[Movie Review] Cold War <寒战>

Hi Huneybees,

Cold War <寒战> Movie Synopsis:

In Asia’s safest city, the police have long been untouchable. Approaching midnight in Hong Kong, police headquarters receives an anonymous call: a fully-loaded police van carrying the force’s, most advance equipment and five highly trained officers has disappeared off the grid.

The hijackers possess direct knowledge of police procedures. They’re already steps ahead. The police must meet a list of demands to ensure the hostage’s release, including the delivery of a large ransom. Any delay will cost lives. The clock has begun to tick…

In Asia’s safest city, the elite police force has long been thought to be untouchable. Tonight, they met their match. 

After attending the Cold War <寒战> Press Conference, I can confirm that this is a movie not be missed. And after watching the movie, I must say go watch it again! Not only it is a big budget action film boasting a star studded casts like Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung, Eddie Peng, Aarif Rahman, Charlie Yeung, it's also a movie that got my mind working like crazy guessing who are the hijackers etc.

The style of the movie is pure quicksilver procedural, right from the beginning of the movie, the audiences are thrown right into the situation without much draggy introduction. It's like we are part of the police team and our mission is to save our fellow police colleagues....

This is one of my favourite scene. Aaron and Tony as 2 of the Deputy Commissioner of Hong Kong police force where they were debating in front of the whole office in the police headquarters.

The main players are two deputy HK police commissioners: super hotshot Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok) and hard-liner M.B. Lee (Tony Leung Ka-fai) who’s pushing retirement age. While the chief commissioner is out of the country, Lee has been appointed acting commissioner with all the enormous power it entails. Even though both men want to protect the wealth fare of Hong Kong and the safety of its citizens, their conflicting perspectives exploded right in the opening scenes.

The non stop action keeps tension high scene after scene, blending confidently into character development and there was no time for you to blink! Something's always happening. What didn't really flow was the introduction of the ICAC team. It really felt like a 2nd Director had stepped in and threw in a few scenes of his own...

Other than action, they also did not fail to inject some humour as well some tear jerking moments. I must say this movie has surpassed the much talked about trilogy - Infernal Affairs (無間道) and got me sunk right into the movie trying to crack the case only to find the twists in story so unexpected. Fans of Sherlock Holmes? Go Figure!

The colours were out of the movie, leaving only shades of gray with sweeping crane and aerial shots of day/nighttime Hong Kong with its neon-lit buildings are simply gorgeous and made me wana fly to Hong Kong tomorrow!

Anyway, the best part of the movie is at the end of the film itself. Remember don’t leave your seat YET when you see the credits coming up. Shortly after it, there’s a small part at the end!

I give the movie a 4.5 out of 5 popcorns.

Go catch the movie at a cinema near you today!

你今天"寒"了没?