'S' fung bou

A bit better than the first movie in the series, Z Storm (I see one reviewer here who thinks L Storm was the first and came before this one, even though that one is the 3rd movie in the series and comes after this one, lol), though as one other reviewer noted, that isn't saying much. Still, at least with this one I wasn't completely bored like I was with the previous mediocre movie. Still nothing special, but at least the directing is better this time around, and there is a little more thrill and action. Main actors are all right.

This sequel in-name only to 2014's Z Storm is definitely an improvement over its predecessor, which to be fair isn't saying much. S Storm revolves around a football bookmaking syndicate with members in Hong Kong, which seems like a refreshing, modern update on the typical global syndicate cliche. Like most Hong Kong police movies or dramas, there are assassins, random A-listers and gunfights galore.

Without giving away too much, Vic Chou's mysterious assassin character is by far the best villain and character in the entire movie. Chou plays the character with emotion, though the character is itself rather badly written, and the character development seems somewhat forced, whose blame can be placed on the rather rushed runtime of an hour and forty minutes. This runtime not only claims Chou as its victim, but a good many others including veteran "grandpa" actor Loi Hai-pong, as well as a sudden, rushed subplot in China that really should have been shaved, since it doesn't really accelerate the main plot.

In terms of the other casting choices, Ada Choi is brought on as an analyst to help Louis Koo's team, who fade into the background and could be replaced by anybody without any notice, and Choi does do her best, but her best is not really required for such a cliched role. Bowie Lam also appears as a senior member of the former jockey club, and I appreciated Lam's acting here, managing to flesh out a small yet important role well. Julian Cheung does shine here, although I wish his background wasn't so much forced into the movie in order to tie in to the gambling and betting theme this much. Dada Chan is unfortunately rather terrible in this one, so I won't be talking about her too much.

In short, although it is riddled with cliches, the main cast tries hard enough and the theme is interesting enough to keep audiences guessing, though this comes at the expense of character development thanks to the short runtime.

The male leads Koo and Cheung are all the same cool and smart. Plus the Taiwan star Chow, it is a perfect combination of handsome men in a movie. I especially favour the acting of Cheung. He can be lazy while brave. And his acting as Captain Cool is always in mind.

The plot is not without fault, but is at an acceptable level. If i am the police i would charge Cheung's sister for helping the assinsin Chow. And it is just miracle that Cheung, a once addicted football gambler, could become a senior police inspector. Overall speaking, however, the story is much better than L Storm anyway. And I am surprised why only 5 is given as general rating.

After I watched this movie, the only feeling that I had was: what happened just now??????

It managed to be slightly better than the first one, continued on the same theme, fighting corruption at ICAC, but now in the betting world, and with more female characters, and a passionate "villain", it infected me more, entertainment and fun...