So duk 2: Tin dei duei kuet

Six years ago, The White Storm was a surprise hit that I remember very positively with its profound characters, exotic locations and gripping plot. I didn't expect a sequel to ever come around and the similarities between the movies are indeed rather shallow. In terms of quality, the first movie is largely superior while The White Storm 2 - Drug Lords is only just good for genre fans.

Fifteen years ago, reckless Jizo got his fingers cut off by his colleague Tin after he betrayed the Ching Hing Gang by running a secret drug business in his club. Jizo left the gang and swore to have his revenge as he eventually became the biggest regional drug dealer. Tin on the other side became a philanthropist and tycoon who supported numerous projects fighting drug abuse. In present day, Tin loses his estranged son to drug addiction which further fuels his hatred for drug abuse. Jizo on the other side wants to see hin former gang vanish and former colleague suffer and attempts to expand his drug business even further. After the two enemies clash at the funeral of their former boss, their conflict escalates frantically. Jizo tries to go after Tin's wife while Tin publicly offers a bounty to assassinate Jizo. Police chief inspector Lam gets caught between both sides and tries to prevent that Hong Kong becomes the bloody battlefield of the two men's bitter rivalry.

The White Storm 2 - Drug Lords convinces on a few levels. The breathtaking and brutal action scenes should be enjoyed at your local cinema. The body count is particularly elevated and the film is quite graphic even by genre standards. The sound and special effects are captivating and intense. The two lead characters and their backgrounds are interesting enough to keep the audience watching until the end.

The movie however also has several flaws. The plot is an extremely thin tale of revenge that justifies massive violence. The film entirely focuses on extremely negative emotions which makes it hard to emphasize with any character. The morally debatable movie at times feels like a Rodrigo Duterte propaganda flick as the protagonist openly idolizes the pitiless anti-drug campaign of the president of the Philippines.

In the end, this sequel was rather unnecessary as it never equals the creativity, depth and emotion of the first film at all. You may like this movie if you are looking for a particularly brutal action-thriller but its message is too bland and debatable to make it artistically relevant or even recommendable beyond faithful genre fans. Give the first movie a try and ignore the sequel.

White Storm 2: Drug Lords, has nothing to do with the original. The sequel is interestingly a mixed bag, that probably has something for everyone, though only on a peripheral level. Tin (Andy Lau), begins the film as a member of the Triad, who is ordered by his uncle, the gang's boss, Yu Nam (Ken Chang), to punish his long-time friend of twenty years, Dizang (Louis Koo), who has been pedalling drugs, despite the gang's strictest rules to never touch the stuff. Thus, Tin chooses familial loyalty over his friend, gravely wounding him for his betrayal, and having him exiled from the gang.

Tin and Dizang's brotherhood is merely spoken about, and is never appropriately shown, making this moment not cut as deeply as it could have, though the acting of both leads marvellously propels the drama of this feature forward. Beginning in 2004, the film rushes chronologically through events until reaching the present day, glossing over Tin's achievements in leaving the Triad and becoming a successful businessman and philanthropist. This is seriously underdeveloped, his business being given little depth, while his financial situation is merely used as a plot device. His marriage to business partner, and lawyer, Man Fung (Karena Lam) is also provided no backstory. Their on-screen chemistry is limited to only a few scenes, while her professional duties are rarely glimpsed, the main drama being her battle to conceive, this dizzyingly beautiful actress not provided the screen time she deserves.

Not long into the movie, Tin receives a letter from former lover, Mei (Chrissie Chau), who, diagnosed with terminal cancer, reaches out to him about their son she had in secret, who has turned to drugs. This propels Tin back into the grisly underworld he escaped, which leads him back to Dizang. Koo does a terrifyingly good job at making his character appear psychopathically savage, though for the most part, he is unfortunately forced to portray a pseudo playboy, rather than the intelligent, ruthless mastermind that he is.

Thus begins Tin's battle to bring down the city's biggest drug lords, the film, annoyingly, rarely showing just how involved in this battle he is. Inevitably, his decisions put him at odds, with by-the-book police officer Lam (Michael Miu), who you would occasionally be forgiven for forgetting was even in the movie. With the death of his wife by the hands of drug addicts, and his daughter pleading for him to bring down those responsible, it is amazing that he believes justice will prevail, in a film that continuously shows how unjust society and human-nature can be. The main members of his unit however, Jack (Carlos Wan) and Apple (Michelle Wai), along with their supposed romance, are provided even less detail - if that is at all possible.

The film quickly jumps from one character to another, never giving anyone (exception, the two main leads) enough opportunity to shine, and nowhere else could this be truer than in the film's action set pieces. Here, the editing is as fast as an automatic weapon. True, this intensifies the excitement, with cars performing elaborate stunts and people shooting left and right, though the sporadic nature of the cuts makes establishing who's fighting who; who's pursuing who, and who is dead or dying, difficult to comprehend. It is also disappointing that the leads are seldom seen during these frantic moments, though they are given a fabulous moment together in a uniquely amazing car chase.

The film's drama is slowly built up until boiling point, through a series of melodramatic set pieces, threatening conversations and provocative staring competitions. The film is loud and boisterous, and left me thoroughly entertained, despite the serious lack of development of characters, relationships and agendas. This is a movie with a simple, but effective narrative, that desperately wants to get to its exciting ending, no matter the cost, and if the wild car chases and shoot-outs, and professional chops (and handsome faces) of Lau and Koo can't cut it for you, not much probably will.

The plot is thin, the characters are facial, and the emotions are pale. All the backgrounds are clearly explained by a few lines, and even a one-second picture is not willing to be shaped. Except for violence, all the supporting roles are redundant. This script is estimated to be over and over again, and it has not been polished.

All the leading actors in this movie did a great job. Unlike "The Invincible Dragon (2019)" that turned out to be a nothing-is-right big laughable joke, this movie about the Hong Kong drug cartel on the contrary, turned out to be everything-is-right serious and decent enough to be tagged as a "Pretty Good Movie" in 2019. The screenplay, the scenarios, the plots and the dialog are all quite mature, the casting, the acting, the directing, the stunt as well as the special effect, the editing, and the subtle soundtrack....all of them, one word: GOOD.

I saw this for the first time today after freshly remembering the first one. The plot gets tedious n the film is not at all engrossing like its predecessor. There is no likeable or memorable character. The shoot outs n the car chase sequence is badly edited. The film starts like Deathwish 4 but goes downhill. While the first one has good suspense n tension, this one gets boring. The ending is also a meh.