Shock Wave is a 2017 Hong Kong action film written and directed by Herman Yau, produced by and starring Andy Lau. Released on 20 April 2017 in Hong Kong and 28 April 2017 in all China, the film is Yau and Lau's third collaboration as director and star respectively after 1991's Don't Fool Me and 1999's Fascination Amour.
A standalone sequel to the film, titled Shock Wave 2, began production in February 2019 and wrapped up on 8 May 2019, and was theatrically released on 24 December 2020. It features new characters and a new storyline, with Lau returning as producer and starring in a new role and Yau returning as director.
Plot
Bomb disposal officer Cheung Choi-san of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau (EOD) has been working undercover in a gang of thieves led by Hung Kai-pang, who specializes in bombs.
Cheung coordinates with his handler, Superintendent Chow, and senior inspector Kong Yiu-wai of the Regional Crime Unit, and manages to arrest a number of Hung's underling, including his younger brother, Hung Kai-piu, after performing a cash vault robbery. He also successfully disposes of a bomb, stopping it from detonating.
However, Hung managed to escape arrest and vows for revenge. Six months later, Cheung resumes his position in EOD and is quickly promoted as superintendent of the department and meets a recently divorced primary school teacher, Carmen, and begins to date her.
A year later, Hung has employed a group of mercenary soldiers, delivering morphine and heroin for drug dealers in the Golden Triangle. Man Chung Corporation president Yim Kwok-wing offers him HK$50 million deposit to hijack the Cross-Harbour Tunnel to lure the Hong Kong Government into repurchasing Man Chung's stocks of the Western Harbour Crossing. Meanwhile, after Cheung receives an honor for his undercover duties, Superintendent Chow is killed after a bomb goes off in his car, which Cheung suspects as Hung's doings.
The day after, Hung plants a bomb with a mercury trigger outside of the Revenue Tower, which Cheung successfully disposes, before bringing in three pounds of C4 via a remote control toy truck, which is set to detonate in three minutes. Kong drives Cheung to toss the bomb into Victoria Harbour. Soon after, Hung and his mercenaries hijack the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, trapping hundreds of civilians hostages with 1,000 kg of C4 explosives, placing 500 kg at each entrance of the tunnel.
After making their first killing of a maintenance worker leading to a firefight with the police, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Wan Hiu-fung, attempts to negotiate with Hung, who refers himself as "Blast", but Blast demands to speak with Cheung and forces Cheung to release his imprisoned brother by 12AM or he will kill a hostage for every ten minutes late, which Cheung agrees if Blast can promise him to release 100 hostages.
Cheung and Kong escort Kai-piu from prison, who has become a changed man and is reluctant to see his brother, but they were hit by a drunk truck driver on the way, and narrowly makes it back to the tunnel in time before Blast kills a second hostage, but Kai-piu is heavily injured. Blast fulfills his promise and releases 100 hostages, but upon discovering one of them was a young police inspector, Wong Tin-nok, Blasts straps a bomb with four packs of explosives on him. As Blasts sets off the timer to go off in two minutes, Cheung is unable to disable the bomb and Wong is killed by the explosion, devastating several police officers and the press at the scene.
The next morning, the blocked Western and Eastern Harbour Crossing has been opened for the public which strict security checks while Yim is making a fortune when Man Cheung's stocks skyrocket and pays him a commission of HK$500 million. However, Blast is unsatisfied and instructs some of his mercenaries to abduct Yim and force him to transfer HK$1 billion to Blast's bank account before killing him.
In the meantime, Blast also captured Carmen and tied her inside the trunk of a taxi with a grenade in her hand, but Cheung finds and rescues her at a gas station. Blast then demands two helicopters for him to leave a Hong Kong with a couple of hostages including Cheung, and sets off the timer for the 1,000 kg of C4 to go off in an hour until the helicopters arrive.
Cheung then wears some C4 explosives around him and enters the tunnel, threatening Blast to hand out the remote for the 1,000 kg of C4, which startles a couple of the mercenaries and ignites a gunfight where Cheung shoots Blast's leg, while Kong's squad and the Special Duties Unit rush in and takes down the mercenaries while evacuating the civilians, where Kai-piu and some officers and hostages were killed.
Amidst the chaos, Blast shoots Cheung's leg in retaliation and the two exchange fire where Blasts destroys the remote. Blast gains the upper hand when Cheung runs out of ammo and reloads, but Kong severs Blast's arm and the latter is arrested. Cheung rushes to the Hong Kong Island exit of the tunnel while ordering his subordinate, Ben (Ron Ng) to stay at the Kowloon exit and they find the detonating device of the explosives under the trucks at their respective location, but unable to get a clear view.
With less than three minutes before it goes off, Cheung consults the engineer of the tunnel whether the tunnel can sustain 500 kg of C4 exploding, and decides to take a gamble and cut the yellow wire, telling Ben to follow suit if safe. However, the explosives blows up after Cheung cuts the wire, killing him on the spot, so Ben cuts the red wire, but is still heavily injured by the impact. The explosion destroys most of the tunnel but did not affect its structure. Wan announces to reporters that 468 hostages were saved while 38 were killed, along with 43 criminals and 18 officers killed in the incident.
Afterwards, Cheung and other slain officers are given burials at the Gallant Garden where Kong, Carmen, Ben and the others mourn the fallen.
