FINALLY, a crime story that is intelligently scripted, directed and acted. The Final Option is the most satisfying Cantonese film to be released so far this year. Gordon Chan Ka-seung, who showed in Fight Back to School and Yuppie Fantasia II that Cantonese comedies need not be vacuous to be fun, has turned his director's megaphone on the action genre, and the result makes such recent cops-and-robbers ventures as Organised Crime and Triad Bureau look like child's play.
Chan, who also wrote the script, focuses on the Royal Hong Kong Police's Special Duty Unit (SDU). Nothing new in terms of the raw subject matter, as the SDU has been the subject of numerous motion pictures over the past decade. What distinguishes The Final Option is that Chan chooses to deal with his material in a more realistic fashion, underplaying the combat and emphasising the interpersonal drama.
The emotional subtext is particularly mature for a Cantonese movie. From the start, we understand the motivation behind the decision by the young policeman Ray (Peter Yung Kam-cheung) to attempt the gruelling training course to enter the SDU. His relationship with his girlfriend May (Carman Lee Yeuk-tung) shows a natural progress and degree of emotional nuance virtually unheard of in Hong Kong action movies.
To complete the picture, there is a pleasant give-and-take between Ray and his colleagues, making them seem like a team rather than actors who just met a few days ago on the set. Ray's gruff commanding officer, Stone (Michael Wong Man-tak, who speaks most of his lines in English) may come across as the most stereotypical An Officer and A Gentleman-type character of the bunch, but not excessively so.
The sense of realism is further enforced by the synchronised sound track, natural dialogue, and the spontaneous nature of the gun battles. Chan has learned from the relative failure of his Fight Back to School II, a comedy dulled by the over-abundance offight scenes. The Final Option takes the tack that less is more. A full hour elapses between the opening shoot-'em-up and the second armed confrontation, in which the SDU fights a band of masked bandits. The fight is excitingly staged and the tension achieved through an excellent sense of pacing.
The tempo flags somewhat during the more elaborate and complex final battle. The intrigue might have looked good on paper but takes too long getting off the ground, though after a slow start it ends up packing a wallop. It all leads to a grave-side closing sequence which is a bit too pat and predictable - a minor quibble in the overall achievement of The Final Option. Chan has utilised a small budget and non-stellar cast to create a motion picture that, in terms of mainstream Cantonese cinema, is more complete and slick and - yes - thoughtful than virtually anything produced in the past year.