EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (1998)

Starring: Lau Ching Wan, Simon Yam

Sam (Lau Ching Wan) and Ken (Simon Yam) are officers of the Organised Crimes Department, and one recent crime has them up and running. They have found a bag stuffed with weapons (guns, bombs etc) in a flat where two females occupants were tied up and had been sexually assaulted countless of times. The four men who did this had escaped, but Mandy, a coffee-shop owner, recognised them.

For the remainder of the film, we see Sam and Ken hard at work trying to locate these four men, and what crime they were preparing to commit. They come to the conclusion that the criminals had been planning to steal money from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, so they do a stake-out and wait for the criminals to reveal themselves.

For a cop film, there is surprisingly little action to speak of. Sure, there is the shoot-out at the beginning and end, and a couple more times around the middle, but these are usually short and unexciting. If you expect John Woo or Ringo Lam style of action, then you are going to be disappointed. This is realism, what you would expect if a real gunfight happened in real-life. There are no heroics, no flying through the air with twin guns blazing, nor unlimited bullets - if you’re shot, then you go down hard, and chances of survival are minimal.

It works very well, and the drama is tightly composed. Characters are believable, with backgrounds and feelings, and we actually care about them - the good guys that is. These are not trigger-happy cops, but people only doing their duty, and it is damned hard luck if they chance upon well-armed criminals.

The central character in the film is Mandy, the girl who falls in love with Ken at first, but later loves Sam. Both of the men have deep feelings for Mandy, and this love triangle is the heart of the film. The tragic ending emphasises how ironic it had all been.

Overall, Expect the Unexpected is a good cop film, one that revolves around drama rather than gung-ho action, and the ending is surely one of the most tragic in Hong Kong film history.

RATING

8 / 10