Shock Wave 2

拆弹专家2

Hong Kong/China, 2020, colour, 2.35:1, 120 mins.

Director: Qiu Litao 邱礼涛 [Herman Yau].

Rating: 8/10.

Second film in the Hong Kong bomb-disposal franchise is even better than the first and in a pulpy way plays with the audience’s preconceptions.

STORY

Hong Kong, Jan 2015. Pan Chengfeng (Liu Dehua) is a senior member of the territory’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) bureau, working alongside his friend and junior colleague Dong Zhuowen (Liu Qingyun). One day, at great risk to himself, Pan Chengfeng successfully rescues a hysterical young woman who’s been left holding an unpinned grenade by the robber of a jewellery shop. Later the team is called out to a hostage crisis in a tenement building, where a couple (Zhou Zhijun, Wu Haixin) have been connected to bombs linked to pressure devices. They are rescued but Pan Chengfeng loses half his left leg when a hidden bomb explodes. Fitted with a prosthetic limb, he trains relentlessly to prove he is still fit enough to return to work; meanwhile, Dong Zhuowen is promoted. Five years later, in July 2020, disturbed graduate Zhang Zhiwen (Cai Hanyi) blows himself up at the Education & Manpower government department; the police discover he was aided by an extremist group, Vendetta 复生会, that exploited his anger. Run by wealthy fuerdai Ma Shijun (Xie Junhao), codename Maverick, and an unknown person called Davy, Vendetta is planning a major terrorist incident in Hong Kong. Pang Ling (Ni Ni), a chief inspector in the anti-terrorism unit – and Pan Chengfeng’s former girlfriend – is tasked by police operations director Chen (Zheng Zicheng) with finding the group which has been infiltrating people into Hong Kong for some time. Her mission is top secret. On 3 Oct, four months after the suicide bombing, Pan Chengfeng, now no longer with EOD Bureau, is almost killed when being pursued through a hotel where a bomb explodes in the pool during an official ceremony. In hospital he’s interrogated by Li Yaosheng (Jiang Haowen), a CID chief inspector, but claims to have lost his memory; tests prove his temporary amnesia is genuine, though Li Yaosheng suspects Pan Chengfeng was involved in the bombing. Meanwhile, Ma Shijun greets his assembled team for Vendetta’s forthcoming terrorist incident, codenamed Resurrection Day, but says they are still waiting for one member, Blizzard, in order to go ahead, and Blizzard is currently in hospital. The group tries to break Pan Chengfeng out of hospital but he manages to escape from both them and the police. Managing to remember Pang Ling’s telephone number, he manages later to clandestinely meet her. She then asks him if he can “still carry out the mission”.

REVIEW

Many of the creative team and some of the same cast reunite for Shock Wave 2 拆弹专家2, a bigger, classier and – yes – even better tale of Hong Kong bomb-disposal heroes facing wacko terrorists intent on some major outrage in the territory. With Liu Dehua 刘德华 [Andy Lau], 59, again playing a major role as chief creative producer 监制 and star, it’s better scripted than the 2017 original and in a tabloidy way even plays with the audience’s preconceptions about the plot and its lead character. But most of all it’s a tribute to the inexhaustible energy of prolific Hong Kong pulpmeister Qiu Litao 邱礼涛 [Herman Yau], now on the cusp of 60, who’s hardly been inactive during the three-and-a-half-year break – with six films released, including iffy bio-thriller The Leakers 泄密者们 (2018) and the highly enjoyable The White Storm 2: Drug Lords 扫毒2 天地对决 (2019) – and again confirms he can now handle quality blockbusters with the best of them. In the Mainland, SW2 took a very rosy RMB1.3 billion to become the turn-of-the-year runner-up just behind cancer movie A Little Red Flower 送你一朵小红花 (2020), more than tripling the first film’s respectable but hardly runaway RMB400 million.

Despite its Chinese title (literally, “The Bomb-Disposal Expert 2”), SW2, like its predecessor, shows little interest in the mechanics or background of the job and simply throws a couple of sequences into the plot (a) to get the film going and (b) to remind the audience of the title. To give Qiu & Co. their due, these sequences are well handled, with a sting in the tail of one and considerable suspense in a later incident as a bomb is dismantled under sniper fire. But the film is essentially just another action blockbuster – with new characters across the board and unrelated to the first film – in which Our Damaged Hero (Liu) spends more time on the run in Hong Kong’s streets than cutting coloured fuse wires, and the finale – unlike the first film’s claustrophobic setting in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel – is pure outdoor action stuff centred on a speeding train.

In a cheeky pre-title sequence, Hong Kong’s airport is spectacularly blown up by terrorists, and we are then told that one man stopped this happening. (The trick recalls a similar one in Mainland disaster movie Crash Landing 紧急迫降, 1999, where the worst-case scenario was simulated on-screen so the VFX team could have a field day.) Following this apparent spoiler for the whole film, the viewer is then led a merry dance in which the terrorists’ final objective for their “Resurrection Day” spectacular is only revealed at the very last moment and Liu’s character (a bomb-disposal hero gone rogue, after a debilitating injury and a later dose of amnesia) may even be involved in planning the whole atrocity. The script’s twists and turns cleverly play on the audience’s knowledge that Liu has mostly played good characters in his career and that fellow veteran Liu Qingyun 刘青云 [Lau Ching-wan], as his former colleague/best pal, is equally known for playing deceptive types.

