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Review | Cesium Fallout movie review: Andy Lau leads Hong Kong radiation disaster drama
Implausible? Yes. A flimsy set-up? Also true – but this mega-budget film starring Andy Lau, Bai Yu and Karen Mok is immersive and engaging
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3.5/5 stars
Billed as Hong Kong cinema’s first nuclear radiation disaster blockbuster, Cesium Fallout is a mega-budget ensemble drama that just about survives its flimsy set-up to offer an engaging hypothetical scenario of how such a crisis could be handled.
As just the second solo directing effort of veteran cinematographer Anthony Pun Yiu-ming (One More Chance), the film is a blend of firefighting action, government workplace bureaucracy, nefarious business practices and epic effects sequences that vividly picture the city in ruins (some of which were clearly purpose-built for the trailers).
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A brief prologue set in 1996 – the last year by which bad government decision-making was still a possibility, according to recent Hong Kong films – sees the city’s financial secretary, Simon Fan (Andy Lau Tak-wah), introduce a policy change that indirectly turns it into a destination for dumping electronic waste.
In a contrived series of events, Fan’s wife, a firefighter, dies in an explosion caused by the illegal import of hazardous chemicals encouraged by Fan’s calamitous decision; this accident happens right in front of her brother Kit (Chinese actor Bai Yu), who works on the same team.
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