I Did It My Way: Andy Lau plays an enigmatic crime lord in silly thriller

2/5 stars

On their case are Eddie Fong (Eddie Peng Yu-yan), police superintendent of the cybercrime investigation unit, and his superior, Chung Kam-ming (Simon Yam Tat-wah), who believe that The Boss is set to do one last drug transaction in person before moving his entire business model online.

By the time the film has raced through a thrilling series of plot twists and reached the half-hour mark, we’ve already seen Chan kill himself while in police custody, Sau reveal himself to be a conflicted undercover policeman, and Lam confirmed as The Boss himself.

Alas, it is all downhill from here as the narrative soon loses all semblance of reason. After Lam inexplicably decides to screw up a major deal with a South American drug dealer, a mercenary army shows up at his beachside wedding ceremony in Malaysia for a cold-blooded massacre as payback.

If the heroic participation of the Hong Kong police in the ensuing shoot-out isn’t enough to strain your suspension of disbelief, Lam’s determination to then blame the misfortune of his pregnant fiancée (Cya Liu Ya-se) entirely on the police – and, somehow, not himself – will certainly do just that.

Lam Ka-tung’s performance is a highlight, even if his character’s motivation remains utterly confusing. One minute he is destroying incriminating evidence, and putting a bullet in the head of a fellow police officer to preserve his own undercover mission; the next he is alienating himself from the villain for nothing.