G Storm concludes Hong Kong action blockbuster series
G Storm sees the return of Louis Koo as William Luk, the principal investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Also reprising their roles are Julian Cheung as Lau Po-keung, formerly part of the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit, and now the chief inspector of the VIP Protection Unit (VIPPU), and Kevin Cheng as another ICAC investigator Kenny Ching.
This time, the team investigates a customs corruption case, and finds out that it is linked to an international human trafficking ring. The Chief Justice of Southeast Asia Emma Pong (Jessica Hsuan) faces imminent danger, as King, the leader of the human trafficking group, wants to assassinate her for exposing their crimes. Together, the ICAC and VIPPU have to not only save Emma, but also bring King to justice.
Here are three things to know about the action crime thriller G Storm:
1. It is the fifth and last instalment of the Storm series.
Starting with Z Storm back in 2014, the ICAC story has since gone through multiple corruption cases. It was followed by S Storm in 2016, L Storm in 2018, P Storm in 2019, and finally G Storm this year.
Although the letters seem arbitrary, they actually correspond to the cases in each film. Z refers to the corrupted organisation in the film called Z Fund. S refers to soccer, as the ICAC investigates illegal bookmaking on football betting. L refers to money laundering, while P refers to prison. In the case of G Storm, G refers to the VIPPU, which is commonly known as G4.
As part of the Storm series, G Storm also boasts a star-studded cast. Other than the well-known actors Louis Koo, Julian Cheung and Kevin Cheng, we also see Louis Cheung returning as Wong Luk-lam, who Luk met in prison in P Storm. In addition, there is Jessica Hsuan, who hardly appears on the silver screen these days. Bosco Wong and Michael Tse also join the ranks respectively as Ching Fei-hung, the younger brother of Kenny Ching, and King’s boss Siu Cheuk-ngah.
2. It is one of the last few films of the late Liu Kai-chi.
Liu Kai-chi passed away in March last year due to gastric cancer. He was one of the most prominent actors in Hong Kong, and was best known for his everyman supporting roles. He was also a regular in the Storm series, taking on different supporting roles in all the films except S Storm.
Although Liu was only a supporting character in G Storm, his brief appearance still came as a sad reminder that the actor is no longer here with us. G Storm is also one of his films released posthumously — another film that we have seen is Ladies Market.
3. It's not the best Storm film, and is a lazy conclusion to the series.
The ICAC story has come very far, and it is about time they wrap up the series. To a certain extent, things are getting boring with the minimal character development, and the repetitive plot on how ICAC investigates and solves corruption cases. Sad to say, it is unclear what G Storm is trying to achieve, except to hastily end off the series.
Apart from some gunshots and explosions, the action scenes lack suspense and thrill, making them not very entertaining for a blockbuster. The ending also employs a convenient route to close the case and the series by fatally injuring some characters, which is regrettably unsatisfying.
Nonetheless, with the end of this series, let’s hope that we can see more of Louis Koo in other kinds of roles that are not part of law enforcement, such as the one he had in the biopic Anita.
G Storm has been showing in Singapore cinemas from 31 December 2021.
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