The White Storm 2: Drug Lords (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Herman Yau (Ip Man: The Final Fight)
	Actors: Andy Lau (Yesterday Once More, Infernal Affairs 1-3), Louis Koo, Kiu Wai Miu
	Country: HK, CN
	Genre: Polar, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 25.07.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: A wealthy businessman (Lau) tries to take down a drug kingpin that he used to work with (Koo), while a policeman (Wai Miu) tries to find justice without breaking the law.
Review: This movie was presented at the Far East Film Festival 2020, but I watched it afterwards. Hong-Kong can produce excellent Polars like I have discovered by following the Festival over the years, but this movie is not one of them. It is a title-only thematic sequel to the 2013 apparently more successful The White Storm. It stars one of the most famous Hong-Kong actors Andy Lau which I personally discovered in Infernal Affairs trilogy since 2005. It is funny how he still plays a charmer with a young wife about to start a family, although the actor is close to 60! (OK he doesn't look them). A bit like John Wayne or Charles Bronson in their times. The trailer promised a lot of Action, and that we get, but there is no way to read it. It is notoriously hard to clearly film a three-way shoot-out and there are many in this movie but it seems Herman Yau didn't even bother trying. I was confused many times about who did what and who came out victorious. Even the non-Action scenes are edited quickly and the logic in the transitions is hard to find, for example two events taking place at different places and time are edited without change of music or any information to indicate you that something has changed. Even the story doesn't make much sense: a drunk hitman becoming a finance billionaire? I had to pause the movie and search Wikipedia for confirmation that I got that right. The movie seemed to have enough budget to film big shoot-outs and car chases but it often resorts to cheap special effects reminding of the worst in the Fast and Furious franchise, in particular the scene where cars enter the subway reminds in its good and bad the tunnel scenes in Fast and Furious (the fourth movie). Enough said, this is an example of bad Hong-Kong Action polars. Harman Yau is certainly talented but he should maybe direct a good movie every couple of years rather than 2-4 bad ones per year like he does now.
Rating: 2 /10