Favorite HK policiers of the last 5 Years?

[Kevin Heffernan]

I am writing a piece on Hong Kong cop thrillers since Hollywood remade INFERNAL AFFAIRS as THE DEPARTED. Davis and Yeh, in their indispensable book EAST ASIAN SCREEN INDUSTRIES, write about how IA was an example of HK filmmakers drawing on more rigorous Hollywood-style norms of narrative construction, and I have my own list of Hong Kong cop movies which exemplify this trend, but I am afraid that I so prefer the older model of operatic, episodic excess that I just can't see much of what is best about current HK cop movies because I am so nostalgic and backwards looking.

So, what are your favorite Hong Kong police thrillers and gangster films of the last five years or so? I'm curious to see how our lists might match up. At the risk of sounding coy, I'll post mine once I hear what some of you think.

[Yi Lee]

Hey Kevin (and everybody else),

Do you follow Cantonese TV?--(note to everybody:) and yes, if Tai Seng releases a R1 box set over here, there are English subbed ones available. As a fan of TVB law and order serials, I think the biggest thing to come out of Hong Kong in the past few years is Micheal Tse Tin-wah's "Laughing Gor" character, a cop gone wodi or undercover as a Triad dailo who encounters some serious problems owing to his off the books status. Also, the effect of CSI and derivatives cannot be understated--Bobby Au-yeung Tsan-wah's been riding that particular gravy train for over a decade now. And though it's not a policier per se, When Heaven Burns has quite the ripped from the headlines quality that Dick Wolf's Law and Order has plied in during its entire run.


I'm baaack....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHNATbCEZ1s

[Yvonne Teh]

Hi Kevin,

The following four are my favorite Hong Kong police thrillers and gangster films of the last five years or so:-

Dante Lam's BEAST STALKER (2008)

Dante Lam's THE STOOL PIGEON (2010)

Peter Chan Ho Sun's WU XIA (2011) - and yes, it's a period martial arts film but Takeshi Kaneshiro's character is a detective, after all!

Alan Mak and Felix Chong's OVERHEARD 2 (2011) - and for those wondering, I didn't care that much re OVERHEARD 1 (2009)

Herman Yau's REBELLION (2009)

And I know you didn't ask but I'm going to add that I've preferred the (non-crime) dramas, comedies and documentaries coming out of Hong Kong in the past five years or so to the crime films.

[Kim Greene]

Hmmm---I'd have to add PROTEGE (2007) a very good drug trade drama starring Daniel Wu as an undercover cop trying to bust a ring and Andy Lau as the head of said ring that takes him in and becomes his mentor. Also MAD DETECTIVE (2007) a dark crime drama with my fave Lau Ching Wan as the severely demented title character,with its unique take on schizophrenia and multiple personalities. Been wanting to see THE BEAST STALKER forever though, especially since Nic Tse cut his hair off and looks twice as hot in it. The fact that's he's also a damn good actor just enhances it.

Also got to throw in Donnie Yen's FLASHPOINT (2007) mainly because of the awesome banging fight scenes in it, but it's also a decent cop-tracks-down gangster action flick.

Another good one I just remembered is INVISIBLE TARGET (2007) with,of course, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue (yep, that's twice the hotness right there playing two hard-bitten cops on the trail of a whole major den of some type of thugs. It features both the leads doing some of their own kung fu and stunts, and Wu Jing as the titular bad dude, going toe-to-toe with both of then in one hell of an ultimate fight sequence. It's also the first flick I saw Jaycee Chan (Jackie's son) in, and he not only does some fighting, but he definitely inherited some of his dad's famous charisma (he's genuinely charming as a naive by-the-book rookie cop working with the two leads.) It's kind of underrated, I think, for some reason.

This post has been edited by Kim Greene on Feb 25 2013, 05:00 AM