Synopsis: When a stock market crash causes the sudden collapse of a multi-billion-dollar company, an ICAC principal investigator Lau Kai-yuen (Andy Lau) uncovers a criminal conspiracy involving the company’s founder, Henry Ching (Tony Leung) and becomes entangled in a long-running investigation. (126 Mins)

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Views: Boasting and all star cast, stunning art design, and slick direction, The Goldfinger is a new Hong Kong crime thriller that is currently showing on the big screen across the UK and Ireland, courtesy of Cineasia! Set during the 1980s, The Goldfinger tells the story of the sudden collapse of the Carmen Group – a multi-million dollar company set up by a poor engineer that finds he has the ability to charm, invest, and rip-off every major business when he arrives in Hong Kong. Investigated by the ICAC for almost 15 years, head investigator Lau uncovers a criminal conspiracy behind the powerful Henry Ching and makes his move when a stock market crash causes the sudden collapse of the company!

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Also known as Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong, the film also sees the return of producer Ronald Wong and writer/director Felix Chong; the same duo behind hits such as Once A Gangster, The Silent War, Project Guttenberg, and more including the popular Overheard Trilogy. Beginning life in the industry in the late 1990s as an actor and writer, Chong would go on to script films such as Sunshine Cops, Tokyo Raiders, Gen-Y Cops, Initial D, and the hugely successful Infernal Affairs Trilogy. It's clear that his work on the latter inspired a host of Hong Kong film-makers for the next couple of decades, with many going on to adapt their style of writing and directing in a bid to deliver the same look and feel of the hit films. Of course, Hollywood director Martin Scorcese would gain his first Oscar for Best Director with The Departed, a remake of Infernal Affairs (and certain elements of its sequels), so I found it odd that many have compared Felix Chong's The Goldfinger with Scorcese's very own hit films, Goodfellas and The Wolf Of Wall Street – perhaps as a nod to the Hollywood director for bringing even more attention to the world of Hong Kong cinema and Infernal Affairs?

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For me though, I would say The Goldfinger is a great blend of David Lam's Storm Series, the popular ICAC financial-crime thrillers, with Wong Jing's fantastic action-thriller Chasing The Dragon and its equally entertaining sequel. That tremendous throw-back to the Hong Kong of the 70s and 80s was so well crafted and executed, it was exciting to see Felix Chong delivering more of the same – if not even more impressively, with some stunning art direction, production design, and gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Anthony Pun – Chong's go-to DOP who has also been behind the lens of many Hong Kong hits such as Divergence, Invisible Target, Connected, New Police Story, Shaolin, The White Storm, and many more. While it's soundtrack and choice of songs will raise a few eyebrows and Chong's non-linear story-telling may probably throw a few viewers off along the way, The Goldfinger still proves to be a hugely entertaining piece that relishes in telling the true story of jailed fraudster George Tan and the scandalous fall of his Carrian Group many decades ago.

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Made for a whopping 350 million HK dollars, The Goldfinger reunites global superstars Tony Leung and Andy Lau twenty years after sharing the screens in the aforementioned Infernal Affairs Trilogy – although not counting their appearances in the historical war drama, The Founding Of A Republic. Of course, the pair had shared the screen many times before that, known as two of the five tigers of TVB, and starred together in titles such as Wong Kar Wai's Days Of Being Wild, Don't Fool Me, The Tigers, Come Fly The Dragon, and others as well as each having their own hugely successful singing careers. Here, with Tony as mastermind criminal Henry Ching and Andy as ICAC investigator Lau Kai Yuen, the pair impress once again with Leung stealing the show as the entertaining and slick conman – reversing the roles of good and bad from that seen in Infernal Affairs. While many critics have called this a disappointing reunion between the two, clearly putting it up against the popular trilogy, I can't help but feel that this is very much an unfair assessment considering two decades have already passed. A lot has changed in that time for both stars, not to mention the Hong Kong film industry itself, so its only fair to take The Goldfinger for what it is – and I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Joining them both is a bevy of great Hong Kong names which includes the fantastic Simon Yam as the man who gives Leung his head-start, and the always underrated Alex Fong as his lawyer. Popular actress and Twins pop-star Charlene Choi stars as the lovely Carmen – the naïve secretary and person Henry Ching names his company after. The much loved and prolific Tai Bo, star of many Jackie Chan films and over 100 other Hong Kong hits, delivers an impressive turn as a fellow criminal and businessman, with the equally impressive Philip Keung, handsome Carlos Chan, and likeable Michael Ning helping to fill out the cast. The always enjoyable Chin Kar Lok appears as a rattled cop who takes a disliking to Andy Lau before, many years later, joining his team. Here, Kar Lok doubles his duties as the action-director and, although there's not a lot going on in that department, still delivers some fun moments. In fact, each of the major stars involved deliver great performances that help to keep The Goldfinger of A-grade quality next to their leading megastars. Of course, Felix had worked with a number of these stars in the past, previously directing Tony Leung in The Silent War as well as writing some of his earlier films like Tokyo Raiders, Confession Of Pain, and the Infernal Affairs Trilogy obviously. He also scripted Andy Lau's fun Cat & Mouse in 2003 and directed Alex Fong in Overheard 1 & 2, as well as Once A Gangster...

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After dominating the Hong Kong Film Awards four years earlier with his previous film, Project Guttenberg, it's clear that Felix Chong is one of Hong Kong's hottest directors of the 21st century and definitely one to watch out for. With The Goldfinger, he takes things another step further in delivering a hit film which rivals even the strongest titles from Tinseltown that, although has its flaws throughout, proves to be a highly entertaining rags-to-riches story well worth watching. Simply put, The Goldfinger is one of the best films of the year and a great end to 2023!

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Overall: Slick, stylish, and brilliantly made, The Goldfinger offers up an entertaining piece of true crime cinema with much to enjoy and an amazing cast on offer!

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