Top 10 Movies

(Sept 29 - Sept 30) Showing Now @GSC

Golden Job

(★★✩✩✩)

HONG Kong triad movies were cool in the late 1990s, thanks to the Young And Dangerous series (1995 to 2000), in which Ekin Cheng, Jordan Chan, Michael Tse and Jerry Lamb starred. With its themes of brotherhood and loyalty – not to mention its cast – it’s clear that Golden Job is referencing the earlier films.

But while fans might enjoy seeing a reunion of sorts, the new title does not quite work on its own terms as it leans too heavily on clichés.

What it gets right are the expensive-looking highoctane action sequences, and some of the set pieces are pretty impressive.

Like a military mission, there is down-to-thesecond precision as the crackerjack team attempt to waylay the van in Budapest, Hungary. There is also a fast and furious car chase in Fukuoka, Japan.

In the final showdown, four men take on a heavily armed and fortified private island in Montenegro. But this sequence plays out like a shooting video game with firepower amped up to the max as bullets rain down non-stop – yet largely avoid the heroes.

Meanwhile, the story of strained loyalty is too familiar and it also feels quite lazy. Perhaps having fewer characters would have improved things.

The five men are painted in such broad strokes – saintly, short-tempered, show-offy, mousy – that they are little more than stock figures. – Boon Chan/The Straits Times/ Asia News Network