DOWNTOWN TORPEDOES (1997)

Starring: Jordan Chan, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung, Theresa Li, Ken Wong, Alex Fong

Cash (Chan), Jackal (Kaneshiro), and Titan (Wong) are members of a highly advanced team of commercial thieves, led by Sam (Charlie Yeung). They are paid to retrieve stolen goods or to hack into computers and steal invaluable data. One day, while in Hong Kong, they are arrested by Stanley Wong (Fong), a senior officer of the Hong Kong intelligence branch. The team is instructed to retrieve the stolen SN2 plates (the hardcopy which prints British pound notes), otherwise their bank accounts will be frozen and they are charged with industrial theft.

Cash calls in Phoenix (Li), a master hacker, to help them locate the SN2 plates, and when they do steal the plates right under the noses of the MI5 headquarters in Hong Kong, they find themselves betrayed by Wong. As a result, Phoenix dies, they are taken into custody by MI5 agents, and it seems that Sam isn’t what she first appeared to be. For the rest of the film, the team tries to locate Wong, and take back the real SN2 plates.

I’ve summarised the whole film in two paragraphs, and I could’ve written a longer synopsis, but that would ruin the film for you. This is the sort of thinking film that has you guessing what is going on, and who is what, kind of scenario. Although the script is well written, it does have its flaws and it is not as intelligent as some other Hollywood espionage films.

There are plenty of decent action sequences, and the break-ins are well constructed, although it seemed far too easy for the heroes. A little challenge could not have hurt, but you can’t have everything.

There are a number of big flaws in the film, but these can be described as nit-picking. One is how the team could have left Hong Kong for Budapest when all the major ports had been closed? Or how come Stanley Wong still looks like Stanley Wong when a big deal was made about plastic surgery altering his appearance? Or the explanation that Phoenix was arrested as a teenager for hacking into Pentagon - she was so good that the US government asked her to help them track down another hacker. Why then did the US government deport this master hacker? Knowing the Americans, they would keep her in their service, not deport her to another country.

I know, call me pedantic, but these things sort of leap out at you when you watch the film. I know you can’t expect too much from a Hong Kong script, and fortunately, the film is redeemed by its non-stop action, suspense and drama. This is a sort of film that can show Hollywood that it is possible to make high-tech suspense films on a shoestring budget.

RATING

8 / 10