It was a perfectly planned bank heist for Peng Hong (Jiang Wu) and gang, one that included many explosives, even more destroyed cars, and as a result many casualties. And it could have gone perfectly, too, if it wasn't for a mole in their gang Cheung (Andy Lau), who managed to arrest half of the gang, including Peng's brother Biao (Leo Zi-yi Wang) - but Peng got away ...

A year or so later, Cheung has become the most renowned and highly decorated bomb diffuser of the city - when a series of bizarre bomb traps show up all over town, all for Cheung to diffuse - and then a gang of terrorists take over the Kowloon tunnle, blocking both entrances with trucks loaded with explosives, and taking everybody in the tunnle hostage. Of course, the boss of the terroroists is Peng, and he isn't only demanding a horrenduous amount of money to release the hostages, he also wants his brother back - something that's harder than thought, as his brother has found God by now and doesn't want to be reunited, and then the car that ought to bring him to the tunnle has an accident. But of course, Peng also wants his revenge on Cheung, so he demands Cheung to play an instrumental role in all of this, and he even has Peng's girlfriend (Song Jia) kidnapped at one point, to have him save her and keep him distracted. But of course, this is a game that two can play, and ultimately, Cheung comes up with a plan to take out Peng - but it's a plan with many a risk ...

Now I won't mince words, the plot of Shock Wave is pretty far-fetched, and at the same time for the most part quite predictable. But that said, this is basically a film made up of brilliant action setpieces, which are uniformly directed, filmed and edited amazingly well, from the explosive car chase at the beginning of the movie to the finale that's no less explosive. And while the plot might be clichéed, it's populated with a bunch of relatable characters brought to life by a very solid ensemble cast. Plus, that the film takes itself overly serious works in favour of the movie for a change and gives it emotional depth not often found in action flicks.

Really cool, actually.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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