Cold War

Five police officers and an armoured vehicle disappear in Hong Kong. Two deputy commissioners head the force and both want the authority to decide. Sean Lau is a rules man who rose behind a desk; M. B. Lee came up from the field and his son is in the missing crew. The operation is codenamed Cold War. The problem is not outside but inside: information is leaking and the leak is in the building. Leung Lok-man and Sunny Luk direct. Aaron Kwok plays Lau and Tony Leung Ka-fai plays Lee, with Charlie Yeung, Aarif Rahman and Andy Lau in the cast. What interests the film is the institution rather than the chase. Most of the narrative takes place in meeting rooms; the fight over authority, the press statement and the internal inquiry are the real source of tension. The police force's image of itself is inside the narrative; the city describes itself as among the safest places in the world and the incident shakes the claim. It won a number of Hong Kong Film Awards including best film, did large business, and a sequel followed. Its weakness is the script. The reversals stacked at the end strain the logic and some connections are left unexplained. Who it is for: viewers who like Hong Kong police films and institutional thrillers. Who it is not for: there are many characters, the terminology is dense, and the narrative overcomplicates at the end.