Synopsis

Police Negotiator Inspector Ho (Lau Ching Wan) is challenged once again, this time by an anonymous master magician (Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin) who is always one step ahead of the smart Inspector Ho.

The movie begins on the rooftops of Hong Kong. Negotiator Ken (Lam Suet) is a gambler who has amassed large debts. He has until Thursday to make good on his debt. Aware of his predicament, the magician challenges him to a game of heads or tails. As Ken starts to lose it becomes clear that it is Ken who will be the one to jump off the building.

Fortunately, Inspector Ho turns up in time to save Ken. However in the confusion the master magician makes his escape. The cat and mouse game now begins in earnest between Inspector Ho and the magician, who intends for Inspector Ho to be his assistant.

The magician has stolen a number of art objects worth a considerable amount of money. he is in the process of blackmailing the insurance company for $20 million. The CEO of the company, Teresa (Kelly Lin) wants to pay the money as her company is about to sign a lucrative merger.

Unfortunately, neither Inspector Ho nor the magician have any intention of letting this happen. The stakes are raised and between them they complicate matters further. Soon Inspector Ho and his bumbling boss (Shui Hung Hui) are trying to catch the magician, who has tricked them into making $20 million in counterfeit notes. Of course this ultimately finds its way onto the streets.

Following clues left by the magician. Inspector Ho realizes that a bald eagle, belonging to the magician can lead him to his home. A car chase following the eagle ultimately leads Inspector Ho to the magician's hideout.

A chase on foot and ultimately on bicycles ensues, the magician challenging him to bicycle to the end of the block. Both scramble to win, the magician finally thwarting Inspector Ho to win the race. At this point Inspector Ho realizes that he has indeed become the magician's assistant.

The side plot of the game of heads or tails with Ken continues. Ken seeks out the magician to find out if he cheated him. They continue to play until Ken realizes that it is just a game and he can stop anytime. The magician leaves the coin with Ken who then gives the coin to charity thus breaking the vicious cycle of gambling.

As the Magician's assistant, Inspector Ho is required to be the one to deliver the ransom money for the art objects. The magician leads him all over Hong Kong, finally making the swap for the artifacts at Queen's Pier.

Inspector Ho has tricked him however, as the money is fake. He then challenges the magician to collect the real money from the roof top of the building before dawn. The magician takes up his challenge arriving at the roof top across a tightrope strung between buildings.

As he takes the money Inspector Ho handcuffs him. With the money in his possession the magician jumps from the building pulling Inspector Ho to the edge. As Inspector Ho wonders whether he is going to be forced over the edge, the master of illusion disappears leaving Inspector Ho with empty handcuffs. For once the bad guy, who turns out to be a modern day Robin Hood, wins the day.

Review

Running Out Of Time 2 is not really a sequel to the original Running Out Of Time starring Andy Lau. Anyone expecting the same kind of gritty suspenseful drama will be disappointed. This is a much lighter, friendlier movie.

The entire proceedings have goofy feel of a children's game. Watching Lau Ching Wan and Ekin Cheng run around the streets of Hong Kong like a couple of kids captures that adolescent sense of humor that we all enjoy. The chase scenes indeed are extremely well filmed and won a Golden Horse award for best action sequences.

Ekin Cheng turns in a great performance in a role that is very different for him. The encounters with Lam Suet during the side plot give depth to the character. he played the charming and manipulative Robin Hood figure magnificently. Ekin seems to truly enjoy himself throughout the movie and is constantly grinning. His trimmed hair, slight goatee and debonair suits add to his 'villainous' role.

Lau Ching-Wan is his usual intense self. and at times is positively stoic. However, during the cat and mouse chases around Hong Kong and during the gritty bicycle race with Ekin he manages to add a dab of comedic humor to the role. It would have been nice if the relationship between himself and the Teresa, played by Kelly Lin could have been developed further.

Kelly Lin delivers many of her lines in English. She should seriously consider getting rid of her present English coach, as the delivery of many of her lines were without inflection and there were numerous examples of poor phrasing. Nevertheless, she was an attractive addition to the movie.

Running Out Of Time 2 gets by on a lot of charm. It is a very enjoyable catch the bad guy movie. it is put out by Mei Ah and is available on VCD and DVD. It has both a Mandarin and Cantonese soundtrack and both Chinese and English subtitles.

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