OVERHEARD 3 (窃听风云3) DVD (2014)

SYNOPSIS: Overheard 3 is the much anticipated finale to the successful Hong Kong movie franchise by the team behind the Infernal Affairs trilogy. The last installation centres on a group of businessmen using wiretapping methods to obtain information about the government’s undisclosed plans on Hong Kong’s real estate development.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Expectations are high because Overheard 3 is the latest if not the last instalment of a pretty successful franchise created by Alan Mak and Felix Chong after their Infernal Affairs movie series.

While Overheard 3 continues the theme of surveillance and feature the same three leading actors Louis Koo, Sean Lau and Daniel Wu, the convoluting plot no longer tackles the world of finance instead it’s a messy affair involving properties, land and a sizeable cast gasping for screentime.

To seize a part of the profitable New Territories Village in land-scare Hong Kong, Uncle To (Kenneth Tsang) and the Luk Brothers, Keung (Sean Lau), Fu (Alex Fong), Paul (Gordon Lam) and Chuck (Dominic Lam) teamed up with Mainland investor Wan (Huang Lei) to build elaborate apartments on the villagers’ land. With the enlistment of fellow friend, Jau (Louis Koo), they managed to kill off the last opposing man of the project, Yuen (Chin Kar Lok in a cameo).

Their evil scheme works and five years later the four brothers are obscenely richer than any of the poor villagers. At the same time, Jau is out of jail and he gets the promised reward of a million dollars from Keung. But Jau has plans of his own. He is now in cahoots with his ex-girlfriend, Yu (Michelle Ye) also the daughter of Uncle To and a computer expert Joe (Daniel Wu) to monitor the movements, phone recordings etc of the Luk Brothers so as to thwart their plans of a proposed IPO.

Money is never enough and greed can be lethal if this is the underlying message in Overheard 3. It’s best to watch the movie with a clear mind rather than going in with a sleepy head as you might find the heavy dialogue, numerous story arcs and complicated human relationships hard to follow.

Keung happens to be in love with a widow, Moon (Zhou Xun) whose husband happens to be Yuen and Moon happens to be smitten with Joe when the latter repaired her broken truck one night. Jau and Yu are old flames, separated by Uncle To when they were young but now Yu is in a relationship with Wan. Paul is having an affair with Fu’s wife and I think Chuck is dealing with drugs as well. Seemingly, everyone is related to one another one way or another and dealing with dirty deeds and more. Apparently every second onscreen revealed a little of every characters but it’s not substantial to salvage a wobbly story.

The only recommended aspect comes from the performances of Louis Koo and Sean Lau whose chemistry is undeniable while Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun is very much wasted in roles that didn’t possess enough screentime. The surveillance technique employed by Joe is probably much more powerful than the police and you can discard this as a mere cinematic tactic to keep you invested in the flagging story.

Overheard 3 is by far the most underwhelming entry of the three though in terms of technicalities such as cinematography, it remains a superior effort.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD boasts a dual Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack which is sufficient for this title. Visual presentation appears satisfying and images crisp and lifelike. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee