The Gist
Working under Xian Sir (Yuen Biao) and Pun Sir (Felix Wong), Brother One a.k.a. Yat Gor (Anthony Wong) is an undercover cop in the triad world who later gets reinstated back as a police officer. Being too used to the underworld life, he quits the force and becomes a triad leader. He recruits Laughing (Michael Tse) to send him to be a mole in the police force. He reports to Xian Sir and, surprise, surprise, he gets sent to be an undercover cop in the triad world. To make things further complicated, Laughing dates Karen (Fala Chen), the sister of Yat Gor’s arch-nemesis Zatoi (Francis Ng). Laughing has to provide balance to his double-agent identity whilst staying afloat with his life.
What Do I Think?
This film is based on a very popular supporting character known as “Laughing Gor” (Michael Tse) from the TVB series E.U. Since he is ended by death in the series, Turning Point, like a prequel, tells the story of how he becomes the character with much help from two of Hong Kong’s heavyweights: Anthony Wong and Francis Ng. These two incredibly fine actors possess excellent resumes from another classic double undercover film – Infernal Affairs. Michael Tse is a veteran triad actor who got his break from the Young and Dangerous films more than a decade ago. Director Herman Yau swiftly engages his experience from On the Edge, another undercover cop film starring Nick Cheung. Familiarity is evenly covered in many areas so the audience should be up for a treat.
Yau tells a gripping story of how Laughing slowly evolves from being a humble convenience store cashier to a suave and elegant triad leader. Yau intends to draw a lot from Wong and Ng, which could be a rather imbalanced move for Tse. Unlike giving a treat to Tse’s seniors with glorified scripts, Yau uses Tse like a disposable wine glass. If it breaks, it breaks. And it’s apparent that Tse doesn’t mind too much either. Rather than just emphasizing the film’s strength with powerful dialogue, there is much action involved, especially with Tse running for his life and jumping from buildings to buildings a lot.
Wong and Ng effortlessly proves that they are the most reliable and dependable actors in Hong Kong today. Wong does a gangster in a different style – he applies lipstick and eye-liners and dresses flamboyantly while still remaining in his heterosexuality. Whether or not they will catch on, those were the only breakthroughs he achieves. Ng doesn’t outdo him but appears in the classic triad look. He does however, outdo Wong in his performance. He holds well in his Zatoi role; he doesn’t overact while churning out his ongoing cockiness onscreen. The sibling love he portrays adds to the humane layer of his character.
Yau keeps his pacing well in this film. The side stories and the story twist in the end are enough to keep the audience interested and more importantly doing justice to the main character “Laughing Gor”. Since the screen times are equally shared amongst Tse, Wong and Ng, there should be ample amounts of anticipation of another Laughing Gor movie with Tse in the lead. And Herman Yau should be directing.
This is No Joke: Being Fala Chen’s debut in films, her performance is very promising.
This is A Joke: Anthony Wong’s appearance is at most times, distracting.
Rating: 8/10
Fala Chen 陳法拉
Tags: Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Fala Chen, Felix Wong, Francis Ng, Michael Tse, Wayne Lai, Yuen Biao
