Magnificent Team

Directed by David Lam (1998)

Starring - Francis Ng, Amanda Lee, Herman Chan, Hui Shiu-hung, Christine Ng, Simon Lui.

I hadn't heard much about this one, but the only VCD shop in Amsterdam I know of was a bit low on stock, so it was a toss-up between this and "God.com", so I went for this for this due to the fact it stars Francis Ng.

Zita (Amanda Lee) is a cop who is transferred to an unproductive police investigations team (nicknamed "all talk no action team), to try and improve results. They are on the hunt for a double murderer, who seems to have met both victims through the ICQ program on the internet (watch your back people). As one of the team, Wing (Herman Chan) is a computer whizzkid, they send him undercover to try and lure the killer. After an unsuccessful attempt, they are on their way back to HQ, when they come across a gangster. They pursue and manage to botch up as per usual. During the course of this one of the team, Chick (Francis Ng), accidentally shoots a bystander whilst trying to avoid danger. It also turns out that the guy they were chasing was a suspect in one of a series of armoured truck robberies. Chick gets fired for his incompetence and it's then we find out that he and Zita are actually lovers. His dismissal leads chick to go off the rails, mixing with triad guys and also pimping as well (for Christine Ng). As expected, this puts a bit of a blunter on he and Zita's relationship. Chick eventually gets in deeper than expected and ends up getting involved with the robbery guys, a mess he could do without and now needs to tidy up. The main plot now turns to Chick's plight, causing the computer killer case to devolve into a sub-plot, focusing the relationship between Wing and Sandy - the main suspect, who turns out to be deaf and dumb. Chick must now call on his old buddies for help.

It wasn't a bad film. The story was really well done, but the script seemed to lack any feeling. I never really felt in suspense or on the edge of my seat. The end sequence was the biggest culprit, it was over so quickly and abruptly, it seemed like the crew wanted to get it over with... well... quickly as possible. I should say this is nothing to do with the performance of the cast, who all were very good, especially Hui Shiu-hung (the old dude from Expect the Unexpected), Christine Ng and of course Francis Ng. Worth a look if you can rent it, but nothing special. The action was done by Chin Kar Lok, but don't let that get you too excited. There's a lot more films out there that I should rather see, so I'll just have to stop buying flicks on the blind. Is God.com any good? - 7/10

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