Film Review: The H.K. Triad O記三合會檔案
(1999) - Hong Kong
Rating: 6/10
2025 Review Count - 49
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Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
The late Clarence Fok’s “The H.K. Triad” opens with a promise of moral rot, a Hong Kong underworld parable where loyalty is a currency as fleeting as a triad boss’s reign. Fok, no stranger to lurid excess (“Naked Killer”), teams with producer Wong Jing to craft a tale that aspires to the operatic grit of Scorsese’s “Goodfellas”, but stumbles under the weight of its own ambition. Here, the jiang hu—the martial world of brotherhood and honor—is a cracked mirror, reflecting not heroism but the grime of compromise.
Sean Lau Ching Wan ever the anchor of gravitas, plays a retired gangster recounting his rise with the weary cadence of a man who’s outlived his myths. His narration, though functional, lacks the electric introspection of Henry Hill’s paranoid confessional in “Goodfellas”. Instead, we get a procedural climb: petty crimes, alliances forged over mahjong tables, and a symbiotic bond with Francis Ng’s cop, whose badge gleams with complicity. Their partnership, initially a refreshing twist on the “cop-and-robber” dynamic, devolves into predictable fractures once the ICAC—Hong Kong’s anti-corruption hammer—descends. The stakes flicker but never ignite; we’re told of threatened power, yet the tension feels archived rather than visceral.
Where the film intrigues is in its refusal to romanticize. Unlike the slick, neon-soaked “Young and Dangerous” series, “The H.K. Triad” drapes its characters in sweat-stained suits and moral ambiguity. Athena Chu and Pang Dan, as the wives entangled in this mess, are more than decorative casualties—their subplot, a tangled web of infidelity and survival, hints at a sharper critique of patriarchal decay. But Fok’s direction fumbles these threads, reducing their agency to hurried melodrama. A tighter script might have let their stories breathe as counterpoints to the men’s hollow machismo.
Lau and Ng’s performances deserve praise—they’re magnetic even when the script underwhelms. Lau’s gangster wears his crown like a lead weight, while Ng’s cop exudes a sly pragmatism that begs for deeper exploration. The supporting cast, though crowded, adds texture to the sprawl of triad politics. Yet the film’s pacing sags under episodic vignettes, each echoing the same refrain: Crime doesn’t pay, but boy, does it keep the plot moving.
At its core, “The H.K. Triad” wants to be a eulogy for an era—a lament for codes eroded by greed. But Fok’s execution lacks the urgency or visual poetry to elevate it beyond genre exercise. Scorsese’s shadow looms too large; scenes of chaotic betrayal and frenzied meetings echo “Goodfellas” without matching its rhythm or rage. The ICAC subplot, ripe for tension, plays like bureaucratic afterthought rather than existential threat. (Neo, 2025)
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