2/5 stars
What does justice mean to a Hong Kong policeman who has made huge sacrifices during covert operations but is denied compensation in any shape or form? It’s a question mulled over, but answered in the most superficial manner, in The Fatal Raid, the second feature by former music video director Jacky Lee Chi-lun (Lives in Flames).
The story starts with a botched operation in Macau some 20 years ago which left several Hong Kong police officers dead and saw Madam Fong (Jade Leung Chang) accidentally shoot her colleague Hei (Michael Tong Man-lung) in the heat of the moment. To add insult to injury, none of the dead officers’ families were entitled to compensation because, we’re told, the mission was classified.
In real life, such a matter would probably be settled in court. In the contrived scenario concocted by Lee and his two co-writers, however, Hei’s surviving buddy Inspector Tam (Patrick Tam Yiu-man) plots bizarre revenge.
Fast forward to the present, and a mission to escort the Hong Kong Police deputy commissioner to a Macau event is disrupted by a trio of drug-addicted anarchists. Hong Kong policewoman Alma (Jeana Ho Pui-yu) and Interpol intern Zi Han (Lin Min-chen) must work with two Macau cops (Hidy Yu Hiu-tung and Jadie Lin Linqi) to stop the bad guys. Meanwhile Fong is reunited with a ghost from her past.
Originally billed as a sequel to 2016’s Special Female Force , this mildly diverting action drama apparently changed course at some point during production, and became a melodramatic story of revenge and redemption.
The girls-with-guns fun of the original takes a back seat, and often feels out of sync with the main story, although Ho and Yu – survivors from the first film – offer good value in the sporadic action scenes in which we see them. It’s never quite clear, though, which part of the plot calls for a squad of elite women police officers.
A further female-centric sequel is flagged towards the end of the film, and I live in hope that the filmmakers will find the right formula to make it work.
Even if The Fatal Raid is full of bombast and nonsense, fans of Hong Kong cinema should be happy that Patrick Tam and Michael Tong, as well as 1990s girl-with-gun veteran Jade Leung, get to impress in meaty roles. You could even say this is one for their fans.
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook
