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Cast:
Daniel
Wu
Alex
To
Samuel
Pang
Tony
Ho
Jo
Koo
Jazz
Poon
Ruby
Wong
Chin
Kar Lok
Action:
Dante
Lam
Wong
Wai Fai
Producer:
Dante
Lam
Director:
Dante
Lam
Score:
 
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HIT
TEAM
AKA:
Purple Storm 2
Year:
2001 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
After
the considerable success of the excellent off-kilter triad
thriller 'Jiang Hu - The Triad Zone', director Dante Lam heads
into the territory of the special operations action film. Lam
had a previous brush with this sub-genre with his work on
Option Zero, but here more is naturally expected of him. With
the critics wowed by the way Dante Lam melded the typical
triad drama with black comedy and surrealism in 'Jiang Hu -
The Triad Zone', the anticipation was that 'Hit Team' would
take the typical action film into a new direction. Therefore
with this in mind, few quite knew what to expect from this new
Dante Lam production.
The
intriguing premise begins with a gangland deal which sees an
undercover cop shot in the back. The wounds inflicted on him
mean that he is partially paralysed and will be in this state
permanently unless he is sent to Switzerland for a complicated
piece of corrective surgery within the next three months. Any
expected support from his superiors is sadly not forthcoming
and instead of offering the needed help they distance
themselves from the injury. When the close friends of the
wounded party hear of this and realise the immense cost of the
operation, they decide to put into use their S.D.U. training
to act as latter day Robin Hoods. By plundering the illegal
underground banks with their highly developed skills, the team
hope to raise the necessary funds and send their colleague to
Switzerland. However, during the first robbery the team are
forced to kill all of the gangsters as they pose a threat as
witnesses. This immediately alerts the police Hit Team who
begin to try to unravel what had happened and work out how
such a highly organised operation could suddenly turn sour.
The Hit Team's young superior officer (Wu) starts to link the
robbery to a possible S.D.U. connection and slowly pieces
together the reasons behind these drastic actions. What
follows is a game of cat-and-mouse between the S.D.U. robbers
and the police Hit Team with the city's underground bankers
also keeping an eye on the proceedings.
With
such a strong film to follow, it was always going to be a
considerable challenge for Dante Lam to know which direction
to take. Perhaps admirably, Lam decides to go into a
completely different direction and make a fairly
straight-forward action-thriller. Unfortunately though, 'Hit
Team' displays little of the innovation and skill that made 'Jiang
Hu - The Triad Zone' such a critical hit last year. There's no
doubt that within the action genre there is room to work
within and there are conventions that can be manipulated, but
'Hit Team' is merely a standard Hong Kong thriller with an
interesting premise. The fault for this cannot immediately be
placed onto Lam's shoulders though as the necessary funding
for what had the potential to be an explosive action film is
certainly lacking. The film does contain some well-designed
action with the film's finale being the major showcase for
this, but with a better budget to play with, 'Hit Team' could
have offered much more to viewers. It's also true that the
premise is not expanded upon in the way that was demanded and
therefore the opportunities are missed. On the positive side,
the two lead performances of Daniel Wu and Alex To are
confident and watchable with the supporting cast also offering
the needed help in other roles. There is also the occasional
stylistic touch which shows Lam's growing skill in the
director's chair. In comparison to what 'Hit Team' could have
been with a slightly bigger budget and a better realised
narrative, this is a disappointment.
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