Starring: Ekin Cheng Yee-kin, Alex Fong Chung-shun, Stephen Fung Tak-lun
Director: James Yuen Sai-sang
Category: IIB (Cantonese)
Hong Kong's latest gangster movie falls far short of achieving the heights alluded to in its title, thanks to a lack of originality. Director-writer James Yuen Sai-sang tries to spice things up with on-location shooting in Thailand. But without any creative spark, the combination of such cliches as an ex-con trying to go straight, a hot-headed upstart scheming to exert control, and a hard-nosed cop attempting to rein them all in leads the project nowhere.
The protagonist isn't without potential to intrigue. When the film opens, former gangland boss Ye Qiu (Ekin Cheng Yee-kin) is just finishing an eight-year sentence in a Bangkok prison - time spent reading philosophical works that changed his view on life. It's all connected to the manner in which he was apprehended - literally by a bolt from heaven.
Unfortunately, the screenplay (by Yuen, Jessica Fong Ching and Gao Ren) soon drops the metaphysical subtext and moral ambiguity, and quickly gets mired in the mundane. Technically, the film is competently executed and Yuen manages to create a gritty sense of tension in a few of the gun battles. He exhibits a good ear for topical dialogue, even incorporating some of Bus Uncle's phrases. The trouble is that we're never involved enough in what transpires on screen to care what happens to Ye or the people in his artificial universe.