Island of Greed

As much as I enjoy Hong Kong cinema, then every now and then I do happen to come across a movie that is far below what is the usual level of production value and entertainment value, even for a Hong Kong movie. And "Island of Greed" ("Hak Gam") was one such movie. Not even Andy Lau or Tony Leung Ka Fai could manage to pull this movie up.

The storyline in "Island of Greed" is fairly predictable, and actually becoming uninteresting and irritating at moments. There is just something fundamentally incoherent to the storyline, which makes it a very poor experience. The characters are well enough fleshed out, but the story is suffering from predictability and an uninspiring story told. And as for the action in the movie, well it was alright - just don't expect it to be up to John Woo's level of action.

There are far better action movies from Hong Kong than this one, and this is far from being among the top movies by either of the two major Hong Kong actors here (Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka Fai). And there is absolutely nothing here to justify or even spur you on to want to watch the movie a second time, because just getting through it the first time was a big enough struggle.

This was a swing and a miss...