Director: Herman Yau
Year: 2020
Country: Hong Kong/China
Alternate Titles: Chak daan juen ga 2; Shock Wave: Hong Kong Destruction
Genre: Action
Plot:
After being crippled by a bomb blast, a high-end disposal officer leaves the ranks and hands it over to his protegee to take over the group so that he can help his own personal health. Several years later, he becomes the suspect in a series of bombings around the city which is complicated by the health issues that render him unable to help out more than what's expected of him during the investigation as the bombings continue. Determined to stop them from destroying the city, he puts his old skills to the test in order to bring the criminal group to justice while trying to avoid the police keeping him in their sights for the crimes.
Review:
This was a rather fun and enjoyable follow-up. When this one works best is the high-end action scenes which are incredibly fun and exciting and give this quite a bit more energy than expected in this kind of storyline. Not only are the expected pyrotechnics here really big and explosive which add a sense of danger to these high-end bombings but the kinds of chases at play here enhance this quite well. From the escape of the hospital attempting to get out of the way of the concurrent battle between the cops and the criminal gang to the series of encounters in the final half that pits him against the remaining terrorist group fueled by dozens of high-end explosions again into a highly enjoyable series of frenetic encounters, there’s quite a lot to like here with this fun action throughout here.
That being said, there are some issues with this one. The main issue here is the rather underwhelming second half here where it tends to bring the action down in order to focus on the series of twists found in the storyline. This one takes way too many side-tangents trying to provide a clever twist in the structure but don’t tie any of these aspects together in any kind of coherent manner, resulting in a sluggish segment that’s also somewhat confusing. The other issue here is the rather obvious CGI that’s present here with the film relying on comically cheesy and silly-looking CGI which is used throughout here for the spectacle sequences, which add a sense of excitement to everything but just comes off so cheesy that it sticks out as being too silly to be taken seriously. These here are what hold this one back.
Overview: ****/5
A highly enjoyable genre effort that has a lot of exciting action while only managing just a few minor setbacks that hold it back, this is a highly enjoyable genre effort that stays as a fun time for fans of this kind of film. Those who do, as well as viewers who appreciate high-energy old-school action films will really like this one while most others who don’t enjoy it should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment