Those who like spectacularly staged action, gigantic explosions and debilitating tension should listen to ‘Shock Wave’ in the evening. Because there all this is offered in abundance. Andy Lau (“Infernal Affairs”, “House Of Flying Daggers”), one of the most prominent, most awarded and globally most popular actors in Hong Kong cinema, can be seen in the lead role.
“Shock Wave” airs today, April 13, 2023 at 10 p.m. on Tele 5. The station offers a repeat on the night of April 15 to 16 at 12:10 p.m. In addition, the thriller can be streamed for free in media center Tele 5 until April 29. If you missed all these dates, you can get the Blu-ray or DVD from online stores such as Amazon. Optionally, the FSK 16 title is also available there as a paid video-on-demand:
“Shock Wave” on Tele 5: That’s the story
Years ago, explosives expert Choi-San Cheung (Andy Lau) went undercover to finally apprehend notorious mobster and bomber Blast (Jiang Wu). However, the agent was only able to achieve partial success. Although Blast’s henchmen, including his younger brother, were arrested, the leader himself escaped at the last second.
Now the police find out that large quantities of explosives have been shipped to Hong Kong. Cheung discovers what these are for when a series of attacks take place that clearly bear the signature of the Blast, which had vanished from the face of the earth until then. After he also mines the city’s largest underwater tunnel and takes hundreds of innocent people hostage there, the old adversaries come to a head…
“Shock Wave” – more than just explosions
We can reassure anyone who fears based on the synopsis that the action in “Shock Wave” is unilaterally limited to detonating (or not detonating) explosives. In the cracker directed by “IP Man Zero” director Herman Yau, many pistol bullets fly through the air, people run and fight, but also cars drive and helicopters fly at high speed – always providing high speed is one of the most important aspects of the film
In addition, there are some thoughtful moments in “Shock Wave”, which at times almost philosophical. These were added to the script at the initiative of protagonist and producer Andy Lau. The star wanted to give his character and thus the film a little more emotional and intellectual depth. A move that worked well and forms interesting contrasts to the otherwise very straightforward ‘good versus evil’ plot.
Plus, this breather between the action actually brings the audience closer to the character – which then makes it even easier to root for them. Of course, “Shock Wave” is first and foremost a hard hitting action hit, and it works really well as such. This was also evident from his performance in Chinese cinemas. Because there the film, which was produced for the equivalent of $20 million, shot to number one on the charts and managed to pull in more than three times its budget. Incidentally, “Shock Wave” celebrated its successful German premiere in September 2017 as one of the top entries at the annual fantasy film festival presented by FILMSTARTS and held in seven cities.
If you’re hungry for more after watching Shock Wave, you can move on to the quasi-sequel City Under Fire: The Bomb is Ticking. This was also directed by Yau and again features Lau as a bomb disposal technician. However, it was a different character. Despite this, the film was released under the title “Shock Wave 2” in both China and most western territories.
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