It's hot in Hong Kong (but this flick won't go down the Do The Right Thing route) and Lee Yu Ting (Aaron Kwok) is arriving at a restaurant to try and solve a hostage situation. Two women, jealous at each other due them both loving cop Wong Kai Chun (Eason Chan), the notorious playboy of the force. With a situation that is cleared but that Lee doesn't approve of, he doesn't feel too bad as Wong takes a bullet in his ass before the whole deal is over. Naturally the two opposites will work together on a special unit trying to nail thief Ken. Early on showing their hatred for each other, when they break the air conditioning, the following days of tracking Ken via Santos (Carl Ng) and Ken's girlfriend To Yu-Fung (Victoria Wu) will be tough. Especially so since they all carry burdens of relationship trouble, even their boss Bobo (Yumiko Cheng) who's about to have her upcoming marriage derail...

It's neat, tidy, organized and expert cop vs. the laid back, lustful one yes? It fits the mold but not entirely which is why Heat Team can raise an eyebrow or two. Dante Lam has those characteristics placed there by the co-penned script of Chan Hing-Kar's but injects something more fun and human too and that is that nobody's perfect. In fact, Lee and Wong are pretty bad cops and are made to look bad more often than not. Both rash, absent-minded and trying to be movie-cops to bad effect, thankfully Dante Lam steers the comedy coming out of this onto a level of fun that isn't grating (only Jim Chin manages to disrupt the mood for a little while). The two macho-men even treat issues of NOT sitting down at their desk as a game and you can always solve your conflicts with a bit of office paintball. Yes, Lam doesn't ask us to rely on things making sense realistically but more on wooshy noises and camera moves to go along with the nonsense. Amazingly enough, it often works.

There's consciously little danger in the film even if the journey's of two opposites becoming friends involves a little bloodshed and I like Dante's stance of trying to make less of a cheap, recycled product. In all honesty, there's so much gratuitous cool shots to add to a cool factor that you would think it's a parody and in reality, little of it matters cinematically. But you're weak for when someone provides this fun with these tools being employed correctly in YOUR mind. He mixes in sitcom-esque relationship trouble, with Lee having to deal with the muscular boyfriend of his ex and Wong closing in more on Bobo with his soft lips and tongue. The tool he's most proud of, even Lee is fascinated at one point which leads to a scene where cinema homoeroticism is brought so far up front that it becomes a fine parody of it.

Stopping all the wooshy noises for his last half hour, we realize though that Heat Team never had any good idea of closure and despite the actors providing weight to the fun material (especially Danny Lee in an amusing supporting role as their superior), we come to care very little of that entertaining- and amusing level prior once we've taken in the finale. Would perhaps the ideas come full circle had Lam let his cameraman have playtime all throughout the piece? Perhaps. I do know where the fun was located in the film so perhaps that WAS indeed a key.

Originally touted as a sequel to the modestly successful 'Hit Team', 'Heat Team' proves to be a very different creation. In fact, though Dante Lam is once again in the director's chair, the tone and style is completely different to that of the sombre 'inspiration'. Lam has carved out a career in film-making that seems to hinge on pulling the carpet from under its audience, throwing commercial aspirations together with moments of what can only be decribed as bewildering surrealism. 'Heat Team' is a production that sums up Lam's unusual tendencies in a neat 90 minute package, combining what is enjoyable and vaguely infuriating about most of his work.

The opening ten minutes has a healthy dash of humour - something that a good action film can always benefit from. Kwok and Chan are quickly shown as complete opposites, a device commonly used in these 'buddy-cop' films to create some initial rivalry for the protagonists. lam plays with this idea quite successfully in the story's opening; the director toys with ther heroes' inflated opinions of themselves and their petty games of oneupmanship. Gradually though, the film's focus is blurred and any hope of a tension filled atmosphere disipate as Lam tries to put his own sense of quirkiness on screen.

The 'quirkiness' and bizarre romantic entanglements seem to have far more in common with the perculiar 'Runaway' than the original 'Hit Team'. A plot is started - one with enough potential to make a good template for a genre film - but appears to be ignored for the weak mid-section of the film. A character driven piece like this may be fine for a small scale drama, but this is meant to be a rollercoster ride and little else. The fact that two such contrasting styles of direction are fused together by Lam does little for the overall cohesion.

