SYNOPSIS:
A rumour is spread within the triads that three years ago, more
than one thousand undercover cops were assigned to infiltrate
various triads. After years of gathering evidences, it is finally
the right time for them to nab their main target. The mission
is led by Inspector Wei (Miu Kiu-Wai) who used to work as an
undercover. He aims to fully wipe out the Hung Heng triad, the
most powerful and notorious triad in Hong Kong....
MOVIE REVIEW :
Blame
it on Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs trilogy
(2002-2003) if you had to.
Since
the phenomenal undercover cop drama, every movie of similar
genre that was been made ever since has been compared to the
movie series that was said to revive Hong Kong’s flagging
film industry.
So
when one watches this Marco Mak-directed picture, it is inevitable
that comparisons are made. And we won’t fault you for
thinking that you are seeing double, because this movie’s
cast includes alums from Infernal Affairs.
Let’s
see, there’s Eric Tsang who plays one of the many triad
members in this movie. And accompanying him are fellow capable
actors like Francis Ng and Shawn Yue. Along with the goofy
Jordan Chan, the seedy Julian Cheung and a few other familiar
Hong Kong faces, these mobsters face the dire circumstance
of having undercover cops amongst them.
Headed
by the maturely aged Miu Kiu Wai (he of the famed “five
tigers” of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s), the police
force is using these undercover cops to expose and arrest
the triad members.
This
is a storyline that is nothing too exciting, given the many
films of such type that has been flocking the market recently.
Hands up, those who are not fans of movies like Johnnie To’s
Election (2005) and Wilson Yip’s SPL (2005).
While
there is nothing refreshingly thrilling about this 102-minute
movie, it stands out from the rest as a cheeky and interesting
picture. It pokes fun of Infernal Affairs by asking whether
Tony Leung or Andy Lau will make the perfect undercover cops.
It does away with the artsy noir feel of its predecessors
and works like a typical Hong Kong police and thief drama.
True,
this may not leave any impact with viewers, but its nice ensemble
of alpha male actors make up for it. Tsang is the epitome
of the bad guy with a good heart, Ng is entertainingly believable
as the mobster father, and Cheung sheds his usual goody two
shoes image to play a character you’d instantly despise.
Watch
out for a favourite scene where Miu and Ng talk about being
fathers while waiting for their sons to be dismissed from
school. Two men from different sides of the law affectingly
bring this average production one notch higher. And hopefully,
you’d stop comparing this movie with the many others
you’ve seen before.
SPECIAL
FEATURES :
This Code 3 disc contains both the Mandarin and
Cantonese trailers for the movie itself, as well as a trailer
for Jacob Cheung’s A Battle of Wits.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer maintains
the gritty look of the movie. Other than the awkwardly dubbed
Mandarin audio track, it is really commendable that the distributor
had included the original Cantonese language track for this
disc too. If only we can watch Hong Kong movies on the big
screen in their original language tracks too – anybody
out there listening?
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review
by John
Li
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