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SYNOPSIS: Woody Harrelson stars in the hilarious and heartwarming story of a former minor-league basketball coach who, after a series of missteps, is ordered by the court to manage a team of players with intellectual disabilities. He soon realizes that despite his doubts, together, this team can go further than they ever imagined.

MOVIE REVIEW:

The Farrelly brothers’ comedy, Me, Myself & Irene was accused of making an inaccurate portrayal of mental illness back in the year 2000. Nearly more than two decades later, Bobby Farrelly in his first solo directing effort helmed this feel-good, underdog sports movie about a basketball team consisting of intellectual disabled players.

Woody Harrelson plays a temperamental minor-league basketball coach, Marcus Marakovich who after getting drunk and crashing into a police car is ordered by the Judge to serve 90 days of community service. His new assignment is to coach a basketball team named “Friends” consisting mainly of people with learning disabilities at the local community center.

As expected, Champions which is a remake of a 2018 Spanish film is highly predictable but awfully charming. Much of the appeal lies in the casting of mostly non-professional actors who provide the movie with much genuine laughs and chemistry. There’s a character named Showtime who only shoots the ball backwards, a character named Johnny who doesn’t shower, another who keeps spouting fun facts and the only spunky lady in the team, Cosentino (Canadian actress Madison Tevlin).

Not forgetting Harrelson whom of course plays the egoistic, cocky assistant coach perfectly while his character’s on-and-off relationship with Johnny’s sister, Alex (Kaitlin Olson) adds some needed romance angle to the various quirky ball games.

Those hoping for some classic, offensive Farrelly humour might be a tad disappointed given that the entire movie is so wholesome (with the exception of some mild vulgar bits) that it’s probably going down as Bobby Farrelly’s first movie for the entire family. Anyway, the formulaic plotting involves the “Friends” getting into the finals in Canada and Marcus being finally offered his dream NBA coaching job. It’s not that hard to guess how the movie is going to end at this point.

Despite the familiarity, Farrelly and screenwriter Mark Rizzo effortlessly create a sports movie that is equally entertaining and likeable. Sure, the characters of Johnny or Showtime might be more interesting than Marcus. Still, Champions is easily more meaningful than the average cinematic treat. Bobby Farrelly has finally redeemed himself.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: A drama that follows a family as it falls apart and tries to come back together again. A couple of years after his parents’ divorce, 17‐year‐old Nicholas no longer feels he can stay with his mother, Kate. He moves in with his father Peter and Peter’s new partner Beth. Juggling work, his and Beth’s new baby, and the offer of his dream job in Washington, Peter tries to care for Nicholas as he wishes his own father had cared for him. But by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present.

MOVIE REVIEW:

If you are in a depressing bleak mood, don’t attempt to watch The Son. It’s going to leave you heartbroken and even depressed further for sure.

In Florian Zeller’s sophomore effort after his much acclaimed The Father, Hugh Jackman is Peter Miller, a highly successful man married to a young woman, Beth (Vanessa Kirby) with a newborn baby in tow. We learned that this is Peter’s second marriage as his ex-wife, Kate (Laura Dern) came knocking on his door one day to inform him that their firstborn, Nicholas (Zen McGrath) is skipping school and she wants Peter to spend more time with the latter.

Shortly after moving in to stay with his father and Beth, Nicholas is diagnosed as suffering from depression. With that, Peter struggles to cope with the relationship with his deteriorating son, a suffering Beth and an ex-wife who still pins for his love.

Jackman delivers a first class act as Peter Miller, a character that is emotionally complex, struggles with guilt and pain as a result of a failed marriage and the sobering fact that he might have neglected Nicholas in the process. Over the years, audiences have forgotten that Jackman is a solid actor besides being a certain mutated wolfman and in The Son, Jackman has proven he has aced his performance yet again.

Despite Jackman’s charismatic presence, Zeller’s adaptation of his stage play feels like a one-note melodrama without much dynamic nor empathy to speak of unlike The Father which speaks volumes on the subject of mental illness. Simply put, The Son is about a rich family with more than enough resources on hand to resolve the painful situation but fumble at every turn.

