SYNOPSIS:
Criminal Intelligence Bureau ("CIB") is the most
secretive branch of the Hong Kong Police. Its field agents
use unassuming appearance and covert operations to conduct
surveillance on targets like an "eye-in-the-sky".
CIB unit leader Captain Huang (Simon Yam) leads rookie agent
Bo (Kate Tsui) and teammates to conduct an extensive stakeout
for suspects of a highly publicized robbery. However, heist
mastermind Chen (Tony Leung) knows too well how to shake off
the police. On the busy streets of Hong Kong, a game of hide-and-seek
ensues...
MOVIE REVIEW
To
the casual viewer who loves his cop drama explosive and violent,
this movie may not meet his expectations. There isn’t
much dramatic acting involved. Most of the time, you’d
only be seeing the cast walking around the streets of Hong
Kong, either following people or being followed by others.
Suspicious and cautious looks are cast, and everyone just
looks wary of the crowd around him.
The
89-minute film follows a surveillance unit of the Hong Kong
Police Force which tracks down suspects to bring those crooks
to justice. The plot sees a veteran officer leading a newbie
in a case of a high-profile robbery.
With
Simon Yam (Exiled, SPL) and Tony Leung (Everlasting Regret,
Election) playing the lead roles of the veteran officer and
the robbery gang leader, you can expect nothing less than
a fine showcase of high-tension drama between the two actors.
Add newcomer Kate Tsui who plays the rookie cop, and you’d
have a fine mix of new and old talents in this Yau Nai Hoi-directed
flick.
Yau
has been a regular writer for Johnnie To’s works like
PTU, Throwdown and the Election series. It is no wonder that
this new filmmaker’s debut feature has To’s flavors
all over it – the pressured strains, the high-adrenaline
nervousness and the finely-written storyline.
Although
the movie does not showcase any explosions and violent gunfights,
the cat-and-mouse games played between the two parties play
out like a sophisticated game of chess where the results can
be dangerously deadly. Which is also why, when a simple moment
where Yam tells the unit an unfunny joke about a dog which
tried to apply for a job works brilliantly for a genre like
this. You’d be touched by the human touch of the character
and how the story is engagingly affective.
Couple
fine moments like this with a complimentary cinematography
by Tony Cheung (Dragon Squad) and an energized score by Dave
Klotz (Fulltime Killer) and Guy Zerafa (Exiled), you’d
be left impressed by another high-rate Hong Kong production.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Other than a trailer of the movie, there is also
a trailer for the much-talked about 881 directed by Roystan
Tan in this Code 3 DVD.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is pristine enough to make
you feel the tension to keep at the edge of your seats, and
is presented either 5.1 or 2.0 Dolby Digital Mandarin and
Cantonese audio tracks.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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