I have seen first half of this movie while on my way back from my family trip to Pontianak 2 months ago in the in-flight entertainment of Batik Air. I was having difficulty in seeing the second half and conclusion (perhaps as I was not serious enough looking for it). Luckily in the Celestial Movies cable TV, it was promoted that the movie would be playing in December. Last night was the day the movie premiered for the first time in that channel and it so happened that the hotel we stayed in during our weekend staycation have this channel so I could see it again till finished. Well without further ado, let us move on with the movie.
Brief Story Line
After almost completely stopping a robbery attack led by Peng Hong nicknamed Blast (Wu Jiang - Monster Hunt, 1911 etc), an undercover Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Bureau agent named Cheung JS (Andy Lau - Chasing the Dragon, The Great Wall etc) was highly appreciated by the police department. During his undercover assignment, Cheung's handler was officer Chow (Felix Wong - 1983 version Legend of Condor Heroes TV series etc) and he also worked closely with chief Kong (Philip Keung - Trivisa, Beast Stalker etc).
In EOD, Cheung was assisted by his number 2 named Ben (Ron Ng - Twin of Heroes TV series etc) and their tasks mainly were to dispose bomb threats. He was also having quite a serious relationship with a school teacher named Carmen Li (Candy Song - Red Cliff, Red Cliff II etc) and things were looking really well for him. However, everything would soon start to fall apart as Peng Hong was trying to avenge Cheung who he saw as a traitor. Peng Hong started to design various bomb threats to the city of Hong Kong with the ultimate goal of making sure those responsible for the part failure of his earlier robbery paid the price.
The revenge act by Peng Hong was getting bigger by the day until his final revenge act that would put so many people in danger. So could Cheung and the rest of the police plus EOD team be able to stop it? Find them all in this action drama movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I enjoyed this movie from beginning till end. The first part was action packed and having intense high speed chase scenes. After that, the movie changed its pace to a slower style with more of characters development plus the intensity of bomb threats rather than the full action mode. Then when the big plan of the main villain was revealed, the movie became totally intense and full of passionate and emotional scenes ended with a major climax.
Andy Lau provided cool acting skills by portraying an experienced & very wise bomb squad agent which suit him at his age now. But I think the amazing performance was actually by Wu Jiang as the rather charismatic psychopath main villain in this movie. I also loved the performance of the various people involved in the big revenge plan, especially the 3 retired police with a police officer who was the son of one those 3. The most emotional moment was involving these people and of course the scene before the climax. There was also surprisingly quite a large portion of romance between Andy Lau and Candy Song which was nice to see.
The special effects looked quite real, especially the explosions effect which varied from small to very large one. The action sequences were done quite brilliantly to my opinion. I could not comment on the sound effects as I watched this in hotel's TV without the benefit of a cinema's great sound system. There was a quite nice Mandarin song during the end credit scene sung by Andy Lau himself titled "Getting Used To" (video available in youtube).
Ultimately, for an almost 2 hours movie, the movie had quite a balanced portion of action and drama. So people who are looking for an action drama movie, with emphasis on bomb threats and old fashioned kind of revenge, this movie should really satisfy. Fans of Andy Lau would be pleased to see him making this kind of movie and it also had an aura of the older Andy Lau's movies, especially the ending part (you would know what I mean). I also think that the movie wanted to show how dangerous and commendable those bomb squad people who put their lives on the line to save other people, especially during this horrid time where bomb threats are very real and could literally be anywhere in any countries.
Anyway, I personally feel that this movie would be interesting enough to experience. As it is no longer playing in cinemas but still playing in the next week or so in Celestial Movies channel, you could watch this one there. Or try looking it up via online streaming. Hopefully you could enjoy this movie as much as I did.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment