Synopsis:

In the violent world of Hong Kong's triad societies, one false move can be fatal. A series of unexpected misfortunes, challenge the very existence of gang leader Sammo Hung and his mob., eventually leading to a bloddy gangster war. Battle after battle, Sammo and his gang are moving closer to destruction. A drug deal turns bad...A kidnap turns into murder...A secret mission turns into a savage massacre of the police- Who is the mastermind behind these evil plots? Will Sammo be able to defy fate and survive? Or will the once most powerful gang face extinction? To fight with destiny can sometimes be deadly.

Movie Review:

I wasn’t a fan of director Dennis Law and I’m definitely not holding my breath for “Fatal Move”. His last movie, “Fatal Contact” was a disappointing and utterly messed-up action flick. But the synopsis for “Fatal Move” was interesting enough to let me go through it and then came the trailer on the official website that makes me possess the desire to at least give it a glance.

To Law’s credit, he did assembled a fantastic cast that includes most of Johnny To’s alumni. Simon Yam, Chueng Siu-Fai, Maggie Siu and Lam Suet among many others. Even the plot smells something which To might have discarded along the way.

Sammo Hung plays Lung, leader of HK’s most notorious triad dealing with anything from drugs to money laundering. Assisted by Yam, Cheung, Wu Jing, Kenneth Low and his wife, Susu (Tien Niu), the gang is much wanted by the Police led by Senior Inspector Liu (veteran police regular Danny Lee). But a certain bad move by a key member of the gang throws the gang into disarray (which explains the English title “Fatal Move” and in Chinese, the title is apparently more meaningful, it refers to the movement of the Chinese chess).

The obvious problem with “Fatal Move” is again the direction of the plot. Law committed the same mistake as his earlier movie, “Fatal Contact”. “Fatal Move” started out promising enough, there’s a slight tinge of To’s triad classics, “Election” and it’s sequel. Perhaps Law which served as executive producer on both movies got his inspiration from there. As the story progresses, it started to lose its footing. There are plenty of limbs chopping and cheesy fake CG blood sputtering which earns its EDITED M18 rating. (Two very serious sins committed by the distributor. ONE: No promotional campaign prior to the release of this title. TWO: An edited version to attract a larger crowd thus more income in the bank). And not giving too much away, a teary melodrama towards the end.

Wu Jing who plays the baddie in “Invisible Target” is again wasted here as Lung’s henchman. Given a role that has less than 20 lines to recite and to make matters worse, he has lesser opportunity to exert his martial-art skills. Jing’s career could have been much given a facelift if tasked with a substantial role and beefier script. Yam and Cheung as usual gave their fair share of decent performances. Lam Suet’s cameo was both bittersweet and tragic.

Rumours has it that “Fatal Move” is supposed to give audience the fight that never materialized in “SPL”. That is, the fight between Sammo Hung and Wu Jing. During the last ten minutes, we did manage to see that. But what’s the point? The plot of “Fatal Move” doesn’t require the finale fight to be there. It was plainly choreographed to lure the audience in the first place. What’s the purpose of them fighting on the same boat when they are surrounded by police on the outside? Shouldn’t they be dealing with the cops and protect their own asses?

This is where I totally gave up on Dennis Law’s direction and blatant, incoherent scripting. By then, it’s too late. I have wasted 100 minutes of my time where I could have spent it watching reruns of “Election” or “SPL”.

Movie Rating:

(Highly skilled Sammo Hung and Wu Jing can’t save this weak script from sinking)

Review by Linus Tee