Andy Lau more or less plays himself in this fine Chinese kidnapping thriller, a famous Hong Kong filmstar and singer, even though his role figure
is called Wu Ruo Fu. Veteran actor and canto-pop singer Andy Lau has really turned into a fine actor over the years, well, over the decades and
he's great in this crime flick too. A quite hard role to impress in as he's mostly bound and sometimes gagged too for most of the playtime, but he
manages it with ease, a famous filmstar and often playing the tough action hero but here frightened as any regular guy would be if being kidnapped.

Yes, another Chinese crime story, just like films as the 2014 Black Coal, Thin Ice or 2012 Beijing Blues dealing with "regular" everyday crime. Police
vs. Bad Guys and without any blatant propaganda (for the regime) just a suspenseful crime thriller about a criminal gang dealing in kidnapping and
based on a true case. Andy Lau is great as poor Mr. Wu and Wang Qianyuan is fighteningly nasty as Zhang, the leader of the criminals, and these
two actors and their interaction makes this film a good one, and raising it over the average crime flick.

The films starts with the famous Hong Kong filmstar and singer Wu Ruo Fu (Andy Lau) leaving a Beijing restaurant and being apprehended by the
police. But the cops are false and he's being kidnapped. Then the film starts jumping in time, 18 hours later etc., and the Criminal Division of the
Beijing Police led by Xing Feng (Liu Yue) and Cao Gang (Wu Ruo Fu, the real one) interrogates the main suspect Zhang Hua (Wang Qianyuan) and
flashbacks and time jumps ensues. Will the Beijing Police manage to save Mr. Wu ?

You really feel for Andy Lau's role figure Mr. Wu and his fellow kidnapping victim, and for this we have to thank Lau's acting. Also, in a flashback
we get to see how the Bad Guy, the extremely dangerous and armed Zhang, was caught after a GREAT manhunt on the Beijing streets. Loved it!
Li Meng plays Zhang's girlfriend Chen Chen in a suitably slovenly way .... no glamour here .... just a small part, but nicely done, and great old Lam
Suet (maybe the HK actor who has appeared in most films as supporting actor?) plays Mr. Wu's friend.

Please, more Chinese crime movies like this and less of boring fantasy neo-wuxia's with tons of CGI effects. Please!

anamorphic widescreen, mandarin audio DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 stereo with english subtitles. Extra: Short featurettes, Deleted scenes, Trailer