Cold War (Laan jin) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime Drama	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	97:45 (Case: 102)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Lok Man Leung Kim-ching Luk
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Aaron Kwok Tony Leung Ka Fai Charlie Yeung Ka Tung Lam Kar Lok Chin Andy On Terence Yin
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Peter Kam

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     A police van carrying modern equipment and five officers disappears off the streets of Hong Kong without a trace, despite all the surveillance cameras and high tech communications gear. The hijackers appear to know police procedures very well and demand a huge ransom for the return of the van and the officers. In the absence of the Police Commissioner at a conference in Denmark, Deputy Commissioner M.B. Lee (Tony Leung Ka Fai) takes charge of the operation he dubs “Cold War”. He believes there is more to this case than meets the eye and that there is a mole within the police force. The other Deputy Commissioner, Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok), doubts Lee’s impartiality as Lee’s son Joe is one of the missing officers. When Lee launches a massive operation to capture the hijackers and rescue the officers that goes very wrong, and tortures suspects, Lau with the support of other senior police officers, including Senior Superintendents Albert Kwong (Lam Ka Tung) and Vincent Tsui (Lok Chin Ka), invokes the police regulations and relieves Lee of his command. Lau then takes over the Cold War operation, using a much more low key approach to the hijackers and he negotiates to deliver the ransom personally. But in the course of the delivery he is out-foxed and out fought by the hijackers, and Vincent is killed. With the money in the hijackers’ hands the captive officers are released but Lau’s judgement is being questioned.

     Some time later, the ICAC receives anonymous information implicating Lau in the disappearance of the ransom money and he is placed under investigation by Billy Cheung (Aarif Rahman). As Billy delves deeper and deeper into operation Cold War, he starts to uncover evidence of duplicity and a conspiracy that goes right to the top of the force and may undermine the rule of law in Hong Kong. But just who is trustworthy is hard to determine and as suspicion increases and the body count rises Cold War moves towards its explosive climax.

     Cold War (Laan jin) starts off with a disclaimer that the film is not based on true events but then displays an organisational chart of the Hong Kong Police hierarchy, detailing the names and positions of the main characters. This calculating, forensic approach continues throughout the film with a plot that is detailed and intricate. There are no supermen here but police officers’ trying to work out what is happening, and as the film concentrates upon the Sean Lau character, and mostly is told from his point of view, the audience receives the clues gradually as he gets them, clues that may or may not in fact be relevant, or the truth. As well, Lau is playing another game and he may not be who he seems. In this role Aaron Kwok is charismatic and watchable, but all the cast are good and Kwok is matched by the more experienced Tony Leung Ka Fai, who made such an impact in the fabulous Wong Kar Wai film Ashes of Time back in 1994. The most recognisable face in Cold War, however, is Andy Lau who has been in over 150 films including the recent Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010). He only appears in a few scenes in Cold War but makes his presence felt.

     Cold War is a character driven piece and first time writer / directors Leung Lok Man and Luk Kim-ching allow the story to play out in a realistic manner with only a couple of high altitude camera angles that call attention to themselves. The action scenes are not overdone but when action occurs it is loud, explosive and exciting, and as the sequence concerning the delivery of the ransom is tense and exciting before exploding into a shoot-out with cars that is well staged.

     Cold War is a very good, compelling, tightly plotted, tense and riveting film. Although the pay-off at the end does not quite live up to what has gone before, it is still a thoroughly refreshing, diverting and exciting film.

Video

     Cold War is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a great looking print. Detail is pristine, blacks solid and shadow detail fine. Colours are natural, although as the film was shot using RED Epic and RED One digital cameras it has a flatness and slightly yellowish palate of digital processing. Otherwise skin tones were fine, brightness and contrast consistent.

     I did not notice any marks or artefacts.

     The layer change at 56:01 resulted in a slight pause but was between scenes and not disruptive.

    English subtitles are in an easy to read yellow font and seemed to be timely. They were error free but did on occasion flash by too quickly to read properly.

     The print is very good.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio choices are Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. I listened to the Cantonese audio track.

     Dialogue was clean and centred. The surrounds were mostly used for music and some ambient effects, such as crowd noise or weather, but burst into life during the action sequences with gunfire, bullets and explosions. The subwoofer supported the music, engines and explosions without unbalancing the sound stage.

    Lip synchronisation was mostly good, but was noticeably out in a couple of cases when I guess the actor involved was from Mainland China and speaking Mandarin.

     The original score is by prolific composer Peter Kam who has won six best score awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including for Bodyguards and Assassins (2009), as well as being nominated an additional 12 times. He also won the best score award for Cold War which surprised me; I thought his score here was effective without being memorable.

     The audio track was good and suited the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (1:06)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for The Silent War (2:08), The Thieves (1:58), Nightfall (2:00) and The Taste of Money (1:35).

     There is currently no Region 1 US or Region 2 UK release of Cold War listed. The Region 3 Hong Kong version listed on YesAsia.com has DTS audio and extras including a making of, interviews, photo gallery, a teaser trailer and trailer. The feature has English subtitles, but I am unsure if the extras do. The feature is also listed as being in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, but I have not found a review so I cannot confirm this. Perhaps stay with the local release for now?

     Cold War is a compelling, tightly plotted, tense and riveting film. It has a good cast including Tony Leung Ka Fai, explosive action sequences and is thoroughly diverting and entertaining. I enjoyed this one a lot and it will not disappoint action fans or fans of Hong Kong cinema.

     The video and audio are good, trailers are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall