5 movies or shows to watch in Hong Kong this weekend, September 13-15

This weekend, cinema-goers have the choice of a Hollywood thriller remake and a Hong Kong comedy featuring Sandra Ng’s best performance in years. For those who missed Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Hong Kong’s highest grossing movie of the year – in cinemas, you can stream it from this weekend. Also recommended for streaming are two contrasting Korean comedies, one a series, the other a film. 1. Speak No Evil Horror hit factory Blumhouse Productions’ remake of the celebrated 2022 Danish thriller features Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis as a holidaying American couple who accept an invitation from James McAvoy’s seemingly affable doctor to stay at his British family’s country house. No sooner have they arrived than the weekend takes a violent and menacing turn. McAvoy has shown his darker side in the past, and here he again is at his best as the story’s deranged villain. While it is a valid argument that this remake has failed to recapture the provocative, satirical edge of the original, Speak No Evil is still a highly effective, slow-burn thriller that should satisfy most genre fans. Speak No Evil opens in cinemas today. 2. Love Lies An online dating scam takes on a life of its own in Love Lies, a fitfully melancholy, often amusing look at romance, deception and human nature. Sandra Ng Kwan-yue gives her most nuanced performance in years as a successful gynaecologist who is being questioned by police as a fraud victim. Curiously, she refuses to press charges despite having lost a huge sum of money, instead insisting that she has fully enjoyed her virtual romance with a stranger she met on a dating app. Meanwhile, rising Cantopop star “MC” Michael Cheung Tin-fu plays the swindler who begins to empathise with, and perhaps fall for, his target against all reason. Read our full review Love Lies opens in cinemas today. 3. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In This mega-budget martial arts spectacle emphatically delivers on its two main promises: an exhilarating display of bone-crunching violence and an immersive recreation of the sights and sounds of the Kowloon Walled City, the fabled Hong Kong slum area that was demolished in 1993. A technical masterpiece that should become a strong favourite for the best art direction, action choreography and visual effects prizes in next year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, Soi Cheang Pou-soi’s 1980s-set film nevertheless underwhelms on the narrative front – albeit it is an adaptation of the novel City of Darkness by Yu Yi. Still, here is a film that has smashed records to become Hong Kong’s most-watched local film, with almost 1.6 million seats sold in cinemas, so maybe there is, after all, something for everyone in Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. Read our full review Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In will start streaming on Disney+ on September 13. 4. Officer Black Belt Kim Woo-bin is at his charismatic best in Officer Black Belt, a new action comedy from Midnight Runners director Jason Kim. In a role seemingly tailor-made to showcase the South Korean actor’s impressive physicality and affable charm, Kim plays a big-hearted martial artist who finds some much-needed purpose when he inadvertently becomes a probation officer. The action never threatens to surprise or break free from established formulas, but within its carefully contoured constraints, the results are entertaining. Read our full review Officer Black Belt will start streaming on Netflix on September 13. 5. Seoul Busters From Chief Detective 1958 and Flex x Cop to Han River Police and Rookie Cops, streaming platform Disney+ certainly looks like it enjoys bringing police-themed K-dramas to its international audience. Now add the new comedy police series Seoul Busters to your watch list if you happen to be one of those who love bingeing on these shows. Kim Dong-wook (My Perfect Stranger) leads the cast as the debonair Dongbang Yoo-bin, who turns down a tenured position at a prestigious foreign university to return to Korea, where he begins to volunteer as the chief of a violent-crime unit at the Songwon Police Station. His team, infamous for having the country’s lowest arrest record, features bumbling detectives played by beloved character actors such as Park Ji-hwan (The Outlaws) and Seo Hyun-woo (Uncle Samsik). Seoul Busters is streaming on Disney+. Find this useful? Look out for our recommendations every Thursday online.

5 movies or shows to watch in Hong Kong this weekend, September 13-15

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}See a thriller with James McAvoy or a comedy with Sandra Ng at cinemas; stream Hong Kong’s most-watched film of 2024 or a Kim Woo-bin movie

1. Speak No Evil

See a thriller with James McAvoy or a comedy with Sandra Ng at cinemas; stream Hong Kong’s most-watched film of 2024 or a Kim Woo-bin movie