Cast Andy Lau as Cheung Choi-san (章在山), superintendent and bomb disposal officer of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau (EOD). Jiang Wu as Hung Kai-pang (洪繼鵬), who nicknamed himself Blast (火爆), a top wanted criminal who is bent on seeking revenge for Cheung's betrayal. Song Jia as Carmen Li (李家雯), a divorced teacher who becomes Cheung's girlfriend. Philip Keung as Kong Yiu-wai (江耀偉), chief inspector of the Regional Crime Unit who works closely with Cheung. Ron Ng as Ben (阿斌), an EOD officer who is Cheung's second-in-command. Leo Wang as Hung Kai-piu (洪繼標), Blast's younger brother who was apprehended by the police during Cheung's undercover mission. Felix Wong as Officer Chow (周Sir), superintendent of the Regional Crime Unit and Cheung's handler when the latter was working undercover in Blast's gang. Shek Sau as Wan Hiu-fung (尹曉風), the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police. Liu Kai-chi as Yim Kwok-wing (閆國榮), a business tycoon and chairman of Man Chung Corporation who operates the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Western Harbour Crossing. Cheung Chun-kit as Stephen (思君), an officer of the Regional Crime Unit under Kong Yiu-wai. Louis Cheung as Lam Chun (林俊), a tour guide who is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Babyjohn Choi as Wong Tin-nok (黃天諾), an off duty officer who is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Joseph Lee as the chief engineer of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Felix Lok as Berry (啤梨), Wong Tin-nok's father who is a retired police officer and is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Wan Yeung-ming as Cheung Tai-chiu (張大釗), a retired police officer who is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Tony Ho as Kam Chi-kong (甘志剛), nicknamed King Kong, a retired police officer who is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Ken Lo as Coffee (咖啡), one of Blast's henchmen who was apprehended by the police during Cheung's undercover mission. Dion Lam as Ghost (阿鬼), one of Blast's henchmen who escaped during Cheung's undercover mission. Kevin Chu as an EOD officer. Lee Yee-man as a uniformed policewoman. Michael Tong as a mercenary soldier working for Blast. Ben Yuen as President Chen (陳總), a Mainland Chinese tour member who is one of the hostages held by Blast in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
Theme song Getting Used To (慢慢習慣) Singer/Lyricist: Andy Lau Composer: Eric Ng, Kenneth Shih Arranger: Adam Lee Producer: Preston Lee, Jacky Chan
Production Development The project was first announced in September 2014, with Herman Yau and Andrew Lau attached as director and producer respectively, and was set to star Nicholas Tse, Nick Cheung and Julian Cheung, with Tse portraying the main villain. The film was also set to begin production in November of the same year under a budget of HK$90 million.
However, the project was seemingly postponed indefinitely until March 2016, where the film was re-announced at the 2016 Hong Kong Filmart. While Yau remained as the film's director, Andy Lau was announced to produce and star in the new film, with no mention of previous reported cast members. With a new budget of US$23 million, the film is produced by Universe Entertainment, Bona Film Group and Lau's new production company, Infinitus Entertainment. The film's planned climax will feature a bomb threat taking place in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
Filming On 17 April 2016, director Yau announced on his Facebook account that filming for Shock Wave will begin the following day on 18 April. On Labour Day (1 May 2016), Yau updated the filming progress on his account with location scouting images where Lau and crew members were present. On 6 May 2016, reporters visited the film set for the filming of an indoors explosion scene, where Lau demonstrated safety measures of filming the explosion to the visiting reporters with Yau, while also demonstrating swift bomb disposal techniques. On 5 June 2016, a bomb disposal scene was filmed outside of the Revenue Tower in Wan Chai, where Lau wore a 70-pound heavy bomb disposal suit. Actors Philip Keung, Ron Ng, Louis Cheung and Babyjohn Choi were also present during that day. Filming officially wrapped up on 4 July 2016, after filming its final scene at a 1:1 scale set of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel built by the production team.
Release Shock Wave was theatrically released in Hong Kong on 20 April 2017. The film also closed the 19th Far East Film Festival on 29 April 2017 and was also shown at the 57th Vienna International Film Festival on 20 October 2017.
Reception Critical reception On Rotten Tomatoes, Shock Wave has an approval rating of 75% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10.
Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film's action sequences by action choreographer Dion Lam, the cinematography director Herman Yau for upending action film conventions but criticizes the characters' drawn out personalities. Edmund Lee of the South China Morning Post gave the film a score of 3/5 stars and praises the film's engaging action sequences and its absorbing look at bomb disposal while criticizes its logic and director Yau's half-hearted attempt at characterisation. Angelin Yeoh of The Star gave the film a score of 8/10 praising the film's high octane action sequences, the levels of tension and sense of intrigue that it offers and calls it an "exciting, adrenaline rush of a movie about everyday heroes."
Gabriel Chong of MovieXclusive gave the film a score of 3/5 and calls it "loud, action-packed and frequently thrilling" but "lacks compelling story or characters". Boon Chan of The Straits Times gave the film a score of 2.5/5 and notes the film's protagonist as "self-sacrificing and saintly" and not particularly interesting as a result and calls the film a "workman-like and heavy-handed effort that is unlikely to knock anyone's sock off."
Box office