T.h.e. Professionals
Director: Wilson Tong
Year: 1998
Rating: 5.5
If you have seen
the film Heat it will only take a minute to explain what this film is about.
That’s because it follows the plot of Heat almost down to the same dialogue
being used at times. If you have not seen Heat, I advise that you do so because
it is a vastly superior film to this one. Not that this film is not terrible
by any means but it is missing some important ingredients such as Robert
Di Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd. Heat was a very interesting
exploration of the two main characters and the film ran for well over two
hours. This version is the typical 90-minute HK film and thus can only touch
on the highlights of Heat, but it has none of the layered complexity of Heat.
Basically, there is a group of professional
thieves led by Norman Chu – the same guy who dueled Michelle Yeoh in Wing
Chun and a group of detectives that follow them (headed by Louis Koo) and
wait for them to commit a crime. To some degree it looks into the personal
lives of these characters. The girlfriend of Chu is Ada Choi.