fai Yau Nai-hoi Au Kin-yee Yip Tin-shing
Starring	Andy Lau Cecilia Cheung
Music by	Cacine Wong
Cinematography	Cheng Siu-Keung
Edited by	Law Wing-cheung
Production company	One Hundred Years of Film Milkyway Image
Distributed by	China Star Entertainment Group
Release dates	27 September 2003 (2003-09-27)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese English Hindi
Box office	HK$26,339,848

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 action thriller 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 (Andy Lau) 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. Big then became a bodybuilder and worked in a strip bar when he ran into Lee Fung-yee (Cecilia Cheung). Lee was working as an undercover cop in the CID which busted Big in his strip show, but Big became entangled in another police case to catch a murderer when he tried to escape.

While Big was running away from Lee's pursuit, he saw a police dog and has visions of the dog's previous life. The dog was previously a child who beat up dogs, and the dog was 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 Lee, a Japanese soldier killing civilians.

Big (after realizing that Lee 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 saw the deceased's previous life. The deceased had betrayed the murderer in his previous life and hence killed by him in this life. Big also saw that in the previous life of the murderer, before the murderer died, he cut off a one-horn beetle's left arm and hence deduced that in the current life, there would be someone without a left arm who would help to find the present murderer. Big successfully helped the police to arrest the murderer and saved Lee's life in the process as well. Her karma gets broken as well but subsequently returned, as seen through Big's vision. 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).

Lee, 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 repay Big before she dies, Lee decided 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 a 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. The whole incident was recorded by her video camera. The video camera was retrieved after a search party to look for her. Big saw the video after a police officer showed it to him and he gets angry and went to the mountains. When he was on the mountains, he heard Lee's watch. He followed the sound to her buried body in the ground and her head in a tree. He became enraged and pursued a man, presuming he is Lee's killer into an underground temple. Big, expecting to find the killer in the temple but found his future self, a killer, bloodthirsty and vengeful. They argued and fought and came to terms peacefully in meditation.

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 cultivated and radiated ultimately saved Big.

Cast

• Andy Lau as Big
• Cecilia Cheung as Inspector Lee Fung-yee
• Cheung Siu-fai as Inspector Chung
• Karen Tong as Woman whose left arm got shot off
• Chun Wong as Lee's superior officer
• Wong Wa-wo as Lee's colleague
• Hon Kwok-choi as Slippery thief
• Yuen Bun as Chef
• Yu Wenzhong as Master Wu
• Hou Liansheng as Master Wen
• He Shengwei
• Zhang Meng as Jade
• Wong Chi-wai as Big's drinking friend
• So Wai-nam as CID
• Eddie Che as CID
• Frank Liu as CID
• Ho Chung-wai as CID
• Vincent Chik as CID
• Lam Kwok-kit as CID
• Hon Ping as Four Eyes
• Wong Chun-fai as Boxing commentator
• Tam Tin-po
• Wong Man-chun as Polcieman
• Cash Lee

Accolades

Awards and nominations
Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Outcome
23rd Hong Kong Film Awards
	Best Film	Running on Karma	Won
	Best Director	Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Au Kin-yee, Yip Tin-shing	Won
	Best Actor	Andy Lau	Won
	Best Actress	Cecilia Cheung	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Cheung Siu-fai	Nominated
	Best Film Editing	Law Wing-cheung	Nominated
	Best Art Directtion	Bruce Yu	Nominated
	Best Costume Make Up Design	Bruce Yu, Stephanie Wong	Nominated
	Best Action Choreography	Yuen Bun	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	Song: Affairs Beyond a Human Being (身外情) Composer: Gaybird Lyrics: Albert Leung Sung by: Anthony Wong	Nominated
	Best Sound Design	Martin Chappell, May Mok, Charlie Lo	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Stephen Ma	Nominated
10th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
	Best Screenplay	Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Au Kin-yee, Yip Tin-shing	Won
	Best Actor	Andy Lau	Won
	Best Actress	Cecilia Cheung	Won
	Film of Merit	Running on Karma	Won
41st Golden Horse Awards
	Best Costume Make Up Design	Bruce Yu, Stephanie Wong	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	Song: Affairs Beyond a Human Being (身外情) Composer: Gaybird Lyrics: Albert Leung Sung by: Anthony Wong	Nominated
	Best Action Choreography	Yuen Bun	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Stephen Ma	Nominated

See also

• List of films set in Hong Kong
• List of Hong Kong films
• Andy Lau filmography
• 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