Synopsis

Years ago Ching ( Leon Lai) and his partner had arrested and convicted the criminal, Ocean (Francis Ng). Now released Ocean is out for revenge killing Ching's partner and kidnapping his wife and children as the movie opens. Ching is a master hypnotist and Ocean has other plans for him and also kidnaps Ching's wife to ensure his cooperation. Ching is also in jail for manslaughter after taking the rap for a murder his wife comitted under duress.

Li Wen-Kin is a senior menber of the Hong Kong Police force. He has an egocentric and overpowering personality. He is intolerant of mistakes, and forces one of his underlings to soak in a fish tank and count the fish as punishment. Kin's girlfriend Brenda (Karina Lam) likewise suffers because of Kin's macho personality. He has no time for her and her advances are brushed off with indifference.

Kin is brought in to investigate a cop who has committed a crime. On interrogation the cop reveals that he remembers nothing since he met a man in a bar the night before. The bizarre circumstances send Kin to Ching to find out if he had been hypnotized. Ching says he knows who did it but they will have to take him along as only he can identify the culprit. Kin springs Ching from jail and takes him along. Although they fail to catch the criminal, it is clear from the evidence in the apartment that there is a plot to steal two Egyptian diamonds worth millions.

Kin helps Ching retrieve the diamonds from the safe. At which point Ching takes off to deliver them to Ocean and get his wife released. Standing in front of the empty safe Kin comes to and realizes what has happened. Now Kin is wanted for theft and a frantic chase begins. Kin racing after Ching and the rest of the Hong Kong police force racing after Kin. Meeting up with Ocean, Ching makes his get away while Ocean's men deal with the pursuit. Cut off by the explosions Kin is cornered and taken into custody.

On route to jail, Kin frees himself using a trick he learned from Ching. Again running from the rest of his colleagues, he finally escapes by jumping from the Qing Ma Bridge into the water below. Brenda still hopelessly in love with him helps him to evade recapture and go after Ching and the criminal mastermind Ocean, in the theft of the diamonds.

Unpredictable and easily upset Ocean finds that Ching has double crossed him and the diamonds are not in his possession. He sends Ching back to retrieve them, killing his partne'r wife in front of him, and afterwards placing his wife and his partner's children inside a vaccuum chamber to slowly run out of air.

Ching returns to the scene to retrieve the diamonds and runs into Kin. Together with Brenda they go after Ocean. Ching had been blind folded so as not to know where Ocean's cave was. However, he was able to recall the route, enabling Kin to find the location. On arrival they split up to search the complex.

Finally, Kin helps Ching to cause an explosion to wipe out Ocean. They hide in the second vaccuum chamber as the oxygen cylinders detonate. Able now to reach his wife, Ching desperately tries to wake her to no avail. Mortally wounded, he lays his head on her lap as he dies. His wife comes to slowly and sees her husband, but is too late. Watching her anguish Kin realizes that there is more to life than work and he starts to appreciate and treat his girlfriend better.

Review

Ekin Cheng is extremely good as an action hero. His has the ability to do the stunts without too much help, and it is clear that he enjoys the challenge. His fight with his subordinates while handcuffed and trying to draw is one of the best sequences in the movie. Likewise, his stunts on the high buildings are extremely well done, despite the fact that he suffered a minor injury during those scenes. His portrayal of Kin as a macho cop shows his increasing versatility as an actor. He has considerable screen presence and it is good to see him return to a heroic character.

Leon Lai doesn't have a lot of dialogue in this film, relying on his eyes to do the talking for him. Acting the heartsick husband seemed to come naturally to him. His ability to hypnotize people when they least expect it was the hinge on which the movie turned. His scenes with Xu Jin as his wife, were extremely touching and his ultimate death tear jerking. The role is a tried and tested one for Leon Lai and as such his performance while good is less than stellar.

Both Francis Ng and Karina Lam are underused in this movie. Neither of the characters are well developed. Francis Ng has played many wonderful villans in past movies, but his portrayal of Ocean is flat and when he is ultimately blown to smithereens the audience doesn't really care. Karina Lam is also forgettable in her role as Ekin's girlfriend. Which is a shame because the relationship could have been explored more fully and her talents are underused.

There are a number of unexplained plot twists, most noteable being the policeman. It is not explained who hypnotized him. Also despite Karina's criminal activity in helping Kin to escape and allowing the diamonds to be stolen a second time, she seems to come out of the situation unscathed. A number of plot points are contrived, for example when Leon receives three bullets at close range, other that spitting out some blood, he appears unscathed and can still wield a 100lb oxygen canister.

Heroic Duo is a decent cop action movie. Benny Chan shoots much of the film from a distance, unfortunately his direction of gun battles lacks realism, on a number of occasions characters fail to acknowledge they have been shot.

The movie is available on VCD and DVD it has both a Mandarin and Cantonese track, with simplified Chinese and English subtitles .

Copyright © 2002

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