Cold War - 寒戰

Cold War (寒戰) is an 2012 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung. The supporting cast include Charlie Young, Gordon Lam, Chin Kar-lok, Aarif Rahman, Eddie Peng, Andy On, Terence Yin, Grace Huang, J.J. Jia, Byron Mann, and Michael Wong. Andy Lau makes a brief cameo appearance. The movie was will received both domestically and internationally.



A HK PTU team is kidnapped and the asking ransom is 1/3 of the calculations of the police group budget. When the money is taken from the national vault, only 1/3 is taken to the drop off point, the other 2/3 is shipped back. But because the police were in the middle of a sting, the 2/3 movie shipment back was not well guarded and hijacked. The police now have to deal with a kidnapped PTU team where a team member was killed to make an example. Now, they have to figure out who stole the money. With so much at stake, the internal actions of the police are highly scrutinized and subject to internal review. The movie resolves around the power struggle within the force and those that carried out the kidnapping and hijacking.



The movie was a well made machine. Great cast, complex story, engaging internal struggle, and a wild twist at the end. The movie is one for the ages. This is the type of film you want to introduce HK films to your friends, especially if they do not like Wuxia. Although the main cast is from the old school, the ensemble cast includes a lot of whom may be among the next generation of HK stars.