Just
imagine if Vin Diesel were betrayed by a member of his “family” in the Fast and the Furious franchise. That is
about what happens to the other four sworn brothers who make up an elite
free-lance team of mercenaries with vaguely criminal roots. It also happens to
be a reunion of cast-members from the Young
and Dangerous HK films series in its prime, but this is an entirely
unrelated narrative. A heist will go down really, really wrong in Chin Ka-lok’s
The Golden Job, which opens this
Friday in New York.
After
an assignment for a big pharma company ends in disaster (possibly because the
plan is utterly inexplicable), the Fab Five stop sub-contracting for the man
and go back to their indie roots, answering only to Cho, their “Papa” in
whatever it is they do. Their first operation on their own will be a pro-bono
gig, knocking over a truckload newly developed super-medicine, so their leader
Lion can deliver it to Dr. Chow, the NGO doctor working in Africa he has been
intermittently romancing.
The
job went off without a hitch, but when they look in the back of the truck, they
find gold bullion instead of medicine. Clearly, leaving the intel and logistics
to Bill, the roguish corner-cutting bro, was a mistake. Lion, Calm, Crater, and
Mouse all express their disappointment. Inevitably, their confrontation turns
into a slam-bang gun fight that seriously wounds Papa Cho. Bill absconds with
the gold, which he uses to set himself up as a crime lord in Montenegro. Alas,
the rest of his brothers are left holding the bag, but we know there is no way
they will leave things that way.
One
thing is undeniable, Chin likes to drive fast. Golden Job is not exactly a staggering work of originality, but it
aims to please with plenty of energetically staged car chases, shootouts, and
multiple old school fight sequences. The action is high octane all the way,
with Chin choreographing a number of neat stunts.
As
Crater, Jordan Chan broods with ferocious intensity, while Michael Tseng’s Bill
chews the scenery with outsider relish. Jerry Lamb’s hacker Mouse is nearly as
underwritten as Charmaine Sheh’s Dr. Chow, but who cares? Ekin Chan is still
quite charismatic and has mucho action chops as Lion and Calm’s specialty (as
played by Chin) is getaway driving, so what more do we need? Plus, Eric Tsang
tones down the shtick as Papa Cho. As a bonus, veteran Japanese character actor
Yasuaki Kurata gets an unlikely action showcase as Cho’s elderly but still
steely Japanese neighbor.
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