All this chicanery results in the writers – Qiu, longtime regular Li Min 李敏 [Erica Li] and more recent recruit Li Sheng 李昇 (The Leakers; The White Storm 2) – having to create a 25-minute section in the middle that fills in missing bits of Our Damaged Hero’s recent past as well as dealing with some moral questions before the main plot is resumed. It’s the one awkward part of the film, though it’s well disguised with various distracting business and is also important in belatedly filling in the role played by Mainland actress Ni Ni 倪妮, before cranking up for the big third act. Looker Ni, 32, last seen in the taut thriller-in-a-blizzard Savage 雪暴 (2018), is generally good in physical roles and in a pulpy way brings off her unlikely part of heading an anti-terrorism team as well as being Our Damaged Hero’s ex-girlfriend. There’s no special chemistry between her and Liu Dehua on screen, though that’s more his fault than hers; he actually shows more warmth in buddy scenes with Liu Qingwan.

Just as Liu Dehua plays a completely different character from that in the previous film, other returning actors like veteran Jiang Haowen 姜皓文 [Philip Keung] and younger Cai Hanyi 蔡瀚亿 do the same – here as an aggressive police inspector and a suicide bomber. Xie Junhao 谢君豪 isn’t as manic as the cackling villain played by the Mainland’s Jiang Wu 姜武 in the first film but gets by on cool. Other supporting roles are colourful, including Ling Wenlong 凌文龙 as a crazed sniper and Mainlander Ma Yuke 马浴柯 (Buddies in India 大闹天竺, 2017) as the villain’s sidekick.

Action by the experienced Li Zhongzhi 李忠志 [Nicky Li], replacing the first film’s Lin Di’an 林迪安 [Dion Lam], is taut throughout, especially in street chases, as is the editing by Qiu regular Zhong Weizhao 钟炜钊 [Azrael Chung] which makes the two hours fly by. Widescreen photography by longtime regular Chen Guanghong 陈广鸿 [Joe Chan] is reliable and scoring by Mai Zhenhong 麦振鸿 [Brother Hung] much subtler than usual, often quiet and atmospheric rather than just propulsive wallpaper.

Shot during Mar-May 2019, on a reported budget of around RMB280 million, the film lacks a setpiece set like the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in the first film but is none the worse for it.

CREDITS

Presented by Guangzhou Yingming Culture Communication (CN), Universe Entertainment (HK), Alibaba Pictures (Beijing) (CN). Produced by Infinitus Entertainment (HK).

Script: Qiu Litao [Herman Yau], Li Min [Erica Li], Li Sheng. Photography: Chen Guanghong [Joe Chan]. Editing: Zhong Weizhao [Azrael Chung]. Music: Mai Zhenhong [Brother Hung]. Song music: Cai Xiao’en. Lyrics: Liu Dehua [Andy Lau]. Vocals: Liu Dehua [Andy Lau], Ni Ni. Art direction: Lin Ziqiao. Costume design: Huang Jiabao [Stephanie Wong]. Sound: Su Boli. Action: Li Zhongzhi [Nicky Li]. Visual effects: Yu Guoliang, Lin Jiale, Xu Debiao, He Jiachuan (Free-D Workshop).

Cast: Liu Dehua [Andy Lau] (Pan Chengfeng), Liu Qingyun [Lau Ching-wan] (Dong Zhuowen), Ni Ni (Pang Ling, anti-terrorism chief inspector), Jiang Haowen [Philip Keung] (Li Yaosheng, CID chief inspector), Xie Junhao (Ma Shijun/Maverick), Wu Zhuoyi (Lun Dingbang, EOD operative), Huang Debin [Kenny Wong] (Chen Jingtu, EOD operative), Zheng Zicheng (Chen, police operations director), Hong Tianming (King, anti-terrorism operative), Ma Yuke (Xiniu/Rhino, Maverick’s deputy), Yuan Fuhua (Qian Jia’an/Jinqian/Money, terrorist), Zhang Junjie (Stephen), Zhang Yang (Mon), Zhao Yonghong (Fat Sir), Cai Hanyi (Zhang Zhiwen, suicide bomber), Liu Haolong (Situ Wei/Nuli/Slave, terrorist), Ling Wenlong (Xiaoke/Sniper, terrorist), Yang Jixi (Security Bureau chief), Liang Jianping (chief hospital physician), Gu Jijun, Zhong Zhiguang (police superintendents), Zhen Yongbei (Wang Jingyi, clinical psychology professor), Wu Haixin (bomb-hostage wife), Zhou Zhijun (bomb-hostage husband), Liang Tianchi (fanatic).

Release: Hong Kong, 18 Feb 2021; China, 24 Dec 2020.