The Bomb-Shell: Quick Takes

For a movie that clocks in under 80 minutes, you expect it to find even a basic footing quite early. No such thing occurs in The Bomb-Shell that wanders between what turns out to be its main characters for the longest of time without revealing its true intentions. May have sounded clever to the filmmakers to put focus on assassins taking out undercover cops only to switch gears to the plot about a mad bomber (Hui Bing-Sam, overacting to little acclaim here as opposed to in Cops And Robbers) but it's the true definition of steering consciously without a steering wheel, hoping for the best. Hoh Hong-Ming's ham-fisted direction almost warrants attention by the end as the tension is at least tolerable but his open end makes even rapid conclusions in kung-fu movies seem drawn out. In the case of The Bomb-Shell, someone pulls the plug. Roll credits. At any rate, in the role of the cop whose family is a victim of the bomber we see Norman Tsui while Wilson Tong plays a fighting Taoist magic practitioner (very much fitting for a modern day cop-thriller). Shing Fui-On also appear.