One minor triumph for this otherwise average film is the unusual casting employed here. Aaron Kwok is no longer the swaggering charmer - that honour is given to Eason Chan. Kwok is cast as a shy, insular character that is far removed from many of the roles he has played in his career. This subtle subversion of the viewer's expectations is one of 'Heat Team's plaudits, as is the use of some interesting supporting players. Danny Lee takes up the role of police commisioner, a role that used to be his own until Hui Shiu Hung (who appears as an informant) entered the fray. There's a strange twinge of nostalgia seeing him return to a familiar role despite the fact that 'Heat Team' shows how different film-making is today compared to the Hong Kong 80s heyday. In a small role, Carl Ng is also quite a welcome injection of characterisation - although he doesn't get the best lines here, his Chinese-cockney schemer is a breath of fresh air.

'Heat Team' will undoubtedly baffle more than it will appease; the fractured style and severe lack of focus on what the film actually wants to achieve is difficult to forgive. It starts out as a bright and breezy, well-paced action comedy but along its journey to the end becomes a very different creation. While Dante Lam is a director who certainly has his talents, he needs to find a project that will galvanise either of his styles and not try to put all of his proverbial eggs in one basket. 'Heat Team' could've been a kinetic genre film or a character-based ensemble piece - the mistake that Lam makes is trying to combine the two.Y.T. Lee (Kwok) and K.C. Chan (Chan) are widely regarded as two of Interpol's top agents, so when a master thief returns to Hong Kong to conclude a job, it's only natural that their skills are called on by the police force. On arriving though, both Lee and Kwok are shown to be jealous rivals both with serious character deficencies; the former is ridiculously nervy around the opposite sex while the latter is a selfish cad. The rivals are thrown together by their new superior Bobo (Cheng) and immediately sent out to follow up a few leads. One such investigation sees a beautiful suspect detained (Wu) and the mismatched cops whittle away the hours trying to get information from her. Eventually her information is forthcoming and Lee and Chan set up a trap to catch the elusive superthief. As the target approaches though, it quickly becomes clear that the informant is playing both sides against each other.

Originally touted as a sequel to the modestly successful 'Hit Team', 'Heat Team' proves to be a very different creation. In fact, though Dante Lam is once again in the director's chair, the tone and style is completely different to that of the sombre 'inspiration'. Lam has carved out a career in film-making that seems to hinge on pulling the carpet from under its audience, throwing commercial aspirations together with moments of what can only be decribed as bewildering surrealism. 'Heat Team' is a production that sums up Lam's unusual tendencies in a neat 90 minute package, combining what is enjoyable and vaguely infuriating about most of his work.

The opening ten minutes has a healthy dash of humour - something that a good action film can always benefit from. Kwok and Chan are quickly shown as complete opposites, a device commonly used in these 'buddy-cop' films to create some initial rivalry for the protagonists. lam plays with this idea quite successfully in the story's opening; the director toys with ther heroes' inflated opinions of themselves and their petty games of oneupmanship. Gradually though, the film's focus is blurred and any hope of a tension filled atmosphere disipate as Lam tries to put his own sense of quirkiness on screen.

The 'quirkiness' and bizarre romantic entanglements seem to have far more in common with the perculiar 'Runaway' than the original 'Hit Team'. A plot is started - one with enough potential to make a good template for a genre film - but appears to be ignored for the weak mid-section of the film. A character driven piece like this may be fine for a small scale drama, but this is meant to be a rollercoster ride and little else. The fact that two such contrasting styles of direction are fused together by Lam does little for the overall cohesion.

One minor triumph for this otherwise average film is the unusual casting employed here. Aaron Kwok is no longer the swaggering charmer - that honour is given to Eason Chan. Kwok is cast as a shy, insular character that is far removed from many of the roles he has played in his career. This subtle subversion of the viewer's expectations is one of 'Heat Team's plaudits, as is the use of some interesting supporting players. Danny Lee takes up the role of police commisioner, a role that used to be his own until Hui Shiu Hung (who appears as an informant) entered the fray. There's a strange twinge of nostalgia seeing him return to a familiar role despite the fact that 'Heat Team' shows how different film-making is today compared to the Hong Kong 80s heyday. In a small role, Carl Ng is also quite a welcome injection of characterisation - although he doesn't get the best lines here, his Chinese-cockney schemer is a breath of fresh air.

'Heat Team' will undoubtedly baffle more than it will appease; the fractured style and severe lack of focus on what the film actually wants to achieve is difficult to forgive. It starts out as a bright and breezy, well-paced action comedy but along its journey to the end becomes a very different creation. While Dante Lam is a director who certainly has his talents, he needs to find a project that will galvanise either of his styles and not try to put all of his proverbial eggs in one basket. 'Heat Team' could've been a kinetic genre film or a character-based ensemble piece - the mistake that Lam makes is trying to combine the two.