Review | Death Notice movie review: twisty crime mystery a change of gear for Herman Yau, director of Hong Kong action blockbuster series Shock Wave and The White Storm

Louis Koo, Julian Cheung and Francis Ng star in Death Notice, a murder mystery that sees police hot in pursuit of a serial killer who re-emerges after a decade

While fast-paced and fun, the Herman Yau-directed film fumbles its last-minute reveals in a way that makes the whole experience feel a little empty

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Julian Cheung (left) as police inspector Lo Fei and Louis Koo as the sole witness to an explosion that killed Lo’s fiancée and a fellow policeman in a still from “Death Notice” (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Herman Yau. Francis Ng co-stars.

Published: 11:14am, 15 Aug 2023Updated: 3:40pm, 15 Aug 2023

3/5 stars

Herman Yau Lai-to, a prolific Hong Kong director who has long impressed cinema lovers with a wide range of medium-sized productions, is no stranger to the lucrative tier of mega-budget action films – he directed Shock Wave 1 and 2, The White Storm 2 and 3.

His latest film, Death Notice, is closer to his 2018 thriller The Leakers in its smaller scale, its workmanlike execution and its chaotically thrilling tone than any of those recent blockbusters.

Yau’s new production – adapted by screenwriter Shum Sek-yin (Deception of the Novelist) from Zhou Haohui’s 2009 mystery novel Death Notice: The Darker – also stars several actors who appeared in The Leakers, from Julian Cheung Chi-lam and Francis Ng Chun-yu to Chrissie Chau Sau-na and Charmaine Sheh Sze-man.

Death Notice opens 10 years in the past, with a traumatic episode for police inspector Lo Fei (Cheung), who fails to save his fiancée (Myolie Wu Hang-yee) and a fellow officer (Danny Chan Kwok-kwan) from a deadly explosion planned by serial killer “Darker”.

When Darker re-emerges in the present and publicly names those he will “punish” because “the police and judiciary have failed” to do so, Lo is allowed to join the police task force – headed by chief superintendent Hon Ho (Ng) – handling the case.

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