Enjoying a moment with the stars at the movie premiere of <痞子英雄：黎明升起> Black & White: The Dawn of Justice with Taiwanese actor Mark Chao (趙又廷) and Director Tsai Yueh Hsun (蔡岳勳)
The sequel to director Tsai Yueh-hsun’s 蔡岳勳 2012 police action series Black and White: The Dawn of Assault <痞子英雄首部曲:全面開戰> continues the heroic adventures of police officer Wu Ying-xiong 吳英雄 (Mark Chao 趙又廷) to save Harbour City from mass destruction. He is joined by his witty yet arrogant new partner Chen Zhen 陳真 (Kenny Lin 林更新).
(You will still be able to enjoy this movie even if you have not caught the first movie.)
We were all excited to meet Mark Chao, my female friends couldn’t stop gushing “So handsome, so handsome!” He’s not too bad an actor too; I have been catching his movies since his debut in Monga 艋舺.
Mark was so friendly, and he even offered a joke at the end of the short meet-and-greet.
This must be the best-looking police squad I have ever seen lol
The movie opens with a dramatic car chase and a series of bomb explosions which threaten to shut down the city’s main transportation nodes to the outside world.
The two-men team of totally opposite characteristics then begrudgingly team up to uncover a plot of massive destruction masked behind the bombings – stolen military missiles, a plot to annihilate the entire city, and a deadly virus breakout so highly contagious that it can devour the whole world in 14 days.
All evidence of the chaos points to a supposedly defunct special army unit called the Nightwalkers—a secret assassination squad which used to serve the highest government officials. After being betrayed by their superiors, they believe that only total destruction of the city will bring with it rebirth, hence initiating Project Hay which will cut off all electricity supply and communication modes with the world, and a virus released to wipe out the entire population.
The villain of the movie is played by none other than the director Tsai Yueh-hsun himself after the original actor turned down the role. He was so convincing as a crazed criminal, I actually liked him. It would have been even more interesting if his character was beefed up a little more, showing the anguish and suffering which transformed him into his current state.
Can the good guys save the day?
I think only Director Tsai is the only person who can be smiling so happily with a huge explosion happening just behind him :D
The visual effects in this USD15 million production is created by top French visual effect company BUF, who has done CGI effects for movies such as Life of Pi, Thor and Avatar.
Popular Taiwanese actress Janine Chang (張鈞甯) plays Lan Xi-ying, a forensic expert who happens to be the sister of the villian.
Black Hawk Task Force member Huang Shih Kai 黃世楷 played by Shiou Lefthere 修杰楷. His physique was just amazing, we ogled whenever he appeared lol
Well-known Chinese actor Huang Bo 黃渤 makes a special appearance as Xu Da-fu, a criminal who once helped Wu solve the airplane crisis and secretly ran away with his girlfriend Xiao-qing by faking death with Wu’s assistance. I enjoyed Huang Bo’s character who is very real and provided some dark humour to the movie amidst the tense situations.
Apart from the well-known actors, there was also much eye candy in the movie who could easily fit in a fashion show.
Jam Hsiao sang the official theme song 天敵 for the movie
Action-movie fans would enjoy this movie, which was well-balanced with some light-hearted moments. I would have preferred that the plot was elaborated a little further, but considering that I didn’t even have time to reach for the popcorn, I did enjoy every minute of the movie.
It’s great to see an Asian action movie comparable to Hollywood movie standard, and it set me thinking what if one day the crisis in the movie did happen and we didn’t have any electricity nor communication access to the outside world? Will I be able to survive? Is mankind so absorbed with technology that we will not be able to survive without them, and worse – end up making weapons to hurt ourselves instead?
<痞子英雄:黎明再起> opens on 9 October in Singapore.
Image: Movie Official Facebook Page
Watch the official movie trailer:
