A War Named Desire (2000)

A young Hongkonger named Jones (Chan) travels to a remote part of Thailand in search of his elder brother, Charles (Ng). The brother is living in exile near the Cambodian border, having fled Hong Kong fifteen years earlier. He'd taken a sum of cash from his family when he split, and now Jones wants compensation for all the headaches Charles caused. All up, Jones is asking for HK$2 million. But there are no free lunches in the expatriate Chinese gangster community and Jones' demand takes a turn for the worse.

Power plays are peaking within the Chinese underworld and Jones and his girlfriend Jess (Wu) have unwittingly walked into the thick of it. First Jones is roped into a killing to get his cash and within hours is set up for murdering local gang head Master Sun. And Jess is taken hostage by local bad boy Henry.

Accused with Sun's murder, Jones is taken under Charles' wing and together they flee to Bangkok with help from long-time partner York (Wang) and his sister Snow (Leung). Their flight to the capital complicates further when top-ranking boss Master King asks that Jones be killed off. Charles isn't about to silence the sole remaining bit of family he can cling on to, and enlists Snow's help to send Jones and the girlfriend (if found) back to Hong Kong safe and sound. By going against King, Charles is asking for trouble...

Set in Thailand and confined to its Chinese underworld setting, A War Named Desire is an impressive overseas excursion. While the script is wanting, the look and feel of Mak's action drama is otherwise nicely crafted and a step up from his previous Rave Fever. Tropical and scratchy surrounds are well integrated on screen with some strong acting and stylish direction, often reminiscent of director Johnnie To's work. Mak and his team light up old buildings in lurid colour, head to a selection of seedy and tropical locations, create eye-catching compositions and craft action scenes that are restrained yet still attention-grabbing. One standout nightclub gun battle works well demonstrating the protagonists well honed cunning and communication instead of presenting mere run of the mill gunplay.

Of the actors Francis Ng and Gigi Leung are particularly impressive, with Leung most exciting transformed to an icy gangster unable to act on all her feelings. Ng, Leung and Dave Wang work well bringing out the films theme's of partnership and brotherhood but the remaining actors aren't granted so much depth in the screenplay. Sam Lee is granted scant background or screen time for his potentially interesting character to develop. His bar dancer mate (a Grace Lam cameo) is only allotted two scenes. And despite her position in the main plot, Pace Wu is absent long enough that viewers don't get to know her either. These aren't glaring sticking points though -- revisiting A War Named Desire's attractive presentation, its heroics and standout acting turn from Gigi Leung is something I'm looking forward to.

Credits:

Directed by Alan Mak
Produced by Joe Ma
Screenplay by Joe Ma, Alan Mak and Clement Cheng
Starring Francis Ng, Daniel Chan, Dave Wang, Gigi Leung, Sam Lee, Pace Wu and Grace Lam (cameo)