The baffling inclusion of having Anthony Hopkins playing Peter’s estranged father did the drama no favour as well. While it’s a nice brief scene to demonstrate why Peter resent his father for missing out on his life, it’s apparently not enough to tie it back to Peter’s current predicament with his own son.

The Son is a serious drama tackling a number of difficult issues including mental illness, the aftermath of a divorce, dysfunctional family etc. Even with the fine acting from the main cast, the drama is hampered by stiff writing and flat direction. Maybe the material works better on the stage than on the big screen.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Scott Waugh
Cast: Jackie Chan, John Cena, Pilou Asbæk, Zhenwei Wang, Max Huang, Amadeus Serafini, Rima Zeidan
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 7 July 2023

Synopsis: Two ex-special forces soldiers (John Cena and Jackie Chan) must escort a group of civilians along Baghdad’s “Highway of Death” to the safety of the Green Zone.

Movie Review:

‘Hidden Strike’ may have stayed under the radar for close to five years, but we’re glad this East-West collaboration is finally seeing the light of day. Indeed, true to its title, this team-up between Jackie Chan and John Cena is an unexpected winner – not only is it one of Jackie Chan’s most entertaining action comedies in years, it also features one of the most engaging buddy dynamics between Jackie Chan and a foil since his pairing with Chris Tucker in the ‘Rush Hour’ trilogy.

Though threadbare, the story does pack a number of pleasant surprises. One such surprise is the relationship between Chan’s Commander Dragon Luo and Cena’s Chris Van Horne – than being on the same side right from the start, the pair find themselves at odds with each other, the latter being part of the team that hijacked two buses from a convoy that the former is escorting across Baghdad’s infamous ‘Highway of Death’ to the Green Zone. That said, you can probably guess that despite their initial differences, Luo and Chris will soon realise that they are up against the same enemy, namely the mercenary Owen Paddock (Pilou Asbæk).

Oh yes, there is more texture to both Luo and Chris than we did expect. Besides their similar background as ex-special forces turned private security contractors, Luo and Chris have their own regrets to deal with – while Luo still lives with the guilt of not being by his wife’s side when she fell ill and passed on, Chris carries the burden of not being able to save his father when he and his brother followed their dad out to Iraq on a mission two years back. Though admittedly slight, these details add nuance to the bond between Luo and Chris, besides their common sense of purpose.

Working off a screenplay by Iranian writer Arash Amael, director Scott Waugh (who is also at the helm of this fall’s ‘The Expendables 4’) choreographs a number of impressive set-pieces. Starting off with the aforementioned hijack in the midst of a deliberate sandstorm, Waugh combines whopping vehicular action with close-quarter shootouts and fistfights; with the latter in particular, Waugh showcases not only the complementary styles of Chan and Cena but also wrings some genuinely hilarious moments amidst their tag-teaming, especially their use of hand signals.

What we particularly enjoyed is the chemistry between Chan and Cena in these set-pieces, whether foiling a raid by Owen’s henchmen on a local Iraqi village that Chris is caretaker of or out-manoeuvring a whole army of baddies at the refinery to stop Owen from stealing millions of dollars worth of oil. In particular, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Chan so relaxed and playful, and we dare say the display here of his signature slapstick acrobatic style is one of the most delightful we’ve seen in recent memory, so kudos to Waugh for bringing out the best in Chan. Likewise, Waugh employs Cena’s dead-panning to good effect here, not least when he tries to exercise his conversational Chinese with Chan.

Waugh also deserves mention for balancing action, comedy, drama and even politics so neatly and deftly. Though there are surefire bits of action and comedy, Waugh, who broke into Hollywood with the gritty ‘Act of Valor’ about US Navy SEALs, keeps the proceedings as real and convincing as can be. There is palpable urgency to the extraction mission which Luo has been recruited for, to lead the civilian employees of Chinese petroleum company Yutime to safety. Though the change in tone when Luo meets Chris is evident, the jokes never do come at the expense of the drama. And to top it off, there is even geopolitical commentary thrown in, including veiled criticism at how such petroleum companies are content only to exploit the desert for its oil, without a care about bettering the lives of the local people.

