Overrated

Brilliant and touching

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

So Much History in such a Little Movie is the Problem with this Well Intentioned "Mind Opener". It Wants so Badly to Inform that it Overloads its Message with Everything and Anything Concerning the Recent and Not So Recent History of Taiwan, Formerly Known as Formosa.The Filmmakers are Noticeably Nervous here as it Tries with its Low Budget and B-Movie Actors to Concoct a Watchable, Intriguing, Fact-Based Story in the Form of a Political Thriller. It Somewhat Succeeds but the End Result is a lot Less Successful and Fitting for the Very Serious Subject Matter.A Documentary would have been a Better way to get the History Lesson across to the Apathetic and Uninformed because this is just so much Low-Budget Muddle the Lesson is Buried Among the Rubble of a Condensed and Complicated Story Fit. The Taiwanese Situation During the Cold War was an Important History Concerning Communism, Police States, and China's Mainland Bullying of the Little Island and are all Historically Important Deserving a Much Clearer Exposition and Explanation. Something Like this is just too Easily Dismissed and Therefore an Almost Wasted Effort.

Never have I seen a propaganda film release to the public like its a Hollywood film. I repeat, it's a propaganda film. Nothing in the film is base on true history.There's a group of radical Taiwanese who wants the independence of Taiwan. It's a very minor group. The best comparison in American history is the people of modern South who still believed in Confederacy.This radical group of Taiwanese wants international attention, so it decided to package a propaganda film into a Hollywood dramatized product.It cannot find any Taiwanese who take its idea seriously, so the people of the Pro TI group decided to go to Thailand to hire a bunch of cheap labors to do its deed. The Thai people don't care about Taiwanese politic, so some demonstration scenes contain many paid Thai lethargically raising their hands on a topic they have no interest.There's many dialogs about Taiwanese that's absolutely misleading. I repeat, it's propaganda film, so it doesn't surprise anyone. One of the actors claimed Taiwanese was speaking their native language "Taiwanese", and NOT Chinese. It's not true. These Taiwanese were speaking "Min Nan", which is the language derives from Fujian, a province of China.There's also an over emphasis of the 228 incident. The people who were killed were highly educated rich folks and land owners. Normal Taiwanese at that time didn't have free time to demonstrate politically. Of course the decedents of the rich folks decided it was bad for them in Taiwan. That's why they abandoned Taiwan and immigrated to US. You have to be ultra rich guy to be able to travel abroad back then. I believe the producer is one of the decedents. Of course, no real normal people care about this 228 stuff.Finally, Henry Wen (Liu in real life)in the film was murdered because he was a triple agent (PRC, Taiwan and FBI).

It is wonderful to see a film about the heroic struggle of the people of Taiwan for democracy and independence, even if I and my wife were the only people in theater at a 7:20 p.m. Saturday showing on the day of its release in Michigan. Unfortunately, the best thing I can say for it is that the backstory is basically true - there was a Taiwanese-American murdered in the U.S. by a Taiwanese gang, apparently at the instigation of Republic of China's government, possibly because he had embarrassed it by writing an unflattering biography of then R.O.C. President Chiang Ching-Kuo, and the atrocities portrayed in the film did largely happen, albeit at different times and under different circumstances. The film systematically garbles and almost trivializes a series of horrible crimes against the Taiwanese which actually occurred over a period of years by making virtually every crime of the late KMT period seem to occur within the same week as part of an effort to stymie an FBI investigation of the murder. Equally annoying was the gross parody of how actual criminal investigations in foreign countries are conducted. U.S. criminal investigators abroad always at least appear to cooperate (and show respect for) their foreign counterparts even when they suspect, as is often the case, that they are less than enthusiastic about the investigation. No FBI agent is going to charge into a foreign government's takedown of a suspect, and fight his way past a army of armed soldiers to try to get to the perpetrator first. The agent's other activities in the film are equally preposterous, going way beyond "cowboyish" to simply suicidal, both for himself and his informants. In short, the film provides a very garbled overview of recent Taiwanese history combined with the most absurd portrayal of a U.S. overseas criminal investigation since Rush Hour.

I saw "Formosa Betrayed" opening weekend in Berkeley, CA on 2/28/2010. There were many Taiwanese-Americans in the audience, some 60-75ish. During one point in the film where the story of the 2-28 incident is told to the main character, you could hear sniffling, coughing and people blowing their noses. This was an emotional moment for me and for many in the audience. An entire generation of Taiwanese was murdered, brutalized, and silenced. Those who attempt to write this movie off as mere profit-motivated propaganda are no different than those who would deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Don't be fooled. This movie is important just as it is entertaining.If you enjoy political thrillers, you will love this film. The non-linear narrative is excellent, and the story telling superb. The use of actual historical photos of the descent of Chiang Kai-Shek's army on Taiwan, as well as photos of the brutality surrounding 2-28, and Nixon's meeting with Mao are powerfully chilling.James Van Der Beek's performance as FBI Agent will blow you away. In all honesty, Will Tiao's acting could have been better, but give him credit for the monumental task he accomplished in raising over $6 million USD in private investor funds to get this independent film made. It was obviously a labor of love, and this fact shines through in every moment of the final product, from the opening image of a satellite map of Taiwan to the the closing montage. For movie-goers who prefer to learn something intellectually challenging through a thought-provoking and entertaining film, please go see this movie.