Based on a true story, this thriller set in Hong Kong during the 70s and 80s stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau, together for the first time since the popular early-aughts Infernal Affairs trilogy, and was written and directed by Felix Chong, who wrote Infernal Affairs. However, the new movie has nothing much in common with the earlier project and comes off more as a gloss on Michael Mann’s Heat but set in the world of high-stakes finance. Leung plays engineer-businessman Henry Ching, who flees Singapore in the mid-70s when a housing scheme goes belly up. After failing to land a legitimate job amidst Hong Kong’s burgeoning real estate boom, Ching teams with budding developer KK (Simon Yam) to create a business empire based on stock fraud and market manipulation. Ching is good at it and eventually attracts the attention of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which already has its hands full investigating routine police malfeasance. However, the chief investigator, Lau Kai-yuen (Lau), understands that Ching’s illegal activities have much bigger ramifications for average Hong Kongers who might invest in stocks, and, of course, the market crashes, ruining thousands while hardly touching Ching’s own worth.

Most of the thriller aspects spring from Lau’s frustration in getting anything on Ching. Every time he arrests someone or serves an indictment, Ching uses his business connections to either quash evidence or influence judges, many of whom are still attached to the British government, which wants Hong Kong to attract international business interests. Ching’s main means of staying solvent is borrowing money from shady Southeast Asian institutions, and not just private ones but also government-run as well. In fact, it’s often hinted that Ching himself is not really running the operation, but that it is somehow being stage-managed by a higher-plane Asian cabal. The movie covers some 15 years, during which inside players are detained, interrogated, and released without incident, only to be subsequently murdered when Ching and/or his betters decide they’re too dangerous to have around any more.

In theory, the movie shows promise in the vein of movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, but as a director Chong can’t maintain a straight storyline. He keeps moving backwards and forwards in time, the result being that there’s no accumulation of tension. We never get a clear feeling for the the Ching-Lau rivalry or the touted negative effects that Ching’s business is having on Hong Kong in general aside from the stock market. All we see is excess, as indicated in the misleading movie title. In addition, the CG is pretty cheesy and the acting showy without having any grounding in believable behavior. It’s quite a mess, which is baffling since The Goldfinger seems part of a recent trend to revisit pre-handover Hong Kong, a trend that has revitalized the local film industry (see Twilight of the Warriors), and is apparently one of the most expensive movies ever made in the territory. 

In Cantonese and English. Now playing in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Hibiya (050-6868-5068), Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi (050-6868-5060), Toho Cinemas Shinjuku (050-6868-5063), Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills (050-6868-5024).

The Goldfinger home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2023 Emperor Film Production Company Limited