Shock Wave 2

Keeping track of Herman Yau's career has been pretty interesting. He moved up from directing sleazy underground flicks to second-line commercial and genre films, and now that the big Hong Kong giants moved to China he simply took their place. And with all that experience under his belt, he's been able to deliver pretty commendable blockbusters too.

The first Shock Wave was a pretty solid bomb squad action thriller that did pretty well in theaters, so it's really no surprise that a sequel was on the way. Yau managed to secure an even bigger cast (Andy Lau is back, while Sean Lau and Ni Ni join the primary cast) and an even bigger budget to blow things up (even if just digitally).

The plot's a fraction better than your average blockbuster, thanks to Andy Lau's character who travels darker paths than usually the case, but once the finale gets closer the film folds back into a predictable good guy/bad guy structure and works up to a smashing finale, appropriate for this type of film. Good fun.