DISCLAIMER: This review contains affiliate links. Clicking on any of the images below will take you to either Play-Asia, J-List or 365 Games for your consideration.
Clicking on these shopping links below and buying an item supports my work and keeps it free for everyone! Thank you for your support:
Mighty Ape: Games, books, movies, toys, music and more! A huge range of products at great prices and quick shipping. I’ve been using them for over a decade and can’t recommend them highly enough!
One thing you can’t accuse Herman Yau of being is lazy. This is his 6th film of the year, and while it’s been a mixed bag so far, I think it won’t be a stretch to say this is his biggest, loudest and maybe even his best one.
Of the year.
When I think of Herman Yau, I think of his extremely violent Cat 3 horror movies from Hong Kong and his rockstar style action films. Very Hong Kong style films where the action makes little sense, but its damn fun to watch.
And that’s exactly what we get here.
Using the backdrop of a supposedly real story, what we get is 2 hours of almost typical Herman Yau. I say almost, because this isn’t a Hong Kong film, but a mainland Chinese one. And that means Herman has to play by different rules.
PLOT
After the Moscow to Beijing train is robbed yet again by a gang of professional Chinese thieves, the Chinese police send an experienced detective to Moscow to work alongside the local law enforcement to infiltrate the gang and take them down.
The leader of the gang is a ruthless mastermind, and the detective needs to rely on the information from his spurned business partner and a disgruntled lover to hatch a plan to take them down.
But things go wrong during his extradition, and hundreds of innocent people are caught in the crossfire.
ABOUT THE FILM
Loud and proud, this movie relies on its set pieces and casting over its logic and realism. Which is good, because it means Yau has had a lot of fun crafting the action.
The action doesn’t make sense most of the time. The gun fights are chaotic, but don’t attempt to follow what’s going on because it’ll just lead to confusion. Scenes such as the sewer shootout that turns into a motocross course, which admittedly is a lot of fun, are just a blinding mix of cuts at various locations within the sewer.
Like I said, don’t try and follow along.
But the movie is held up immensely by a strong cast. Actor and producer Andy Lau is fantastic as a bad guy with a conscience - very similar to his role in Shockwave 2, while Zhang Hanyu will always be the brave Captain to me but he plays a decent cop too. Very clean cut, very by the book.
And rounding off the support case is Huang Xuan as the villainous Miao, a real vile and despicable character yet also strangely captivating and quite clever, while the always stunning Janice Man plays the bombshell role of Zhenzhen perfectly.
What are my overall thoughts?
Yet another fun Herman Yau film that won’t be talked about as one of his Top 10 of all time, but worth watching when you feel like a high budget action thriller loosely based on a series of real events.
Give it a watch. There’s some fun to be had, even if it’s about 10 minutes too long.
For your consideration: Clicking on these shopping links below and buying an item supports my work and keeps it free for everyone! Thank you for your support:
J-LIST: For Japanese pop culture items, including games, movies and adult products. Beware of NSFW content.
365 Games: Direct from the UK! Get great deals on the latest games, music, movies, toys, clothes and more!
Play-Asia: For the latest games, movies, figures, books, lifestyle products and other cool stuff direct from Asia! Great prices and low shipping.
Mighty Ape: Games, books, movies, toys, music and more! A huge range of products at great prices and quick shipping. I’ve been using them for over a decade and can’t recommend them highly enough!
Genre Action Thriller
Director Herman Yau
Starring Andy Lau, Zhang Hanyu, Janice Man
Original Title 莫斯科行动
Alternative Title 93国际列车大劫案:莫斯科行动
Country of Origin China
Release Date September 29 2023
moscow mission beijing 1993 true story train robbery heist movie review chinese action thriller movie 2023 herman yau andy lau