Considerably better than movies in the same genre such as director Benny Chan's own recent New Police Story, "Divergence" would still come under the categorisation of "flick" in my book, albeit a fairly good one. One reason would be Ivy Ho's ("Shore West") script which is usually reliable. "Convergence" apparently is her first "macho" screenplay. The mission is to tie together the stories of three men, each at a cross-road, played by Aaron Kwok, Ekin Chang (sort of reunion of the Wind-Cloud duo from Storm Riders) and Daniel Wu, through a woman played by Angelica Lee. On the whole, the job is quite well done, with a reasonable degree of coherence, although it is not difficult to point to logical gaps, predictability and coincidences that really stretch one's imagination.
At the end of the day, this is still an action flick, but one with more emphasis on the story line and character depiction. Some of the action sequences still reach jaw-dropping proportions, such as Kwok chasing Wu on the elevated freeway in the middle of brisk traffic, or a massive truck coming literally within inches of Kwok's body lying on the road. All these become even more impressive when you hear director Chan intimate in a radio interview that Kwok did not use any stunt replacement for these shots.
Trying to keep this report spoiler free, I wouldn't delve into the characterisation other than saying that there are generally good efforts, with varying results. I would say though that TV superstar Lo Kar-leung outshines the three principals, while talented Angelica Li is underused. As usual for Hong Kong movies, the ensemble of "regular" supports is always a joy to see. In Divergence, we have Lam Suet, Jan Lam Hoi-fung, Sam Lee Chan-sam, as well as inimitable Eric Tsang Chi-wai. There's also Ning Jing showing her worth by demonstrating that she is just as alluring in her shaved head.
At the end of the day, this is still an action flick, but one with more emphasis on the story line and character depiction. Some of the action sequences still reach jaw-dropping proportions, such as Kwok chasing Wu on the elevated freeway in the middle of brisk traffic, or a massive truck coming literally within inches of Kwok's body lying on the road. All these become even more impressive when you hear director Chan intimate in a radio interview that Kwok did not use any stunt replacement for these shots.
Trying to keep this report spoiler free, I wouldn't delve into the characterisation other than saying that there are generally good efforts, with varying results. I would say though that TV superstar Lo Kar-leung outshines the three principals, while talented Angelica Li is underused. As usual for Hong Kong movies, the ensemble of "regular" supports is always a joy to see. In Divergence, we have Lam Suet, Jan Lam Hoi-fung, Sam Lee Chan-sam, as well as inimitable Eric Tsang Chi-wai. There's also Ning Jing showing her worth by demonstrating that she is just as alluring in her shaved head.