A big online drug auction, the first of that scale in Asia, is about to take place on the Dark Web Market and the Hong Kong Cyber Investigation Unit and its Senior Superintendant Eddie Fong Hing (Eddie Peng) are ready to fight against a man known as “boss” whose identity no one is completely certain about. It is believed that the drug baron is Chan Chin Sang (Philip Keung) who is on his way to Hong Kong, and Fong Hing wants to take the opportunity to seize both him and a large drug cargo that is supposed to arrive the same night. Five day before the announced big event, the department is in problem due to Chan's army of hackers and corrupted public servants working as his informants. The attempt to find the drugs fails due to heavy technical problems caused by them. “We have to nip it in the bud”, is the promise that can't be kept.
“I Did It My Way” is opening in theater, January 12, courtesy of Well Go USA
Kwan uses the original headlines that shook the public throughout 2022 and earlier this year, about hundreds of entrepreneur's who have been arrested for their illegal trading on the Dark Web, among them: Dmitry Olegovich Pavlov and Ross William Ulbricht, before turning to the first famous case in Asia.
Andy Lau and Eddie Peng team up as the hard core opponents in the lavishly produced action thriller “I Did It My Way” which borrows its title from the popular Frank Sinatra song in a cover sung in Cantonese. But it's Dai Tay's music score that sets the rhythm to the movie. The multiple-awarded composer (she bagged Asian Film Awards Best Composer in 2021 for Adam Wong's “The Way We Keep Dancing”, and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Original Film Song for “Weeds On Fire” 2017) leads us through all the mayhem with a solid score, that actually irons up the creases in story's overlong runtime.
Behind the script is the first-timer Sing-Yip Sau who packs the story with a heavy load of explosive events that the special effects department tries to polish with tricks that initially look like they were done by family and friends on someone's computer in between breaks. When the ship loaded with drugs gets caught in the storm right at the beginning of the movie, we are looking into something so obviously computer generated that we could easily forget all the ridiculously staged moments in Cameron's “Titanic” (“go practice a bit, my love”).This isn't a constant, though. As the movie progresses, we get much meatier and more accomplished staged visuals that do, indeed, catch up with the storyline.
What changes the overall feel of the movie is the performance by Lau, who turns up to be he main baddy. HIs nerdy physique heavily contrasts the scope of his wrongdoings, and he, indeed, does it again; the master of trickery hits with the mighty force. As lawyer Lin Zhen'an, who is initially observed by the police as the ‘savior' of criminals, he is slowly revealing his true colors as the mastermind of criminal activities. On the one hand, completely dedicated to his young, pregnant wife, and on the other orchestrating the criminal activities of a large drug organisation, Peng's portrayal of a police chief that fights against all odds, contributes to the overall good reception of the movie despite its challenging (almost) two hours runtime.
Despite of all tropes that tick off the boxes, and that should have stayed closeted for some other stories, “I Did It My Way” is a movie that stays with you. It is totally worth your cinema time, popcorn or not. There are fight scenes to bring back home to your personal fantasy revenge scenarios, stories of big love answered, and those of persistence in the face of injustice. Big praise goes to Kwan who also dealt with the cinematography of his movie, but also to Wai Lun Cheng's editing.
