Shock Wave (2017)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Hong Kong policeman Cheung (Andy Lau) worked undercover and put away some of the members of a bank robbery gang. Bank robber Hung (Jiang Wu) managed to escape but his brother ended up in jail. A few years later, Hung returns to Hong Kong with a band of mercenaries. He takes control of one of Hong Kong's undersea traffic tunnels, together with hundreds of trapped motorists as hostages, and threatens to blow up the tunnel unless his brother is released and ransom is paid. 

***

Shock Wave is an above-average Hong Kong action thriller. Too many Hong Kong movies have cliched and unbelievable plots, and unnatural forced character development.

Some thought has gone into each of Shock Wave's many action sequences, so it's not just bland by-the-numbers action tropes. There are interesting details. Pacing and editing are especially good, almost Roland Emmerich slick. The scenes don't feel too drawn out or full of filler.  

The first third or so of the movie establishes the characters and their backgrounds, before the long tunnel siege starts. We see Cheung fall in love with Carmen (Song Jia), and defuse an old war bomb. Hung also toys with Cheung with a small bomb. 

The whole tunnel setting (I'm guessing they used a real location) looks large and feels authentic, giving the movie a blockbuster feel (on a US$23 million budget). But the siege itself isn't 100 percent believable. If you're the mastermind, you don't need to place yourself in danger, in the middle of the siege. You can run the operation remotely. Anyway, it is believable enough.

The movie was made with the cooperation of Hong Kong's bomb squad, so the technicalities are detailed and convincing. For example, Cheung drills into the fuse of the old war bomb and neutralizes it with some liquid chemical (could be made up but it looks real). Cheung declines to wear a bomb suit for this operation as the bomb is so large that a bomb suit wouldn't offer any protection - nicely foreshadowing the power and danger of the bombs in the tunnel.

However some liberties were taken for dramatic purposes (splitting the explosives into two bombs reduces the blast damage to the tunnel, it doesn't increase the damage) but most viewers won't notice. Carmen and the grenade? You could wrap tape around the grenade's spoon (lever) without wrapping it round her hand, allowing her to safely drop the grenade.

Less convincing but still effective is Hung's relationship with Carmen. Their breakup in the kitchen seems to come out of nowhere. However the two characters are well established and believable, lending emotional weight when Cheung is in danger.

Overall, the movie works. Pacing is good, characters are sympathetic, plot is mainly believable. Too few Hong Kong movies pass this bar. 

Side note: Cheung uses a Leatherman OHT multitool a few times, not the Leatherman EOD MUT which is designed for bomb squad use.

Pop Aye (2017)

Plot summary (story synopsis): Middle-aged architect Thana (Thaneth Warakulnukroh) is experiencing a mid-life crisis. He is being sidelined at his architecture firm by younger architects and his signature project, a large shopping centre, is scheduled for demolition. His sex life with his wife Bo (Penpak Sirikul) isn't going well either. One day he stumbles across Pop Aye, an elephant from his childhood, and decides to buy him. Together they embark on a road trip through rural Thailand.   

***

Pop Aye is the first Singaporean film to be screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. It didn't just screen, it also won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting. Sundance implies indie/arthouse and Pop Aye certainly lives up to that. It's definitely not a commercial film.

Though writer/director Kirsten Tan is Singaporean, Pop Aye is set in Thailand and features Thai lead actors and mainly Thai dialog. So be prepared to read subtitles if you are not Thai, but hey, that's part of the arthouse experience.  

The Thai locations are the best part of the movie. You really feel the authenticity of the locations and get to see a Thailand that you don't see in tourist promos. The rural settings are especially striking in a gritty way.

However, the first two-thirds of the movie is a bit slow and disjointed. Kirsten Tan is following Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special style of withholding information to create audience interest. Unfortunately it doesn't work well in this case.

For half of the movie, we don't even know where Thana is going, or that he even has a destination. But instead of creating interest, it gives the movie the feeling of a lack of purpose. Why the elephant is named Pop Aye, and his earlier relationship with Thana, is later revealed. The problem is that no hints were given that any of this was a mystery, so any opportunity for suspense is wasted. 

Befitting an arthouse movie, the ending is hauntingly open ended. Some issues are resolved, and some are not. If only the first half of the movie was this good.