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Z Storm
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Well Go USA Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (20th August 2015). |
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The Film
 There have long been tensions between the Hong Kong police force and the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption), established while the country was still under British rule and answerable to the Chief Executive (as opposed to the force's own Anti-Corruption Branch which was felt to be ineffective). When the wife (Lan Fei 'Crystal' Wang) of Commercial Crime Bureau Superintendent Wong Man Bin (Gordan Lam) approaches ICAC with evidence of her soon-to-be-ex-husband taking bribes, agent William Luk (Louis Koo) launches an investigation that is quickly met with resistance from the police who are not only loyal to Wong but those who feel like the ICAC are still conducting fishing expeditions into the force. Luk and his team turn up circumstantial evidence that leads them to believe Wong was paid off to turn up nothing incriminating in the money laundering investigation of "godfather of accounting" Law Tak Wing (Hoi-Pang Lo) including the Netbook seen in surveillance photographs of Wong bursting into Law's office but not listed in the evidence log. Luk and his team find their attempts at further investigation frustrated when Wong's terrified wife flees to Canada (although it is never specified, it seems as if her aggressors might have been some of Wong's police colleagues rather than Wu's men) and the private detective (Kai Chi Liu) she had hired to find dirt on her husband has his office vandalized and potentially incriminating data destroyed before he could back it up. When Law's former partner Chan Chi Choi (Tung Cho 'Joe' Cheung) – who had tipped Wong off about the money laundering – learns that the case against Law has been dropped, he sends the evidence to ICAC and is murdered soon after and his death made to look like an accident. Following up on the investigation into Law – who spends much of his time at his invalided wife's (Chok May Leung) – Luk comes to believe that it was not Law that bribed Wong but some other interested party. Indeed, the bewildered Law soon makes the acquaintance of attorney Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong) who presents him evidence of his client pulling the strings in quashing the investigation into money laundering (including the murder of Chan) and arranges for Law to be the accountant on the Z Hedge Fund which promises astronomical returns on billions of invested dollars (including a substantial portion from the government's public welfare fund). Advised of the political implications of investigating the Z Hedge Fund – with the public funds invested and former politician Tsui Wai King (Ying Kwan Lok) on the board – as possibly a Ponzi scheme bigger than the one engineered by Bernie Madoff, Luk is ordered to complete his investigation within the six days before the fund is listed. Afraid for his life and his wife's safety, Law is planning to flee to Switzerland, arousing Wu's suspicions even as he refuses to aide Luk's investigation; but Luk discovers another possible source of information in the mysterious Angel (Dada Chan), a pet groomer who made headlines when a mysterious benefactor paid for her cancer treatments who paradoxically does charity work in her free time yet also appears to be setting up men involved with the Z Hedge Fund for blackmail on behalf of Wu. Loosely based on Hong Kong's biggest financial scandal, Z Storm – the code name for ICAC's hush-hush investigation of the Z Hedge Fund – is an effective corporate thriller and just a dash of HK action. The film's investigation and intrigues which take up the first half of the film are thoroughly engrossing and the gradual shift towards action set-pieces is well-handled with increasing intensity as the stakes rise to the point where certain characters are desperate enough to kill rather than be arrested for a white collar crime). Some aspects of characterization are hackneyed like Luk's backstory involving the death of his wife, how the climax hinges on Wu being such a sleazeball, scenes featuring Wu's mysterious client "Zorro" (Barry O'Rourke) who seems more Blofeld than Madoff, as well as the "Where there is corruption, ICAC will be there" ending, but it remains an entertaining ninety minutes time-waster. Z Storm is the first directorial effort in fifteen years from director David Lam whose eighties and nineties work was more comic-laced and action-packed popcorn film.  
Video
The single-layer 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 of this Red Epic-lensed film is sharp with a predominantly black, grey, and blue palette with interjections of startling red in the form of Angel's entrance and a few other times in which the color pops in the frame. Well Go USA seem to know when to leave their masters alone and this is a respectable presentation.  
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 starts out with subtle atmospherics and music in the surrounds but gets more active as the action set-pieces get more intense throughout the film with car chases and shootouts in the third act. A Dolby Digital 2.0 track is also included. On both tracks, some of Michael Wong's English lines sound dubbed in - standing out from mix - while other lines in which he switches back and forth between English and Cantonese show that it is his real voice throughout (perhaps some of those lines were ADR'd). The optional English subtitles are free of errors.  
Extras
Extras start off with a Making-of (5:11) - which might be edited together from the two three minute featurettes on the HK disc - with the first half explaining through the words of the the cast and crew what the ICAC does and introducing their characters (in between teaser clip montages) while the second conveys the story through sound-bytes from the actors, producer, and director. The disc also includes three interviews from which the making-of sound-bytes have been extracted (with helpful captioned divisions like "The Case", "The Character"...): the one with Louis Koo (5:38) is not particularly substantive, consisting of a lengthy summary of the film from his character's perspective. Gordon Lam (11:44) has more interesting comments about how there has not been a Hong Kong film that depicts the ICAC positively and also conveys some insight into his character (in contrast to Luk). His interview may also better clarify some plot points than the film itself. Michael Wong (7:27) also answers questions more in terms of explaining the plot and his actions rather than providing insight into the character (although Wu is not that complexly scripted). The theatrical trailer (1:35) is Well Go USA's American, and the previews for Police Story: Lockdown, Kung Fu Killer, and Drug War also play as start-up trailers.  
Packaging
The packaging art is rather generic suggests more conventional action than a thriller.  
Overall
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