So even though it’s been a good five years, ‘Hidden Strike’ proves a winner in more ways than one. Fans of Jackie Chan will rejoice at the chance to relive the entertainer’s versatility, both as an actor and as an action star. Fans of John Cena will cheer the opportunity to see him take centre stage in an action vehicle. And for everyone else, this is a fun, lively and even thrilling action comedy that showcases the best of its lead actors – in fact, we dare say it is one of the rare East-West collaborations that truly works, which given today’s state of affairs, will unfortunately be few and far in between.

Movie Rating:

(Probably the most entertaining Jackie Chan action comedies in recent memory, this team-up with John Cena is also one of the best buddy pairings he's had since that with Chris Tucker in 'Rush Hour')

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action
Director: Park Hoon-Jung
Cast: Kim Seon-Ho, Kang Tae-Joo, Kim Kang-Woo, Go Ara, Kwon Hyuk-hyun
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:

Opening Day: 28 June 2023

Synopsis: The story follows Marco, a boxer with a complicated past. He is of mixed descent, with a Korean father and a Filipino mother, and has been wandering around illegal stadiums in the Philippines. He lives with his sick mother in the Philippines. One day, Marco decides to travel to Korea in search of his estranged father, to pay for his mother's surgery. Upon his arrival in Korea, Marco quickly discovers that he is being relentlessly pursued by a dangerous group of individuals for reasons unknown. Among his pursuers is a mysterious and unidentified man known as the "nobleman," who creates chaos and severely restricts Marco's movements. In addition to the nobleman, Marco is also being pursued by Han Yi-sa, a wealthy heir who seeks to claim his father's vast fortune, and Yoon-ju, a mysterious woman whom Marco unexpectedly reunites with in Korea. Marco finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of unpredictability and madness. Amid this chaos, Marco is forced to confront a shocking truth that will change everything he thought he knew about his past and present.

Movie Review:

A decade after one of the most-loved Korean noir crime thriller ‘New World’, writer-director Park Hoon-jung returns to the genre with ‘The Childe’. As solid as it is, those expecting a similarly intriguing tussle between warring factions looking to seize control of a powerful criminal syndicate will find themselves underwhelmed by this relatively simplistic tale with an analogous construct.

Instead of Lee Jung-jae’s undercover police officer, the lead protagonist who finds himself caught in the crossfire here is amateur boxer of mixed Korean and Filipino descent named Marco (Kang Tae-joo). Derogatorily called a ‘Kopino’, Marco is seeking his Korean father to help pay for his Filipino mother’s medical procedure. That search becomes even more urgent when he falls for a local thug’s scam and finds himself pursued by a group of gangsters who want to get back at him for knocking out a formidable Thai boxer in an illegal match that they had bet on.

To his surprise, Marco gets a visit from a snotty attorney Kang who claims to be acting for his dying father. Kang convinces Marco that his father has even less time left than his mother, and that he needs to get on a plane to Korea to see his father immediately. Whilst on the flight, Marco is accosted by a mysterious ‘nobleman’ (Kim Seon-ho) who says he is a friend (or ‘chingu’ in Korean). Besides advising Marco to speak English with an American accent (because Koreans f**king love it), the said ‘nobleman’ tells Marco that the reason why he is going to Korea is to die.

Meanwhile, the story also acquaints us with Han Yi-sa (Kim Kang-woo), the heir apparent to the Hokyung Foundation given its Chairman’s ailing condition. There is a whole subplot dedicated to establishing just how despicable Yi-sa is, as he gets his goons to kidnap a former high-ranking employee of the foundation and the publisher of an Internet website who were in cahoots to besmirch the reputation of the foundation by publishing an article about its slush funds, the former of which Yi-sa shoots dead after taunting him to try to save his life by running zig-zag across a patch of open field towards a forest of cedar trees and the latter of which Yi-sa barely bats an eyelid blasting him with a shotgun at close range.

