Theft Under the Sun

Act One of Cha's workmanlike thriller centres on a large scale robbery foiled by the involvement of Ka-Ho (Cheung), an undercover cop who has spent three years posing as a triad footsoldier; the standard shoot outs and explosions are executed with some panache. But Act Two never really catches fire as Ka-Ho tags along with American-Chinese mercenary Dan Peterson (Wong) on a trip to Mongolia to buy black market missiles and then drive them back to Hong Kong in a truck; the edgy progress of their relationship is cross cut with extended debates about Ka-Ho's trustworthiness between a no nonsense officer and a bullshitting psychologist back in police HQ. Act Three, in which the truck reaches Hong Kong and all hell breaks loose in a docklands warehouse, is fairly spiffy. But it looks as if Cha is one of those directors who is most interesting when he's stuck with tight schedules and limited budgets.