Following the box-office success of last year’s Shock Wave <拆彈專家>, Herman Yau returns with another big-budget Hong Kong blockbuster known as The Leakers <洩密者們>.
In his latest movie, Julian Cheung plays a Malaysian (yes, you read that right!) police inspector Lee Weng-Kan, who teams up with Hong Kong cop Wong Dai-Wai (Francis Ng) to investigate a secret organisation simply known as “The Leakers”.
Apparently, the investigation has to do with Amanah, the corrupted international pharmaceutical company founded by Teo Jit-Sun (Kent Cheng), who also responsible for administering a vaccine for the recent viral outbreak spreading across Malaysia, Hong Kong and other Asian countries.
Likewise, The Leakers <洩密者們> marks another (eleven, to be exact since 2009’s Split Second Murders <死神傻了>) collaboration between Herman Yau and his frequent screenwriter, Erica Li Man. I must say their collaborations are often inconsistent but The Leakers <洩密者們> turns out to be one of their best efforts yet.
The story itself is nothing new. But what matters the most is the execution of this movie. Herman Yau’s direction is engaging enough to keep you occupied with its reasonably fast and confident pacing. The action is equally tense and crisply edited, notably on the climactic Penang-set car chase scene.
As for the acting, both Julian Cheung and Francis Ng display enough charisma to their respective roles. Individually speaking, Cheung is perfectly typecast as a dedicated Malaysian police officer, who contrasted well against Francis Ng’s unorthodox cop role. If that’s not enough, Cheung even manages to pull off some Malay (though broken) languages. It’s not entirely convincing but at least, I’m impressed with his committed performance. They even share a good chemistry playing two opposing cops with distinctive personalities. I wouldn’t mind if Yau plans to feature these two actors for say, a possible buddy-cop movie in the future.
However, the supporting cast is a mixed bag. Charmaine Sheh may play a significant role as the relentless journalist out to find the truth. But her overall performance doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression. Despite featuring the likes of familiar faces including Chrissie Chau, Michelle Wai and Louis Cheung, it’s a shame that Yau relegated their roles into thankless performances.
Although there are few scenes that could have used some narrative polish, The Leakers <洩密者們> remains an intriguing piece of work by Herman Yau.