Given how Kang is acting on Yi-sa’s orders, it is clear Marco’s fate is doomed. Thankfully, the ‘nobleman’ steps in to run the car carrying Marco to his imminent death off the road, killing Kang’s men shortly after and freeing Marco from their grasp. For reasons frustratingly unbeknownst to us, the ‘nobleman’ refuses to make his intentions clear to Marco; instead, he and Marco engage in an ultimately pointless foot chase that goes on interminably from a mountain road to an interstate highway to a tunnel and lastly to a town in the suburbs.

Besides the ‘nobleman’, Marco also finds himself targeted by Yoon-ju (Go Ara), who ‘saves’ him from the ‘nobleman’ after that incessant chase. It is Yoon-ju who will enlighten Marco what Yi-sa wants with him, and who will eventually try to kill Marco for her own agenda. Indeed, the second act feels that the narrative is just spinning its wheels, what with Kang, the ‘nobleman’, Yoon-ju and Yi-sa taking turns to try to capture an utterly clueless and defenceless Marco. We’re not sure why Marco literally doesn’t pull any punches throughout this entire section, especially given how he would presumably have had a fighter’s instincts from his times in the boxing ring.

To be fair to Park, who pulls both scripting and directing duties here, the third act proves a lot more engaging. The standoff between the ‘nobleman’ and Yi-sa is wickedly funny, and the subsequent fight between the ‘nobleman’ and Yi-sa henchmen (we counted about 30 of them) is brutal, intense and visceral. What remains inexplicable is why Marco would not even fight to defend his own life, though it is also clear by that time that despite starting out from his perspective, Marco is but a supporting act in the entire movie, a hunch which the twist at the end will further confirm.

Oh yes, the real star of the show is the ‘nobleman’ (and not the ‘childe’ as the title says), and therefore its actor Kim Seon-ho. Park has made it no secret that he wanted Kim in the role as the ‘nobleman’ from the start; and to Kim’s credit, the star of the hit rom-com series ‘Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha’ does play convincingly against type as a cold-blooded killer with a twisted sense of humour and own moral compass. Still, both his character and Marco are let down by Park’s scripting, which needs a lot more definition to make their roles compelling.

As a crime thriller, ‘The Childe’ is still as slick as the best of its Korean predecessors; what it lacks though is depth. Indeed, when the movie finally reveals the identities and motivations of the various characters, you cannot help but feel disappointed that there isn’t more to it, or shake off the distinct feeling that much of the ambiguity was only there to disguise the fact that the story was that thin. Like we said, this isn’t ‘New World’, and for that reason, we suspect those – like us – who were anticipating a similarly gripping tale of greed, power and betrayal will find ‘The Childe’ a tad too child-ish.

Movie Rating:

(Not quite the compelling crime noir many would be expecting, 'The Childe', though slick, lacks depth in plot and character and ends up spinning wheels for too long)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission.

MOVIE REVIEW:

We last saw Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), the black ops mercenary being shot and falls into a river in Mumbai presumably dead. But now Rake is back for yet another deadly mission in Georgia after recovering from the near fatal injury. At least we know John Wick has a similar chance of resurrecting for another chapter.

Hired by his estranged ex-wife to rescue her sister, Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili) from the clutches of her Georgian cartel husband and his menacing elder brother, Rake teams up with fellow mercenaries, brother and sister team, Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and Yaz (Adam Bessa) to barge into a prison and bring Ketevan and her two kids to safety.

Let’s face it, nobody is watching Extraction 2 for the polished characters, award-winning acting and drama which explains why screenwriter Joe Russo and stunt coordinator turned director, Sam Hargrave delivers another ass-whopping sequel with minimal narrative and pit stop.

While the first involves Rake extracting a young boy, the stakes are up a little in the sequel as he is require to extract a family of three. The initial extraction sequence lasts a staggering 20 minutes with Rake first fighting his way through a jail riot to a car/motorcycle chase to a train/helicopter shootout. The action sequences definitely are bigger and louder with Rake taking down no less than three (likely CGI) helicopters with a machine gun. It’s not just Hemsworth shooting, stabbing, punching and killing his opponents in every imaginative way possible. His co-star Golshifteh Farahani deserved a mention as well given she has more to do in Extraction 2 as she puts in an equally no-holds-barred performance.

With a supposedly bigger budget and accumulated directorial experience from the first, Hargrave works even harder to deliver more bone-crunching action pieces. Extraction 2 works extremely well especially in the hand-to-hand combat sequences with Rake killing the bad guys with some everyday gym equipment in very creative ways later in the movie. Hargrave’s handheld camera style is in full force right here minus the motion sickness as it moves through every path and space possible.

There’s apparently an emotional stake as to why Rake accepts this mission. The man is trying to redeem himself after leaving his cancer-stricken late son years earlier. This leads to a quiet scene between Rake and his ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurylenko) who finally has a chance to confront each other after years being away. Finally a bathroom break for the general audiences.

We are not sure what Joe Russo is brewing with the introduction of a mysterious character played by Idris Elba and of course Mia (since she is played by a well-known actress) in the subsequent Extraction chapters. However at this point, we are very interested at what level of carnage is Hargrave going to unleash with his leading man, Chris Hemsworth in the future. As a hard-hitting, furious action franchise, Extraction is fast reaching the gold standard of John Wick and that is a good thing for action fans who has been fed with generic CGI-enhanced action escapisms for a long while.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: Stand-up comedy sensation Jo Koy (Jo Koy: In His Elements, Jo Koy: Comin’ in Hot) stars as a man returning home for an Easter celebration with his riotous, bickering, eating, drinking, laughing, loving family, in this love letter to his Filipino-American community.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Easter Sunday marks stand-up comedian Jo Koy first foray as a leading man in a feature movie. The half-white, half-Filipino comedian often tells jokes about his Asian mother if you have seen any of his Netflix stand-up specials or clips of his performances on social media. The guy is simply brilliant in his comedy shows although his very own movie outing we must say lacks the spark to tell a meaningful funny story.

Sort of playing himself but not, Joy Koy is Joe Valencia, a struggling comedian in Los Angeles whose agent is trying his best to secure a role for him in a sitcom. At the same time, single father Joe has to be with his family in Daly city for Easter celebration and tagging along is his son, Junior whom Joe has missed out on his school meeting earlier.

If you are expecting a Filipino version of Crazy Rich Asians or My Big Fat Greek Wedding, well the filmmakers seem to be at a loss as to what to do with Joe and his assortment of colourful relatives including his aunt, mom and cousins. The Kevin Kwan adaptation at least knows it is making a fantasy story about privileged and rich people in Singapore. Easter Sunday on the other hand stays so grounded and Americanised that it abandoned its Filipino roots shortly after the reunion.

For whatever strange reason, Joe is dragged into some petty crime involving a prized Manny Pacquiao boxing gloves by his cousin Eugene. Then they encounter a shady buyer played by Jimmy O. Yang, a mysterious man dubbed “The Jeweler” (yes that is Lou Diamond Phillips by the way) and a brief chase by a lady cop also ex-girlfriend of Joe, Vanessa (Tiffany Haddish).

Besides sharing some squabbling scenes and a cliched karaoke session, the talents assembled including Tia Carrere, Lydia Gaston are clearly wasted in the whole process. Easter Sunday has so much potential as a rowdy, dysfunctional immigrant family but the bulk of the movie is spent on something completely irrelevant to the main theme or should we say, functions like a rejected version of a Seth Rogen stoner comedy. This leads to Joy Koy for the most part fumbles with the sloppy script except for a church confession which makes good use of his talent. On the whole, a rather bland tribute to the America-Filipino community.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maika Monroe, Jamie Foxx, Karl Glusman, January Jones, Paul Johansson, David Thornton
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: M18 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 29 June 2023

Synopsis: GOD IS A BULLET follows detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who finds his ex-wife murdered and his daughter kidnapped by an insidious cult. Bob takes matters into his own hands and infiltrates the secretive cult to try to save his daughter. With the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin (Maika Monroe), Bob and Case go down the rabbit hole with The Ferryman (Jamie Foxx) to save his daughter and find closure for Case from the cult – and its maniacal leader (Glusman) - that took so much away from her.

