Michael Ledo The film is also called "Laan jin." It has nothing to do with the cold war, nor is it much of an action thriller. The film is a Hong Kong police drama which utilizes a kidnapping and bombing as background for a police commissioner struggle. There are long dramatic scenes of internal office conflict and politics which follow a very orderly process.The translation is not herky-jerky, but very straight slang English, no reverse syntax. Some of the dubbing made the actors look bad, especially the woman crying for her dead husband. The film focuses on Deputy Police Commissioner Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok) and his relationship with the commissioner (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and operation Cold War. Cold War is a police emergency that happens when an emergency van with five hostages are stolen and a bomb goes off at a cinema. While part of the story involves solving the crime, a good two thirds of the film is a complex multi-sided office drama.The film uses a stock made for TV sound track. It has some cliche tough guy language like "Desperate times call for desperate measures" and "I was never here." It then ruins it with "I prefer latte." There is also some mention of police and government openness, something I didn't know if it was a criticism of government or a government propaganda statement. The film lost me for a moment when the internal office conflict started as I was expecting a Chinese Dirty Harry. Instead I got a Joe Friday arguing with his boss and then apologizing. Clearly the Chinese don't have the genre down for American audiences.Parental Guide: Some minor F-bomb usage. No sex or nudity. Woman in lacy top and panties.

stoicendurance This review, brainstormed by multiple great pieces of Chinese reviews, combined with the clarifications made by the directors, aims at uncovering the suspense and unsolved puzzles of the movie.The debate over whether Mr. M.B. Waise Lee the Deputy Commissioner (Operation) takes part in the scheme is undoubtedly the most controversial issue.This review proposes that Deputy Lee is almost completely innocent. To justify, it is necessary to differentiate of which Deputy Lee's sentiments is acting and not acting. What the silver screen progressively shows are:At the outset, Lee openly scolds Man To for the failure of telecommunications system. Afterwards, Lee urges a swift assault at a dockyard in an attempt to rescue the kidnapped policemen. He expressed disappointment when the operation paid in vain. Next, being questioned by Deputy Lau and PR Phoenix Leung at headquarters, Lee defended himself furiously with offensive words. After the policemen had been rescued, Lee started to calm down for the first time and expressed his gratitude peacefully to Deputy Lau.Subtle emotions of characters played a prominent role in deduction. If Lee was part of the scheme, first, it came no sense for Lee to point the finger at Deputy Lau and Man To in the kick-off meeting such that Lau could gear up in advance mentally against the scheme targeting him. Furthermore, it would be totally meaningless for him to sigh to nobody at dockyard operation if it was all planned and managed under him. It would be over-skeptical to put forward the idea that Deputy Lee was acting throughout the entire motion picture. Not only would this storytelling be far too intricate for moviegoers to follow and digest, but it would also be incoherent with characters' sentiments. Also, the conspirator must have instructed S.D.U. Commander Michael Shek to wipe out those ex-operatives when an independent government authority ICAC steps in. However, if Lee, who cares for the well-being of front- line policeman, was the man behind, his primary motive must be gaining power or money for the betterment of remuneration of policemen and these ex-operatives whom Lee looked after upon the completion ND157. So it would be insane, contradictory and against his will to sell out his ex- subordinates together with numerous police casualties in the wipe-out mission.Indeed, the directors have already clarified that, under their storyline, Deputy Lee is not the ultimate puppet master behind the scheme. It is otherwise the unexposed one(s), who is even out of Lee's scope, as also pointed out by his son at last. On top of this, an interview with the directors by a Hong Kong media outlet has also alleged that Deputy Lau and Lee will work jointly in fighting against the ultimate boss in Cold War 2. The puzzle remains ambiguous for who is the mastermind. As this movie is partly brainstormed by the U.S. presidential election campaign, this godfather could possibly be a syndicate of some tycoons, in favor of candidate Lee, working for their own interest i.e. sales of arms, chaos or whatsoever. Therefore, any casualty inherited in this war is not their concern. Those dead ex-operatives are simply being manipulated as their foot soldiers. It is uncertain and guessed that Deputy Lee finally senses the involved parties after ICAC questions him about ND157. Later, when his son is about to take the gun, there is a subtle smile shown on Deputy Lee's face. It is because his highly intelligent son chooses correctly not to uncover the truth to the police in ambush so as to keep them both safe (His son might get killed like those ex-operatives?). Some interesting food for thought:1. The seemingly drunken driver intentionally provokes the Emergency Unit van in order to isolate it. This driving expert could be an overseas English-speaking hired gun who does not own Hong Kong Identity Card which leaves no trace. It is all planned. However, there is argument because the driver thinks he can leave after the stalling car accident is engineered, which is being cheated. M.Y. Shum the policewoman, whom the driver hands the phone to, may also take part in the scheme with limited knowledge. 2. By the directors, Senior Superintendent Vincent Tsui is not a mole. It can be deduced from the fact that Vincent Tsui warns Deputy Lau to run away when Tsui's car is about to hit Deputy Lau at highway. 3. Senior Superintendent Albert Kwong is believed to be clean as he does not know the ND157 ex-operatives are back. However, his appearances often seem suspicious.4. Man To the I.T. Chief Officer is believed to be a traitor. Otherwise Hong Kong Police Force is unreasonably and incredibly easy to be hacked. Still, because of his gratitude to Deputy Lau for his generosity to his department for development in past few years, he implies a few times that he is one of the rotten links. (Speculated)Cold War is a marvelous and necessary war to affirm Deputy Lau's capability. It is well written and well filmed. Yet, too little background information and a number of suspects while no clear clue turns this movie hard to digest.

DICK STEEL And from the get go, we see Mongkok being bombed in a terrorist attack, before an EU squad mysteriously disappears from the police radar, together with five cops being held hostage for millions of dollars, threatening to blow this case wide open for the police, and become their PR nightmare. The safest city in the world is now under threat from forces and criminals unknown, and is now up to the highest echelons of the force to get their act together to crack the case, putting aside differences that have been festering for the longest time. The first third of the film has an extremely political slant to it, where internal bickering, testing of loyalties, and the protection of fiefdoms in organizations rear their ugly head. Anyone working in any private or public sector organization will be able to see parallels that both Lok Man Leung and Sunny Luk had drawn upon to set their characters in, with supporting acts from Lam Ka-Tung, Chin Kar Lok, Andy On and even Charlie Yeung playing various department heads, being drawn into the deep divisions, where on one side, Lee takes over in brash fashion, only to come up against the more brooding, thinking Sean, the latter plotting a coup de tat to wrestle control and to instill some semblance of reason. After all, Lee has personal conflicts of interest and Sean is banging on that to relief the former of his position.The second half becomes the Aaron Kwok show, with the police operations code named Cold War undergoing full swing, and the directors setting up plenty of action, with typical criminal- cop phone call conversations, and keeping things tight for the audience in wondering just who the perpetrators may be, in addition to rewarding everyone with a fairly realistic highway shootout scene. But the final act is where the prestige comes in, with the introduction of Aarif Lee as a fairly inexperienced ICAC officer who may have stumbled onto some secrets behind Cold War, and convinces his bosses to allow him to spearhead an investigations into the two deputy commissioners of police, turning the film into one investigative drama complete with red herrings and good old fashion police work.If only that was expanded upon, instead of speeding it through, which was what some quarters were restless about that Mainland China may have influenced the outcome of the film in some way, given that the good guys have to come up on top as a requisite. It's most unfortunate that the final act turned out to be its weakest, since it's never about the destination, but the journey in getting there, and there's where the screenplay fell through with gaping lack of information, perhaps primed for expansion in a separate film altogether, and a flow that was rather choppy, as if glossing over details had severely knocked the wind out of what could have been a very strong finish.But story aside, I felt that the perennial struggle between Scholar and Farmer was something that would be instantly identifiable with anyone in Singapore, where success with grades would guarantee being airdropped into a cushy job in any government organization. And clearly, Aaron Kwok's Sean Lau is one such scholar, promising and the youngest ever to be made deputy, and primed for the top job in what would be a railway ride to the top, barring any cock ups from this operation. This is clearly in contrast with one who rose through the ranks through sheer grit, determination and hard work in the case of M.B. Lee, being out there with operational experience with the men, versus someone brought into management and wielding presentation slides instead of risking his neck out there in the field. Debunking their respective stereotypes, is what made the characterization of both leading protagonists a joy to sit through and discover.While we are largely aware of Tony Leung Ka Fai's versatility, and looking quite the bad ass with his bald and bearded look here, I felt Aaron Kwok has really matured and aged well like fine wine, and with it came loads of improvement in his acting chops as well, charismatic to a fault in his portrayal of Sean Lau as we get put through which side of the fence this chap is really sitting on. Despite big names like Lam Ka Tung, Chin Kar Lok, Andy On and Eddie Peng, all of them were severely underutilized, which is a pity given the ensemble, with the likes of Charlie Yeung to balance the testosterone level in what would be a stereotypical role of being the PR chief for the police. Look out for Andy Lau in his few minutes, where he really chewed up the scenery as the secretary of security, primed and ripe for an expanded role if a sequel does come true.If only the ending wasn't so blatant as to leave it so open for a follow up film to be made, since it had left the door wide open to just how far the rot in the police force goes, despite being one of the safest cities in the world, that the organization tasked to keep the law and order gets bogged down by its own protocols, processes and power struggles. Still, as a first film effort, Cold War is still a very slick affair technical wise, with the leads propping the flimsy final act up on their shoulders with the promise of more. Recommended.

