Special ‘Forces’
Liam Neeson Andy Lau opens up a can of whup-ass and saves his family to make a case for his place in the geriaction pantheon.
High Forces
Director: Oxide Pang, Law Chi-leung • Writers: Bai Yu, Chan Sun
Starring: Andy Lau, Zhang Zifeng, Qu Chuxiao, Liu Tao, Guo Xiaodong, Zhang Yang
China / Hong Kong • 1hr 59mins
Opens Hong Kong Oct 10 • IIB
Grade: C
Mea culpa. I take it back. I Did It My Way does not, in fact, contain the year’s most hilariously batshit action. I truly believed that no one, no way, no how could top the energy of flying Rolls Royces and a population of drug zombies toppling off high buildings like Weeble Wobbles. But Oxide Pang Shun (still best known for The Eye and Re-Cycle), and peak New Wave writer Law Chi-leung (Full Throttle, Viva Erotica) have indeed topped that with High Forces | 危機航線 (titled Crisis Route in its early days), an amalgam of a million different action movies – some familiar, some chestnuts – that doubles down on the nutty in the third act while sending the Right Messages and ensuring all is right in the world. One of the heroes, maybe the true hero? The CEO of a company (?). An actual line of dialogue: “I’m sorry I was rude, Hangyu is a good company to work for!” If the nose landing gear of your wide-body ever malfunctions (crappy French engineering), just get a couple of Chinese tractor trailers to prop it up. No problem. You really need to see that to believe it. And another thing: Andy Lau Tak-wah could be turning into Hong Kong’s Liam Neeson, as he’s clearly muscling in on the Asian Geriaction scene. And at 63 (!) now’s the time. Neeson was 57 when he headed down this road in Taken. Granted, “It’s a good company!” doesn’t have the ring of “I have a particular set of skills.” But still. Chop, chop Mr Lau.
Always bet on olds
Before we begin, check out this line from the Wikipedia page describing the main character played by Wesley Snipes in Kevin Hooks’s Passenger 57: Chief John Cutter, a veteran law enforcement official turned airline security expert haunted by the death of his wife. Okay. Moving On. In a mash-up of Passenger 57 (more fun than you remember), Die Hard (duh), Hijack 1971 and the grandaddy of airplane-in-peril movies, Airport, High Forces stars Lau as Gao Haojun, a veteran law enforcement official turned airline security expert haunted by … a catastrophic car wreck involving his wife Fuyuan (Liu Tao) and daughter Xiaojun (Zhang Zifeng, the now-mythic She’s Got No Name, Detective Chinatown). Oh, and he’s bipolar, though Bai Yu and Chan Sun’s script draws him more like a garden variety short-fused asshole. But we’re told he’s bipolar multiple times, so there you have it. Gao is working for good company Hangyu Airlines and happens to be on the airline’s luxury A380 maiden flight from Batty Airport (uh huh that’s right, another anonymous Southeast Asian Hellhole™). The production notes say 800 people are on board – though Airbus SE says that plane holds 555 in three classes, but hey, the magic of the movies.
Anywho, also on board is Hangyu CEO Li Hangyu (Guo Xiaodong, Dante Lam’s The Rescue), Mrs Gao and Xioajun, and last but not least Mike (Qu Chuxiao, The Wandering Earth, The Breaking Ice) and his henchpersons, who plan to hijack the flight and force Hangyu to shell out a US$500 million ransom. The only things standing between them and freedom is Gao, a crew of Korean Air knock-off flight attendants (Zhang Yang, Zhang Yao and Jiang Mengjie) and, yup you guessed it, Li – who cares not about the money, he just wants Gao to protect his passengers. Learn how to CEO, Bezos.
For most of its run time, High Forces is a stew of action clichés and narrative contrivances that do little more than make you roll your eyes. Protag with a troubled past and/or family life? Check. Bitter offspring that feels like daddy doesn’t love them? Check. Convenient toys/accessories/cabin utensils that are just what the hero needs? The bad guy is a total psychopath who exploits the hero’s weakness? Affirmation of the traditional family structure as something to be cherished? Check, check and check. There’s absolutely nothing surprising about this movie, and there’s nothing to recommend it. The filmmaking is simultaneously pedestrian and affected (enough with the random zooms). Lau is stoic and heroic. The twists are clear as day. We learn in the on-screen epilogue that the bad guys, indeed, repent/go to jail.
But then, Pang goes right off the damn deep end in the third act and lets loose with a series of demented set pieces, zany call-backs and action-movie planning decisions delivered with the straightest of faces that almost, almost, make the preceding 90 minutes worth the trouble. Again, if you’re lucky enough to have a snarkily engaged audience with you (I did) the final 20, 25-odd minutes with Gao and Mike’s primary colour freak-outs, the touching nobility of a Fortune 500 type and random skydiving skills make High Forces good-bad enough to entertain. All that’s missing is a Lau-ified “Always bet on black.”