Sit ting fung wan 2

Despite being billed as one of the best Hong Kong movie in 2011, Overheard 2 fails to live up to expectations and falls short of its lofty ambition. In fact, Overheard 2 ticks all the right boxes to be a great film – strong cast (Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu), thoroughly written script, quality production values (Derek Yee) and directing talents of Alan Mak and Felix Chong. Unfortunately the film fails to engage with the audience and for whatever reason it just never take the audience along for the ride. Perhaps, it is due to the overtly written script, the at times uneven direction or even subpar performances from what you expect from the likes of Lau, Koo and Wu. It is all the more disappointing when you can tell how hard the production team are trying and the amount of details they go into. It is probably harsh to say this, but sometimes, you can try very hard to achieve something and it still somehow does not work out. This is exactly the feeling that I got from this film. All in all, Overheard 2 tries extremely hard to succeed, but sometimes, engaging the audience, bringing them along the ride, can just be so much more. 100% for effort, but only 50% entertainment – probably the most over-hyped film of the year…

Neo rates it 6/10.

Let me start off by saying this is by far one of the greatest Hong Kong movies made after 2010 might be I'm a bit biased and sentimental about this movie but yet after the original releases 10 years later rewatching it was still a joy

The reason I gave it the higher rating is because the director or casting director have done a real great job assembling one of the top acting stars as the supporting cast making it my favourite cast group of all time.. we have Kong Ngai, Samuel Kwok, Lok Ying Kwan and veteran actor Kenneth Tsang who is the main villain and he did a great job for it earning him a nomination for best supporting actor that year.. it is such a nostalgia feeling for me watching this movie..

The story line is perfect too continuation on the first about stock market yet keep it simplified for us the layman to understand the plot..

Watch it or better still rewatched it.

The only things in common between OVERHEARD 2 and OVERHEARD (2009) are having 3 of the same male leads, a plot relating to phone-tapping & blackmail of the evil criminal few who have the ability to control the stock market.

Working with DP Anthony Pun to deliver a new tone & texture to the picture, some scenes integrate a gritty look similar to heist films like Ben Affleck's THE TOWN, and the editing by Curran Pang delivers an overall tighter pace to bring OVERHEARD 2 a couple of notches up in having a narrative that moves along nicely - leading up to a finale that actually works without dishing out the fantasy - as in the first film - that calls for the audience to suspend their disbelief (just so Mak & Chong could pay homage to Korean VENGEANCE films). The topic of inside trading hits timely with the audience, and the film attempts to remind yet again the facts about the ills to the stock market - numbers are fixed by the few in power, and that the sub-prime fallout owes much to the policies of the US government. What's interesting is that unlike other films about inside trading, Mak & Chong injects a sense of patriotism by highlighting the battles won by these now evil men in the early days of Hong Kong's stock market - the powers they earned by having fought off foreign investors in attacks to crash the HK stock market turned these patriots into monsters. This plot point connects much more strongly to the audience than all the convoluted trade jargon and scam tactics we see in similar films, and reinforces the trade-mark "Heroes gone bad" character development Mak & Chong have used repeatedly since INFERNAL AFFAIRS.

With OVERHEARD 2, actor Daniel Wu delivers one of his most solid and mature performances to date. It is also refreshing to see veteran actors Kenneth Tseng and Kong Ngai in their come-back with scene-stealing performances. The casting of almost-forgotten veteran actors is an on-going trend in HK films right now which began with Leung Siu Lung and Yuen Qiu in Stephen CHow's KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004), then later with Teddy Robin and Chan Kwoon-Tai in GALLANTS (2010), and more recently Jimmy Wong Yu in director Peter Chan's WUXIA (2011).

As with just about all Mak & Chong scripts, unfortunately, the female leads are again given only roles of being speaking vases. MIchelle Ye's scenes with Louis Koo could have been so much more engaging, and Huang Yi's pillow talk with Lau Ching Wan could have been much more touching. It seems the two writer/directors still have problems connecting with the female mind beyond just displaying tears and sad faces. The dialoque given to these two actresses were so disconnected and removed from the right emotions that I was left to wonder how the male leads could have even responded to what was said to carry such cryptic conversations that make these on-screen couples come across as people who barely even know each other.