Movie Review:

Instead of telling the story at an efficient 105 minutes or so, Nick Cassavetes has to spend an additional excruciating 50 minutes on God Is A Bullet, his latest big screen directorial effort after a long hiatus (his last helmed project was The Other Women in 2014).

Apparently, a passion project of Cassavetes, God Is A Bullet is based on pseudonymous American writer Boston Teran’s 1999 novel of the same name. Far more contradictory, the movie claims it’s based on a true story. Sadly it doesn’t matter in the end. The finished product in short is a simplistic crime drama disguised as a slow, arty action thriller.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau stars as a deskbound small town cop, Bob Hightower who decides to investigate a case involving his own missing daughter, Gabi. The case however is much more complicated than expected though there is not much of a mystery element either. As the first act of the movie shows, a Satanic cult is responsible for the killing of Bob’s ex-wife and the kidnapping of his teenage daughter.

In comes Cash Hardin (Maika Monroe), a girl who managed to escape from the same Satanic cult and offers her assistance to Bob. Their plan believe it or not is to infiltrate the cult scene in order to track down sadistic cult leader, Cyrus (Karl Glusman) and the whereabouts of Gabi.

The glaring problem with Cassavetes’ scripting is that the movie takes a very long time to get from one point to another. The entire proceeding is stuffed with a redundant subplot involving Bob’s abusive colleague, flashbacks of Cash and a fellow female cult member, Lena and unnecessary amount of copious violence.

The supposedly crime drama also fails to establish a meaningful statement on child prostitution and religion. Yes, we hear that Cash was forced to commit crimes during her time in the cult and all the while, they keep referring everyone as “sheep”. But before anything is developed further, another vile and abusive sequence appears and we are treated to another disturbing visual, likely another woman character getting her face punched or a cult member getting horrendously shot at. There’s also an irritable drug dealer that keeps screaming his head off. And we all agree he needs to cross over real fast.

With a prosthetic arm and covered in tattoos, Jamie Foxx appears for less than 15 minutes here as “The Ferryman”, a fellow cult member with a heart of gold. He offers tattoo service, gun supplies and even medical treatment to Bob and Cash, he is basically the cult version of 7-11. Foxx is also listed as one of the producers which explained why he is too busy to appear longer on the screen.

Like your nearby coffee shop uncle, leading man Nikolaj Coster-Waldau just looks uninterested not exactly menacing or stoic enough to save his daughter. Perhaps Denzel Washington or Liam Neeson fits the role better. Maika Monroe deserved all the praise for all the hard work put in alas she needs a far more purposeful narrative.

As mentioned prior, God Is A Bullet should be a decent exploitative revenge flick to entertain the masses instead of being a tedious crime flick that tries hard to be smart and deep. Maybe Cassavetes should just stick to material liked The Notebook and John Q.

Movie Rating:

(Unnecessarily long and gory, it’s passable if you have both the time and stomach)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Lo Ka Leung, Tse Kwan-ho, Alex Fong, Timmy Hung, Wilfred Lau, Lam Suet
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Drug References)
Released By: Shaw Organisation & Clover Films
Official Website:

Opening Day: 20 July 2023

Synopsis: Hong Kong police agent Cheung (Aaron Kwok) works undercover in Kang’s (Sean Lau) drug cartel. For years, he assists the notorious Thai-Chinese military veteran in operating the syndicate out of Southeast Asia before moving to Hong Kong. Following the trail of information left by Cheung, Superintendent Au (Louis Koo) leads the Narcotics Bureau to bust the syndicate, but Cheung is heavily wounded and saved by Kang in the exchange of fire which follows. Word travels fast, and it isn’t long before militia leader Dai (Lo Ka Leung) receives a tip-off about Cheung’s betrayal… What emerges in the frontline of war is a familiar face, but this time, as a friend or foe?

