The White Storm

Since the beginning of the millennium, Hong Kong cinema has been recovering from the decline brought about by the outflow of filmmakers and funding that occurred around 1997. The White Storm is one of a number of the spectacular productions of recent years that show Hong Kong is back at full strength. However, that impression does not entirely correspond to reality. It is true that the generous budget, the emphasis on grandiose action and, primarily, the relocation of part of the narrative and some of the action sequences to an exotic foreign setting (Thailand in this case), show the financial power of the Hong Kong film industry. Let’s leave aside the fact that this power is bought with funding from Chinese co-producers and the vision of profit from Chinese cinemas. Like The Viral Factor, The White Storm evokes the golden era of Hong Kong cinema, when the production-intensive shooting of action films abroad was not only another attraction, but also one of the attendant manifestations of the industry’s stability. Back then, however, foreign locations were not the privilege of only a handful of big-budget projects, as they were also commonly used by B-movie productions. The White Storm gives the same well-kempt but two-sided impression in other respects. While some viewers will enthusiastically applaud the return of the heroic-bloodshed style, the film can also be seen not as a tribute or new contribution to the genre, but simply as a toothless attempt to build on past successes. Despite the pyrotechnic escapades and the diligent choreography of the shootouts, the film lacks the grace of the genre’s pivotal films – from Woo’s movies to the obscure gem A War Named Desire (also shot in Thailand) and To’s Exiled (filmed in Macau). Paradoxically, as hard as the top Hong Kong actors (Louis Koo, Lau Ching Wan, Nick Cheung) try, the characters lack distinctive charisma and merely drown in the constant varying of one-dimensional formulas. As a result, we have here a film that would have been only a solid B-movie in the golden era of Hong Kong cinema, but is now passed off as one of the highlights of the year. It is unfortunately necessary to add that it actually is a highlight. One can only hope that now that the industry has access to funding, it will start to follow the example of its greatest successes and turn to original concepts instead of just recalling its past glory and endlessly varying its long-ago triumphs (in this case, the screenplay blatantly copies Bullet in the Head and Infernal Affairs). 7/10 (15.09.2014)