Z Storm
2014; directed by David Lam

Local viewers may find more to enjoy with the police procedural/financial drama Z Storm, since many of the plot points and characters are loosely based on real-life counterparts. Western audiences, however, will most likely find themselves having to struggle to keep interest with director David Lam's very average style.

The fact that Z Storm comes off as so stunningly average is a bit puzzling, as David Lam has shown himself as able to deal with these sorts of stories extremely well, especially with First Shot and Powerful Four. Perhaps it is a case of "ring rust", as this is Lam's first time behind the lens in well over a decade, or maybe it was nonchalance or burnout from the actors, especially Louis Koo, who appears here in his sixth starring role in 2014. Michael Wong's traditional mangling of Cantonese actually comes off as somewhat endearing here because at least it looks like he's trying, unlike the majority of the cast.

There is a bit of action peppered in -- a car chase and shootout -- that feels limp and shoehorned. As per the HKMDB, Z Storm's action director, Jack Wong, has performed that task in nearly fifty films, but I'll be damned if I could name a memorable bit from any of them, and that trend continues here. One can't really expect action on the level of the films from the "golden age" from directors like John Woo, but it would have been nice to have something with a little more excitement and panache. Again, it just comes off like everyone involved is just going through the motions.

All of this is not to say that Z Storm is a bad film. If you've been around the Hong Kong film scene for some time, you've certainly seen much worse than this. But this is yet another example of what is wrong with the current trend of Hong Kong cinema. It looks fine enough and is decent entertainment, but there is little of the soul that made so many of us fans of the region's output in the first place.

RATING: 5

Z Storm has been released in North America by Well Go USA and is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon. This version is uncut and in the original Cantonese language. Bonus materials include interviews with the director and stars and trailers for the movie and other Well Go releases.