PTU lui ging: Ngau yin haam ging

Well, first of all I must say that "PTU File: Death Trap" (aka "PTU lui ging: Ngau yin haam ging") is your fairly average, although generic, crime action movie. So if you enjoy these kinds of movies, then this 2005 movie might be right up your alley.

When I sat down to watch "PTU File: Death Trap" I didn't even know what it was about. I hadn't even heard about it before now in 2021, as I had the chance to sit down to watch it. And since it was a Hong Kong movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I found the time to do so.

Well, the storyline in "PTU File: Death Trap" was just a tad too generic for me. It felt like writer and director Hung-Wah Leung was playing it very safe and following the how-to-make-a-crime-action-movie booklet to the letter. Everything here was scripted and predictable, which was something that the movie suffered from.

The movie didn't boast an impressive array of cast members. In fact, it was actually only Michael Wong that I was familiar with here. And let's just face it, he is not exactly among the top of Hong Kong performers. But I will say, for the most parts, that the acting in the movie was actually good enough, though the actors and actresses were somewhat hindered by a tame and generic script.

Now, it wasn't all mediocre stuff though. I did like the way that the story was constructed and built, with it starting at the ending and then rewinding and leading up to the start of the movie. That was actually a nice touch from writer and director Hung-Wah Leung.

However, all in all, "PTU File: Death Trap" is ultimately suffering from being one of those types of crime action movies that you've seen many times before and that come out every year in an abundance. And when you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. This results in a mediocre five out of ten stars rating from me.

PTU File: Death Trap (2005) is a 90+ minute action flick that runs like a soap opera, and that's not a good thing. Worst of all, it throws in all of the cop movie clichés from the book.

The multiple story lines all lead to the big finale in which a gang holds a medical center hostage. Before this occurs, we meet a bunch of characters, who will be affected by the event.

Yeung Fong Fong (Kristy Yang), is a PTU officer, who thinks her husband Ka Ho, a doctor, is eyeing his friend and partner; Rebecca (Anya) is an undercover cop trying to helping her police superior, Wong (Michael Wong) catch a merchant known as Yu Fei; four friends try to make it in the music business, but they need money fast; there's a femme fatale, Mei Wai (Hanabi Kim) added into the mix (I wish there were more ideas done with this character).

There are so many clichés in PTU File: Death Trap, such as the undercover cop who is promised out but the superior holds her back, the hostage situation in which crucial characters are given big moments, and the idiotic high police official who will eventually pull the hero off the case.

The movie is co-written and directed by Tony Leung Hung-Wah (you'd think the movie credits would make some of distinction from the other Tony Leungs out there). The fight sequences involving our heroines are watchable. It's during the fights and the finale when PTU File: Death Trap does really comes alive and becomes what it wants to be: an action movie chick flick.

There's even a car chase in which a hostage, a fat woman throws up on everybody. Did we really need to see that? I wanted to watch the chase, but I was put off by all the vomiting.

The shootouts are horribly edited. I mean, look at the shootout with Michael Wong and his crew. The CGI is so lazily done, it almost looks cartoonish.

Another one of the movie's redeeming values are the film's three heroines who all look cute, but that's all they have going for them. The performances are horrible, and since there's so many things going on in this movie, it's hard to care.

There's a reference to Infernal Affairs II, in which a bad guy is given a "legal" copy of the film. Later the DVD is crushed to bits by a car. Watching that happen, I was deeply offended since I think that Infernal Affairs II is a much superior film than this low-budget fare.