Thursday, January 11, 2024

I Did It My Way / 潜行 - Movie Review


The Movie: I Did It My Way / 潜行

The Director: Jason Kwan

The Cast: Andy Lau, Lam Ka Tung, Eddie Peng, Cya Liu, Simon Yam, Cheng Jut Si, Philip Keung, Terrance Lau

The Story: As the secretive, complex world of online drug trafficking increasingly targets Hong Kong, the police launch a risky, top-secret sting operation to bring down one of the most notorious drug lords in Asia.


The Rating: 5/10

The Review:
Andy Lau has been making movies since the early 80's and has almost 200 acting credits on his IMDB page which is more than impressive by any measure. He is a Hong Kong cinema superstar and a global action movie icon and you probably don't know, he's an accomplished singer/songwriter as well so I feel like he's earned his status as a legendary entertainer. All that being said, I'm willing to check out anything he's associated with, some of my favorites being House of Flying Daggers, Infernal Affairs, Cold War, and the Detective Dee franchise.

After watching this movie, I'm wondering if it might be time for Mr. Lau to slow down a bit and go for a little more quality over quantity. There's nothing inherently wrong with this movie, I just feel like I've seen it already and other movies have pretty much done the same thing, only better. The movie has some drama, a few intense action scenes, and plenty of quality acting from Lau, Eddie Peng, and Lam Ka Tung but none of it leaves a lasting impact or stands out in any way.

Even the idea of high end criminals using the black market to sell drugs seems dated and not nearly as shocking or even as interesting as it might have been a decade ago which makes me wonder how long the screenplay had been in development before actually getting produced. Years maybe? While this movie missed the mark, I'm sure Andy Lau will continue to be one of the faces of Hong Kong cinema for years to come.

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