Movie Review:

Benny Chan’s passing last year was a loss for the Hong Kong filmmaking industry in more ways than one, given how he was one of the few directors who could confidently pull off an old-school action blockbuster. Though it was intended that he take the reins of this threequel, Chan’s passing meant he could no longer return to the franchise that he started back in 2013. That mantle has been assumed by Herman Yau, who was behind the admittedly underwhelming 2019 sequel; fortunately, Yau has upped the scale and stakes of this latest chapter, and while ‘Heaven or Hell’ may not reach the glorious heights of the original film, it still is an engaging action thriller thanks to Yau’s strong sensibility for spectacle.

Opening literally with a bang, Yau introduces us to his triumvirate with a thrilling set-piece at the Tuen Mun container terminal. Just as drug lord Suchat (Sean Lau) and his men are about to drive off with barrels of drugs smuggled from off the high seas of Hong Kong, they are intercepted by the police. In the ensuing firefight, Suchat’s left-hand man Rong (Louis Koo) reveals that he is in fact an undercover police officer, and while Rong manages to emerge unscathed, the same cannot be said of fellow undercover cop Billy (Aaron Kwok), who is gravely injured and ends up following Suchat to Laem Chabang in Thailand on a cargo vessel.

While Rong – otherwise known as Superintendent Au (Koo) – tries frantically to locate Billy, the latter falls in love with a village girl Noon (Yang Caiyu) who had nursed him back to health. Billy also bides his time by supporting Suchat as he rebuilds his business with a former associate Mee Noi (Tse Kwan-ho) in the Golden Triangle somewhere in the mountains along the Thai-Myanmar border; in particular, Suchat forms an alliance with Dai Jinrong (Gallen Lo), who commands an army to oversee and protect his drug-producing empire cultivated from the crops grown by the villagers in the poppy farms surrounding his camp.

Without giving too much away, it should not come as a surprise that Billy will eventually find a way to contact Au, who will team up with no less than the Royal Thai Police to raid Dai’s village one evening and crush his army once and for all. Indeed, the money shots of air raids conducted by the Thai air force on Dai’s mountain camp belong to that explosive climax, where Billy will have to make a choice whether to follow the oath he took to uphold the law or to respect the bond of brotherhood between him and Suchat. Oh yes, despite promising a heavyweight team-up among Lau, Koo and Kwok, it is only right at the very start and very end that the three veterans share the screen together, which we admit is slightly disappointing to say the very least.

As much as the tag-line promises “a face-off between righteous and loyalty”, those expecting a character-driven crime thriller will probably go away underwhelmed. Yau has always been a better director than scriptwriter, and without his regular writing partner Erica Li, he struggles to build compelling character arcs for his three main leads, and ends up relying largely on the charisma of his actors than anything else. Most frustratingly, Yau throws in flashback after flashback to lay out the backstory behind the characters – whether is it how Suchat came to trust both Rong and Billy or even how Rong and Billy became buddies – which not only comes off clumsy but breaks the storytelling momentum of the main narrative.

Thankfully, Yau’s ability to construct big action set-pieces remains undiminished. Together with veteran action choreographer Li Chung-chi, Yau pulls off a number of intense gunfights and vehicular chases that count among the most exhilarating we’ve seen from Hong Kong cinema in recent memory. His insistence on using real guns and real sets, despite the hassle of doing so during the pandemic, pays off tremendously, especially in the bold, ambitious climax where literally all hell breaks loose. If it’s a storm of action you’re seeking, we can reassure you that you’ll love this showcase of old-school blockbuster making.

For keeping his audience engaged in between the action, Yau has to thank Lau – indeed, as the arrogant but loyal drug lord Suchat, Lau’s against-type villainous turn is an absolute guilty pleasure, and hands-down the most interesting character in the entire film. Compared to Lau, Kwok is competent but hardly outstanding; on the other hand, Koo is almost a supporting player through the film, and sadly for the most part inconsequential. Still, Koo fares better than former TVB heavyweight Lo, who is woefully miscast as the fierce but fair guerilla leader. No thanks to the thin writing, Lo doesn’t quite know how to fashion the character, and ends up delivering a laughably weak performance that is even cringe-worthy to watch.

