Qulture Magazine

Words: Toni Faulds

Chee Keong Cheung’s first-person action thriller throws John Hannah and its audience headfirst into a day of complete carnage.

There are bad days at work, and then there’s “Bad Day at the Office.” Premiering at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, Chee Keong Cheung’s action thriller is violent, chaotic, funny and certainly not afraid to commit to a bit. The entire film is shot from a first-person perspective, meaning we experience the story through the eyes of its characters rather than watching from the outside. It’s a choice that immediately separates the film from your typical action movie and, at times, makes it feel more like you’ve picked up a controller than sat down in a cinema.

John Hannah stars as Karl, who wakes in a trashed hotel room with little memory of how he got there, only for an already confusing morning to get significantly worse when he discovers a dead body in the bathtub. From there, any possibility of Karl having a normal day disappears as he is dragged through a world of criminals, violence and increasingly ridiculous situations. The film wastes very little time getting into the action and, once it starts, it rarely stops. The first-person perspective is easily the film’s biggest strength, but it will probably also be the reason some people don’t enjoy it. “Bad Day at the Office” feels like the definition of a love it or hate it, kind of film. If you embrace the POV style and allow yourself to get swept up in the ridiculousness of it all, there’s a lot of fun to be had. Fights, chases and bloodshed come thick and fast, and placing the camera directly in the action makes everything feel much more immediate. When someone takes a punch, you’re practically taking it with them.

At points, the camera can be deliberately disorientating, but that becomes part of the experience. Rather than cautiously experimenting with the format, Cheung fully commits to it, and that confidence is what makes the concept work. Underneath the camerawork, this may still contain plenty of familiar action-movie ingredients, but presenting them in this way, gives the film a personality of its own. It’s excessive, strange and sometimes completely ridiculous, but it seems to know that. However, that silliness doesn’t always work in the film’s favour, at times, the humour feels a little too easy, with several jokes relying on little more than a fart sound for the punchline, occasionally undermining some of the film’s sharper comedy.

Tamer Hassan was a particular highlight, bringing exactly the kind of larger-than-life presence that a film like this needs. I had the opportunity to speak to Hassan at the festival, where he joked about one of the more unusual challenges that came with filming from a first-person perspective. After spending his entire career being told not to look directly into the camera, he suddenly found himself working on a film where looking straight down the lens was exactly what was required of him. It’s a funny observation, but it also highlights just how differently the cast had to approach their performances. In a conventional film, acknowledging the camera can immediately break the illusion; here, the camera essentially becomes another character in the room. Hassan handles that unusual dynamic brilliantly, switching between intimidating and genuinely funny without either feeling out of place. I also spoke to director Chee Keong Cheung, who described the film as great fun to make, and that enjoyment definitely translates onto the screen. Despite all the violence, there’s a playfulness running throughout the film that prevents it from becoming too serious. You get the sense that everyone involved understood the madness of what they were making and decided to lean into it rather than tone it down.

Where the film lost me slightly, however, was its ending. After spending so long building momentum and throwing the audience through one increasingly chaotic situation after another, the final reveal didn’t quite feel strong enough to match what had come before it. It’s an ambitious choice, and one that will probably divide audiences, but for me it left the film ending on a slightly underwhelming note. For something that spends most of its runtime continuously escalating, I wanted its final moments to deliver one last punch. Instead, the conclusion feels somewhat deflating, particularly after such an energetic and unpredictable journey. It doesn’t undo the fun of getting there, but it was undoubtedly the weakest part of the film for me.

Still, a weaker ending doesn’t undo just how entertaining that journey can be. “Bad Day at the Office” is frantic and unapologetically over-the-top, with a style that will almost certainly divide audiences. It isn’t a film that seems particularly interested in pleasing everyone, and I think that ultimately works in its favour. Seeing it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival also felt like the perfect environment for a film this chaotic, with the collective reactions of a cinema audience adding to the experience of its fights, jokes and more outrageous moments. Cheung has created something that sits somewhere between an action thriller, black comedy and first-person shooter, while Hassan delivers one of the film’s most memorable performances. I’m not convinced everyone will walk out of Bad Day at the Office loving what they’ve just watched, particularly when that final twist arrives, but it’s difficult to deny that it takes a risk and commits to it. In a genre where it’s easy to play things safe, there’s something refreshing about that.

You might love it, you might hate it, but you’re unlikely to forget it.