What Finish Line?
Remember that thing about ‘F1’ being formula but that’s not bad? Same thing here.
Pegasus 3
Director: Han Han • Writers: Han Han, Zhou Yunhai, Meng Wenyu
Starring: Shen Teng, Yin Zheng, Sha Yi, Duan Yihong, Wei Xiang, Huang Jingyu
China • 2hrs 6mins
Opens Hong Kong April 9 • IIA
Grade: B
Pegasus 3 | 飛馳人生3 is a sports movie. Anyone who’s seen a sports movie, from anywhere in the world, will know the formula is as unbending as the algebra that goes into a rom-com. In this case: Journeyperson [insert athlete type], chilling in the wake of a great career that’s long over, is kind of down on their luck. When an old acquaintance in the industry comes to them with [insert proposition], the journeyperson jumps at the chance for redemption and/or catharsis. But they’ll have to contend with [insert rival athlete] and [insert rival organisation], as well as friction with their teammates. Against all odds, however, the journeyperson athlete triumphs at the life-changing [insert sporting event].
Sometimes we’ll get tossed a curveball (see what I did there?) and the journeyperson will die or lose or pass on the opportunity, but that’s rare. And one-time rally car racer now director Han Han clearly has zero interest in fucking with the formula in Pegasus 3, which is nearly a carbon copy of Pegasus (2019) and Pegasus 2 (2024). That’s fortunate for Hong Kogn audiences, who may feel like taking in a little vroom vroom but didn’t see the first two films… because they didn’t open here. It doesn’t matter. P3 was a Lunar New Year release, and so unsurprisingly it’s racked up nearly US$650 million in ticket sales, making it the year’s biggest hit so far. How could it not be? Any feel-good holiday release that makes absolutely no demands of viewers is going to hit, it’s why these movies are holiday releases. Writers Han, Zhou Yunhai and Meng Wenyu literally stick to the script, and stay on book as far as resolution and space for Pegasus 4 goes, and that’s okay. Like the other recent racing movie, F1, as soon as the action head to the race track it makes you forgive its clichés and assembly line storytelling.
[Teammate], maybe [Rival]
Pegasus 3 picks up after veteran rally car ace Zhang Chi (discount Jackie Chan, Shen Teng, Successor) is basking in the glow of his unlikely win at the Bayanbulak rally, but he’s having trouble keeping the driving school he runs with his closest mates, co-driver Sun Yuqiang (Yin Zheng) and genius mechanic Ji Xing (Zhang Benyu), afloat. It’s for the kids, you see. That’s got them in the dumps, as does the fact that the highly challenging Muchen 100 Rally, a race all rally drivers aspire to, is coming and they’ll just be watching. That is until China team boss Bai Qiang (Sha Yi, Cliff Walkers) and his ultra-tech-y engineer An Zhongzu (Duan Yihong, Operation Hadal) come calling, asking Zhang and Sun if they’d help put together the national team and train them up to be competitive – in the Muchen 100.
If you haven’t already guessed, Bai and An are shady bitches with ulterior motives, who are exploiting Zhang’s knowledge of real life driving and tricky road conditions in order to (basically) train an AI and put some nepo babies behind the wheel. This is not a spoiler, nor is it a sports movie “twist”. Naturally, all this does is inspire Team Pegasus (I think they’re Team Pegasus) to build their own car, enter the Muchen 100 and win – the right way!
Clichés and paint-by-numbers genre filmmaking aside, Han steers blessedly clear of jingoism – as well as of the considerable criticisms of rally racing that plague the sport, but whatever – in a narrative that could so easily have made the Japanese team the bad guys, or failing that the much browner Indian or Indonesian teams. But kudos, Han followed the logic that dictates corporate interests are probably the real arseholes, and made the rich kids, cronyism and homegrown corrupt race officials the bad guys. It makes it a way more familiar kind of a class conflict, which is fashionable in all cinemas right now.
But that’s reading a lot into a film that’s unapologetically aggressive popcorn entertainment, with a soft message about pride, dignity and fair play, mostly notable for slickly shot driving sequences (by Bai Yuxia) and a suitably white-knuckled race to the finish line. There’s no question how Pegasus 3 is going to end, but that doesn’t make returning rival driver Lin Zhendong’s (Huang Jingyu) last-minute sand storm any less exciting. Also back is Wei Xiang (YOLO) as team manager Ye, completing the core character reunion and ensuring there’s enough goofy comedy to fill in the story gaps and disract from its clunky flashbacks. These guys – and I do mean guys because there’s not a single drop of oestrogen in this movie, like, none – have Zhang, Sun, Ji, Ye and Lin down cold at this point, and there’s a comfort to their dynamic that makes any larger themes or formal experimentation unnecessary. If there’s any gas left in the tank (okay, I’ll stop), maybe next time Pegasus can finally go intercontinental. Dakar beckons…