All in all, OVERHEARD 2 is the best we have seen from the mainstream HK film industry in 2011 so far, and I can't help but to think that there's a good chance we will end up seeing this and the previous OVERHEARD becoming Hollywood remakes in the coming years.

Louis Koo, Lau Ching Wan and Daniel Wu reunite with director/writer duo Alan Mak and Felix Cheong in this unrelated sequel to Overheard, the 2009 financial-theme crime boiler. While the three actors played police buddies who got embroiled in a stock exchange fiasco in the original, "Overheard 2" has Koo playing a police inspector Jack who is investigating a car crash that involves celebrity stockbroker Mason Law (Lau Ching Wan). Koo and his team found a high-tech military surveillance device in his wrecked Ferrari while at the same time, a mysterious dangerous man named Joe (Daniel Wu) might hold the answers to all these happenings.

Without giving much of the plot away, "Overheard 2" continues to revolve around the world of illegal stock fixing and we are not talking about some sleazy scumbags hidden behind monitors. The stock market if you believe is apparently influenced by a few prestige and enormously rich old men known as part of the "Landlord Club", and well Joe's wiretapping ways is part of a grander scheme it seems to expose their mischiefs.

After their embarrassing take on the period piece, "The Lost Bladesman", Alan Mak and Felix Cheong is back in familiar territory. The duo famous for creating the "Infernal Affairs" trilogy developed a more constant and intense effort as compared to the first. Firstly since our three protagonists are now playing against each other, some of the heavy dialogue-laden exchanges in the original between the leads are missing here and what's in place is a few genuinely well-executed action sequences that will keep you glue to the seat. Check out a bombing scene on a busy street and a motorbike chase to prove my point. Secondly, subplots are kept to the minimum and the script is focused tightly on the landlord club and the involvement of Jack, Manson and Joe without going to hyperdrive melodrama.

Koo in his 899th screen appearances for the year takes on a salt-and- pepper look as a cop who places justice and morality above anything else. His performance as a cop and suffering husband of Michelle Ye's character easily stood out in the entire movie. Lau (one of my favourite HK actors of all time) who is less prolific in recent years however is being sidetracked given his character is half the time a passive dude. Wu of course is perfect as the skillful ex-military man (though never really confirm, he is mentioned using military devices and he is photographed with his mom wearing a green overall with a "Singapore" tag on it!) out for revenge. He looks great, fights well and rides a mean motorbike.

It's not just the main cast members you will find in "Overheard 2", apparently HK veterans such as Kenneth Tsang, his wife Chiao Chiao snagged a role too and TV familiar faces, Samuel Kwok, Lok Ying Kwan, Woo Fung and Kong Ngai appeared as members of the "Landlord Club" as well giving the movie a huge boast in casting.

So far, this year has been quite a lackluster one for HK exports where comedies generally filled up the empty slots. "Overheard 2" turns out to be a taut, intense crime thriller which Alan Mak and Felix Cheong is renowned for. These guys have proved they have matured with their filmmaking without ex-partner Andrew Lau and what a surprise, this title actually passed with flying colors surpassing the original.

• www.moviexclusive.com

Yep... Heh, I read some of these other reviewers and they wax so poetic, some really love to 'hear' themselves talk... : )

I'll just give it straight and plain. This film is indeed much more engaging and much better put together than the first one. I also reviewed the first one and the thing that took away from what was really a very good idea in that movie is I felt the long build up from the beginning included too much slow moving 'Drama' Whereas this one hits you right out of the gate with punch and power.

There is no need to see the first film before this one since the story and characters are completely different. The only reason it is entitled as 'OVERHEARD 2' is that the people behind the camera are the same ones that brought you the other movie. And I believe a couple of the same actors are in this one, but in quite different roles. And, it also deals with financial misdeeds and surveillance like the first one.

Very well written, directed, and well paced. All the actors do a great job and I feel the story really ratchets up the tension and builds to an excellent and somewhat moving ending.

I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys well made Financial Action/Thrillers from China. This is indeed one of the better ones!