All movies require some suspension of disbelief, but some need a lot more than others. I had an easier time swallowing "Beowulf" than director Ang Lee's latest, "Lust, Caution." "Beowulf" trades in fantasy so you make the leap; "Lust, Caution" seeks to explore real human emotions and rings hopelessly false.
This is rather a shock, coming from the director of "The Ice Storm" and "Brokeback Mountain," two films that tackled "difficult" topics (swinging and gay romance), and succeeded by zeroing in on the emotional core of the stories. "Lust, Caution" is based on a concise and very personal short story by Eileen Chang ("Naked Earth"), but Ang Lee turns it into a cold, slow and implausible tale on the big screen.
"Lust, Caution" is a story of intrigue set in Hong Kong and Shanghai from 1938 to 1942 — war-torn years when China bristled under Japanese occupation. Wong Chia Chi (played by newcomer Tang Wei) is a student actress who gets involved with an agitprop group of communists led by Kuang Yu Min (Wang Lee Hom). With his pop-star good looks (Wang's regular occupation), Kuang soon charms Wong into helping his group assassinate a sinister collaborator with the Japanese, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), who tortures and kills members of the resistance. Her role is the "honey pot," who will seduce Mr. Yee, win his confidence, then lead him into a trap.