A group of policemen from Hong Kong travel over to Thailand to arrest a powerful and very dangerous drug lord with bad hair. Things go wrong during the mission, and the former friends cannot stand to be in each other’s presence. After five years, an old friend shows up in Hong Kong, and then all hell breaks loose.
Director Benny Chan can make wonderful action movies if he wants to. But his decision making has always been a big question. He can make a lot of strange choices when he directs a movie. Especially with emotional scenes, he usually stinks. And he doesn’t disappoint here with some very poor dramaturgy.
The White Storm starts like most undercover movies from Hong Kong. The special thing about the movie is that the three policemen are friends. But one of them is tired of being the mole when his wife is about to give birth to their first child. But the job calls and the mole is under a lot of pressure when they take a trip over to Thailand to stop a drug lord who should find a new hairdresser.
The White Storm has a minor surprise up its sleeve, but I guessed the surprise early after a certain event. The White Storm has a long runtime of around 134 minutes. With the long runtime, you would think the movie could get us to care a little about the characters and that we would get to know them better. But that doesn’t happen, the movie offers a simple narrative that doesn’t work. That’s classic Benny Chan.
There are a few good action sequences here. But overall the movie disappoints. Especially towards the end where a lot of bullets are fired. But the action choreography is just average, I was not impressed.
The White Storm shows us the limitations of director Benny Chan. But I’ve seen much worse from that man, so The White Storm is worth checking out if you’ve seen too many bad action movies from Hong Kong in recent years.