moviexclusive An explosion in the heart of Hong Kong city and the mystery disappearance of an EU van with five armed policemen onboard kick start a series of events that not only threaten the innocent citizens of Hong Kong but also the cohesion of the police force.Heavenly King Aaron Kwok plays Lau, the Deputy Commissioner of administrative services of the HK police force while Tony Leung Ka Fai plays Lee, the Deputy Commissioner of operations. With the Commissioner (Michael Wong) away on a conference in Copenhagen, Lee assumed the position of officer-in-charge and authorized an immediate rescue operation (codenamed Cold War) of the kidnapped officers. However, Lau has doubts over Lee's authority and a fight over the commanding position ensues. With the clock ticking including the safety of Lee's son, Joe (Taiwanese idol Eddie Peng) being one of the kidnapped police officers, operation Cold War is still a go despite the differences. Co-helmed by first time directors Sunny Luk (who serves as one of the writers and second assistant director on movies such as "Full Alert" and "On the Edge") and art director Longman Leung, "Cold War" is an intense crime thriller that collectively packed a lot of stuff into a compact 100 odd minutes. Taking into account the countless familiar faces that the duo has assembled, this factor probably already worth the admission ticket alone. The summary above only accounts for the first half of the movie, yes you heard that right. You got an electrifying scene between Lau and Lee's character. Two Heavenly Kings, one by the name of Andy sharing a scene together after their last collaboration in "Lee Rock II" almost two decades ago and a nail-biting scene involving Lau bringing a whole bag of cash to meet the kidnappers and ends with a gunfight on a busy road. Another gentle reminder, all these happened in the first half of "Cold War" and we have yet reached the end. Luk and Leung take a fresh spin on the usual crime genre and gave it a new life during the process thus instead of a straight out actioner liked Benny Chan's "EU Strike Force", we have a layered cop drama in the league of "Infernal Affairs". The story is also the duo's love song to their beloved homeland, a country that is run on a respected common law jurisdiction and enjoyed freedom of speech and accountability which is a stark contrast to the People's Republic of China. The two filmmakers refuse to rest on their laurels that they have to introduce a young ICAC rookie, Cheung (Aarif Rahman from "Bruce Lee, My Brother") in the next half of the movie to investigate Lau's alleged involvement in the missing ransom which in turn question the existence of a mole in the force. This is not to say the scripting of "Cold War" is perfect. In fact, in an enthusiastic move to generate more twists and turns, a couple of missteps including too many false endings and a CG filled finale actually hamper the overall enjoyment a little.After being lambasted for his cheesy acting in "Murderer" and "City Under Siege", Kwok equipped with a salt-and-pepper hairstyle is surprisingly believable as the calm, confident Lau while the award- winning Leung shines in a role that screams for more. The other supporting cast includes Gordon Lam Ka Tong playing a role that he can virtually portrays in his sleep and action choreographer Chin Ka Lok doubling as Lau's subordinate, the ever pretty Charlie Young pops in as Head of Public Relations with Andy Lau in an extended cameo as the Secretary of Security. I can't say much for Eddie Peng but this young man unquestionably is a shining star to watch out for.Even without the financial involvement of Mainland investors, "Cold War" is an impressive feat for the two relatively new filmmakers. The lush production values and picturesque aerial shots are examples of that. Although it doesn't feature wall-to-wall action (think "The Viral Factor"), "Cold War" is a recommended title proving the crime genre which the HK movie industry is famous for is still very much alive.