Running on Karma

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 in 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 goes 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.

Hilary Hongjin He, a doctoral student at the University of Western Sydney, wrote that the version of the film released in Mainland China stated that the editing, required by Mainland authorities, was "substantial" to the point where it "fundamentally degraded the philosophical, thought-provoking movie to a senseless commercial film selling stars and special effects make-up".[1]

[2]

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

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