Andy Lau continues his remarkable resurgence in the crime thriller I Did It My Way, yet another variation on Infernal Affairs. Lau plays George Lam, lawyer for a drug ring so powerful it has evaded legal consequences for its crimes.
Battling him is Eddie Fong (Taiwanese star Eddie Peng), a tough, by-the-books cop working under Chung Kam Ming (veteran HK actor Simon Yam). The cops are hindered by corrupt judges and by Lam’s legal expertise. Both crooks and the police have informers, moles who leak details about payoffs and stings. When loyalty is for sale, no one can be trusted.
I Did It My Way is a big production, filled with elaborate sets, massive shoot-outs, and extended chases. The script tries to be up-to-date by incorporating cryptocurrencies, virus-infected social media, and armies of hackers, but its view of the internet is mostly silly montages of lights pulsing through wiring.
Director Jason Kwan, who is also the director of photography, gives the movie a strong, vivid style, with plenty of moody close-ups to go along with the chaotic shoot-outs.
But Kwan can’t do much with a script filled with obvious twists and reversals, with confrontations that lead nowhere, with a narrative that’s needlessly complicated and at the same time largely irrelevant to the central drama.
That narrative core is the relationship between Lam and his enforcer Sau Ho (Gordon Lam Ka Tung). Long-time friends who rose through the crime ring together, they rely heavily on each other. With a wife and child, the blue-collar Sau has the life Lam thinks he wants, especially when the lawyer loses his own family.
The relationship between Lam and Sau is by far the most intriguing element of I Did It My Way, primarily because of the work by two exceptional actors. This has been a great year for Andy Lau, who won a lifetime achievement award last November at the Busan International Film Festival. He reunited with his Infernal Affairs costar Tony Leung Chiu Wai in The Goldfinger, and is absolutely brilliant in the show business satire The Movie Emperor (yet to be released in the US).
But the best performance in the movie belongs to Lam Ka Tung, an actor who has built an impressive resume over two decades, and whose recent work has been revelatory. He was unforgettable as a down-on-his-luck army veteran in Hand Rolled Cigarette, and irresistible as a possibly psychotic spiritual master in last year’s Mad Fate.
Here Lam’s hangdog Sau—bitter, resentful, unable to be honest with anyone—is simply heartbreaking. He conveys so much with a look, a drag on a cigarette, the way he slumps his shoulders. Lam and Lau have worked together for years, and have an easy familiarity here that’s always fun to watch.
Unfortunately, their work is almost erased by the action scenes. Noisy, messy, poorly choreographed, the film’s shootouts are loud and repetitive without adding enough to the story. They (and Peng’s weirdly uninvolving cop) drop I Did It My Way from top-notch to serviceable.
Credits: Director: Jason Kwan. Produced by Li Yaping, Connie Wong, Andy Lau. Director of photography: Jason Kwan. Action director: Chin Ka Lok. Starring: Andy Lau, Lam Ka Tung, Eddie Peng Yuyan, Cya Liu, Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Philip Keung, Hedwig Tam.
In theaters January 12, 2024.
Top: Eddie Peng, Andy Lau. Center: Andy Lau, Cya Liu. Photos courtesy Well Go USA.
