Comment

The Movie: 7

“Chaotic” is a word that crops up in reviews of this film and, while apt in some ways, a little pandemonium is not entirely a bad thing.  I found its sense of anarchy not only consistent with the basic premise of the story - who’s in charge here? (a better title, in any case) – and the madness of it star character: Inspector Maureen Szeto Mo Lin, played by the effervescent and sassy Sammi Cheng (Chung Mo Yim, Needing You and My Left Eye Sees Ghosts – all directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai).  Maureen has been living with a sculptor who, for some years, has promised he will marry her once he finishes his long-suffering present project – which happens to take up a good portion of their apartment.  The artist’s life does leave a certain amount of time to indulge in love-making and Maureen finds herself pregnant at about the same moment that she begins to suspect that her boyfriend may have other romantic interests.

Elsewhere, and very much in the foreground, is the case that Inspector Maureen is now in charge of: The kidnapping of the young son of crime boss, John Fok.  Naturally, Fok would prefer to take care of the matter himself, but the police insist they have a good track record in such cases, providing they get the cooperation of the relatives.  The problem of course is that Fok must take care not to reveal anything about his business that could be used against him later.  As it happens there is an ongoing investigation of a case that resulted in the manslaughter deaths of an innocent mother and child.  The driver of the truck that killed these people is clearly connected with Fok’s organization.  Added to all this, there are moves within his group to see these events as an opportunity to alter the chain of command.

Boss Fok is played by Eason Chan in an agreeable, if broad manner.  We like him, even though he is in the business he is.  Maureen finds Fok’s cordial manner disorienting.  It’s not that he’s trying to charm her – that would be too obvious - but, especially as she has just learned of her pregnancy and is pulled in different directions in her personal relationship, she doesn’t know whom to trust.  She opts for a kind of abrasive hysteria.  I found it all very refreshing.

Image: 9/9    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.
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Audio & Music : 8/8

The uncompressed Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is clear, dynamic, immersive as required, with plenty of realistic, but not big action movie, touches as in the opening car chase and truck crash.  In this respect it is more like Infernal Affairs than Exiled.

Operations : 6

The English subtitles have very few spelling or grammatical mistakes.  The menu is straightforward.  Alas, once again Tai Seng tries to make more of the Making of featurette by dividing it pointlessly into three brief segments without a Play All.

Extras : 3

Very little here: a trailer in SD and a Making of featurette that is all of 12 minutes and lacks subtitles.  I suspect it doesn't say much.  Image quality is fair to good, and much can be inferred from the picture alone.  Too bad, though, since this appears to have actual content.

Recommendation : 7

Lady Cop & Papa Crook is nothing if not a fun ride.  It blends romance, suspense, action and comedy.  I think it works, though only a second viewing, to which I am looking forward someday, will tell for sure.  By the way, hidden away in small supportive roles are well known actors like Chapman To, Zhang Guoli and Patrick Tam.  This is one instance where the Director's Cut is clearly to be preferred, since chaos is certainly to be preferred to confusion.