Brotherhood (1986)
Reviewed by: mpongpun on 2003-08-31
Yeah, I know, Danny Lee in another cop flick. Danny Lee even garnered a nomination for best actor for his role in this flick at the 6th annual Hong Kong film Award Show. This one has Danny playing a hard working cop named Ah Lui whose best friend is another cop, Ah Keung (Alex Man). Both cops are walking on a paper bridge when it comes to the procedure of the cops capturing the crooks. Both have the attitude of “You’re either damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. Most of the time, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so the two would rather pound on the crooks a few good times rather than kindly asking them nicely to fall to the ground. Yeah, kill them with kindness. Anyways, Ah Keung goes a little overboard and beats the hell out of one of the bad guys. Ah Keung’s Supervisor takes exception to the way he knocks out the bad guys which causes both to get in a heated exchange which ends in Ah Keung quitting the force. Attempting to try his luck in the real world, Ah Keung borrows some cash from a loan shark to buy a lorry (British term for a motortruck) and pay for some his Father’s medical expenses, but soon drowns himself under financial burden as he doesn’t have enough loot to pay off those loan sharks. Eventually, good buddy Ah Lui tries to work it out with the loan sharks on behalf of Ah Keung, but he later falls into their trap (abusing police power) as Ah Lui is later suspended and placed on leave pending an internal investigation. Without any way to make ends meet and pay off those pesky loan sharks, Ah Keung heads down the wrong path and partakes in a jewelry heist with a gang of coolies. The heist goes awry and the loot that they jacked is lost in the commotion from fleeing from the cops. Ah Lui, a passerby just out on leave from the force, hawks down the fleeing bad guys and manages to snare one of them. The guy who he manages to bag is his buddy, Ah Keung! Ah Lui not wanting to put his buddy behind bars misleads the investigators by lying in his report. Ah Lui personally tries to straighten out Ah Keung himself, but with all the hoopla going on, the Police force and his kid Inspector brother, Raymond (Vincent Lam), suspect Ah Lui in being with cahoots with Ah Keung--the furthest from the truth. What a dilemma! Eventually, Ah Lui tries to deal with Ah Keung, one on one, buddy to buddy, but Ah Keung’s gang isn’t having any of it as they would rather see Ah Lui killed. Also, the Hong Kong Police and all of their special units are nearby and twitching to pull their triggers on the bad guys and that includes Ah Lui. All in all, the flick has its moments, and the ending is kind of reminiscent of a few triad flicks that were made during the time, such as City on Fire . Excellent flick for Danny Lee fans, but for those that are getting weary of “blood-brother” movies, then you may want to pass on this flick.