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.

This is a film by any other name would have smelled as sweet. Written and directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, Overheard 2 may seem like a sequel or follow up film of sorts given the number in its title, but except for a storyline that consists of eavesdropping devices, and the bringing back of lead actors in Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Daniel Wu, this film deals with completely different characters and a premise that doesn't fit anywhere into the original film. It could have been called some other name and would work just as well, though I am curious if the filmmakers will make yet another film and package them all together in a nifty box set of crime thrillers that deal with the espionage of information.

That said, one cannot help but to compare elements from this film with its predecessor, no matter how different they can be. For starters, we rarely, if ever, get all three leading men sharing the same frame, let alone the same scene, together, unlike the first film where everyone was on the same side of the law, and employing techniques to solve cases together as a team. Whatever chemistry that worked back then got broken up here, with each character aligned to different loyalties such that they get pit against one another; gone is the teamwork and in comes individual objectives and intent with Lau Ching Wan playing Manson, a hot shot but shady broker, and Louis Koo as Jack Ho, a cop with the Security Bureau with that unwavering moral sense of justice.

It's an elaborate plot of revenge being exacted out by the mysterious lone ranger Joe (Daniel Wu), who begins the film already having planted plenty of surveillance devices in the offices, vehicles and phones of a group of high profile businessmen and their stockbroker, collectively being known as the enigmatic Landlord Club, responsible for how the Hang Seng stock index performs, influential and lined with deep pockets to manipulate markets without being caught. Those not familiar with trading terms or how the stock market works shouldn't see this as reason enough not to watch the film, as the transactions boiled down to being very simple buy and sell ones complete with the obvious insider trading, where money gets multiplied obscenely thanks to unscrupulous transactions following the mantra of doing, but not getting caught, complete with a protocol on who takes the fall if so.

But Alan Mak and Felix Chong's story got bogged down unnecessarily by the personal demons of Manson and Jack no thanks to the presence of their wives, bit characters played by Huang Yi and Michelle Ye respectively to provide some balance to the testosterone on screen. Huang Yi's lawyer and wife character to Manson may have had the most potential between the two, but unfortunately got relegated to one brilliant scene only, spending the others under bedcovers that serve as a conduit for a critical narrative flashback to happen, and to provide Manson with a reason to quit what he's doing and to escape from their reality. Michelle Ye's character as Jack's wife is even more wasted, being nothing more than as fodder for Louis Koo to show off some dramatic acting chops, which he does with conviction having honed his screen presence in so many films this year it's hard to keep track.

It's a little bit of a slow down and a bloat in the story, rather than to pare it down and keeping it as nippy as how stock markets behave during a bear or bull run. But the slew of veteran actors in Overheard 2 makes it more than worthwhile to sit through this, from Kenneth Tsang, Samuel Kwok, Woo Fung and others gracing the screen as Landlord Club members being a shadow of their more gung ho selves in the past. Chiao Chiao completes the picture as an Alzheimer's patient provides reason enough for Joe to go ballistic in his painstakingly complex plotting involving a number of random variables especially in counting upon the graces of reluctant allies being none the wiser. Action sequences are kept simple, from a nicely shot pursuit of a blue Ferrari to a man hunt down the busy streets of Hong Kong and a motorcycle chase that stands out amongst the lot.

Still, Alex Mak and Felix Chong, for all their films made together with Andrew Lau, managed to continue stamping their mark in the industry and in the genre, keeping things rather cerebral, and I for one am glad they had returned to their modern day roots from their recent blip in going medieval with The Lost Bladesman. I have to admit though I still prefer the first Overheard, although this one rewards the patient viewer.

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.

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.

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!