I Did It My Way Review: Crime Thriller Spends Too Much Time on Andy Lau-Lam Ka-Tung Bromance, Leaves Eddie Peng Out In The Cold
This Hong Kong thriller should’ve been called I Did It Three Ways because it feels like three different movies rolled into one.
I Did It My Way (NC16)
Starring Andy Lau, Eddie Peng, Gordon Lam Ka-Tung
Directed by Jason Kwan
This Hong Kong flick about cops trying to capture an elusive drug lord lurking in the dark web is good and nuts at the same time.
It nails the matchup between Andy Lau and Gordon Lam Ka-Tung solidly. But wastes the presence of Eddie Peng.
Actually, it should be re-titled I Did It Three Ways since it's kinda like three different movies. Infernal Affairs-type tale. HK thriller. Cybercrime pic.
Uniting the strands is Lau as a cool, spiffy, stone-cold ruthless villain who should've been the dude Lau played to take on Tony Leung in The Goldfinger. Where's this Hardcore Andy when we needed him?
He's George Lam, the drug lord's lawyer. Yep, there's a joke about George Lam, the singer, here. Maybe baddies named Alan Tam or Jacky Cheung next?
This fella cares a lot about his pregnant wife, Vivian (Sakra's Cya Liu) — when was the last time you saw Andy cry? — as he prepares for their big wedding in a beach hideout in Malaysia (another inside reference given Lau's real-life Malaysian missus) while live-selling tons of drugs online like he's the Amazon of dope in a new way of trafficking. The show makes a big flashy deal out of this barmy idea.
Now, the lawyer's best pal is the drug lord's clean-up man, Sau Ho (Lam), who's actually a cop in deep cover for a long mole-in-the-hole time. Although there's little cleaning. Just shootouts, explosions, car chases and even a helicopter attack.
This Infernal Affairs undercover angle — copying the original flick's scenes of one guy dropping off a high-rise and a police heroes' cemetery — is the best part of the three-stream plot directed by Jason Kwan (Chasing The Dragon). Because Lau and Lam are two veterans who fill even a side glance with tension.
I Did It My Way: Gordon Lam Ka-Tung and Andy Lau can't stop laughing at how their Mandarin-dubbed dialogue sounds.
Despite their families being chummy, neat Lam starts to distrust shabby Sau who feels conflicted about nabbing his criminal buddy. “I can't tell whether I'm a cop or a gangster anymore,” he informs his handlers, overlooking his amigo being a cruel bastard who barks “Leave no one alive” orders.
The film overdoes this infiltration-at-whatever-cost drama by having Sau stab a fellow undercover cop as though he's a pin cushion. It's HK-style absurd, typifying its OTT action sequences as ang moh mercs — Lam's drug partners whom he pisses off — attack the said Malaysia wedding. Plus, somehow, the outnumbered lawyer always seems to know how to preposterously thwart entire teams of cops.
Which is where Eddie Peng comes in. He's Superintendent Fong, head of the Cybercrime Unit, who's flustered by Lam's hacking crew as he tries to pinpoint the identity of the wanted kingpin. “He has to be logged in while we hack him,” Fong urges his squad of good-guy counter-hackers. Gotta say that this cyber thingy is more loopy fun than Aaron Kwok's Cyber Heist.
Although you sorta wonder why Peng is even there as he resembles a puppy reporting to a top dog played by Simon Yam, essaying yet another police boss role which looks faxed in.
Peng is grossly underused — he has a great fight scene in a wine cellar though — while looking like a Taiwanese outsider barging in on two Hong Kong seniors' business.
“Oldies are still the best,” Lau and Lam's characters reminisce as they sit in a car listening to old songs.
True.
They've got that right. (3/5 stars)
Photos: Shaw Organisation
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