Still, this third chapter remains notable for its exhilarating old-school action, which as we’ve said in the beginning, is more a more a dying breed in Hong Kong cinema with veteran filmmakers either retiring or passing on. While Yau made his reputation as a horror shlock filmmaker, he has in recent years pivoted to blockbuster action, and in the process destroyed no less than the Cross Harbour Tunnel (in ‘Shock Wave’), the Central MTR station (in the 2019 ‘White Storm’ sequel) and the Hong Kong International Airport (in ‘Shock Wave 2’). Here, with all manner of weaponry as well as aerial firepower, Yau carries the torch once borne by such luminaries as Benny Chan and hopefully still by Dante Lam. And for that reason, despite its narrative and character shortcomings, ‘The White Storm 3: Heaven and Hell’ deserves your attention and even admiration; after all, we can’t say for sure how long more Hong Kong cinema will have something as bombastic as this.

Movie Rating:

(As delightfully old-school as Hong Kong action gets, this muscular showcase of guns, firepower and brotherhood boasts a gleefully villainous performance by Sean Lau)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: Jason and his mother, Yun, make big bucks together in Chinatown swindling money out of people since Jason was little. Along with the grocery store owner Andy who took them in since Jason was a baby, they decide to do one last big job. Their target is Mrs. Apple, the founder of Tao Lin, a world renowned porcelain company. Jason pretends to be that rich old granny's long lost grandson, and Mrs. Apple insists on bringing Jason back to Taiwan, so that Jason can officially reclaim his heritage. In Mrs. Apple's extravagant house, these foreigners start role-playing to infiltrate the Zong Family. Jason starts to feel the warmth of being a part of a family that he has never felt before. This has greatly affected Team America's plan, the three of them start to blame and fight each other. Their cover is about to be exposed, but somehow the truth of Jason's family mystery is revealed.

MOVIE REVIEW:

The little known Scamsgiving was released earlier this year as part of the Lunar New Year offerings. The Taiwanese crime comedy might lack the laughs but overall certainly better than the average Raymond Wong’s offerings.

Together with grocery store owner, Andy (Tai Chih Yuan), Yun (Sonia Sui) and her son, Jason (Edward Chen) makes a living in Chinatown, San Francisco as small-time swindlers. Their next target however is a rich lady and owner of a porcelain company, Mrs Apple (Chen Shu Fang). Their get-rich scheme is to get Jason to impose as Mrs Apple’s long-lost grandson by using a porcelain bowl made by the latter’s late son, Hin.

While the three definitely have plans of their own when they are invited to stay in the mansion of Mrs Apple in Taiwan, what they didn’t know is Mrs Apple is suffering from early-stage dementia and her company is about to be taken over by two scheming relatives, Uncle Dick and Uncle John.

The comedy of Scamsgiving mostly comes from veteran comedian Tai Chih Yuan so we are not exactly sure why it’s being marketed as a comedy. Tai gives it all from impersonating Andy Lau to Fei Yu Qing to mouthing funny bits in halting English. He is generally rib-tickling whenever he is onscreen despite being in a small supporting role.

Known primarily as the fierce wife, Sonia Sui remains as gorgeous as ever playing a swindler with a heart. As part of her role, Sui is given the opportunity to change into a number of outfits and it’s certainly a visual treat to her fanbase. Edward Chen who came into prominence in the gay drama, Your Name Engraved Herein, is more than serviceable as a young man torn between family and responsibility.

To be open and fair, there’s not so much of a heist or scam to being with. Much of the second and third act are devoted to the family dynamics between Jason and his cousins. Even Yun and Andy largely disappear by then. Award-winning Chen Shu Fang (Dear Tenant, Little Big Women) delivers another stoic performance as the strong-willed matriarch who misses her late son.

Scamsgiving meanders mostly on the whole resulting in a movie that doesn’t really connect with its title. The narrative is filled with too many melodramatic sitcom premises and dialogue that the two-hour duration feels unnecessarily long and tedious. Yet the movie concludes on a sweet (somewhat predictable) note which makes the journey a tad better than an average Raymond Wong’s CNY vehicle. Obviously, there’s effort being put in but it’s too uneven and heavily short on laughs to recommend it.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee