Also influencing law enforcement is the elite financial class which wants a safe society with a low crime rate, conducive to business prosperity, wealth and personal protection. These affluent family corporations of humble origins once did unspeakable dirty works for the colonizer under their patronage in the mid-1800s. Through the 20th Century, they’ve gradually laundered their money through legitimate businesses.
But this is all shattered when a rich mogul from the most powerful family is kidnapped for ransom. This incident ties the police, triads, elites and rulers all together, sparking a series of violent reprisals unknown to the public, as the government would conceal its related files until 2017.
All stakeholders for power are challenged to conform or reform, upsetting the fragile equilibrium of control over Hong Kong. Tempted by greed or power, the Royal Hong Kong Police Force fractures internally, as all members who have previously sworn allegiance to the Crown before taking office, must now decide to stand or sway.
It took the Oscars 98 years to acknowledge “Casting” as a category, but this important profession is still not widely recognized in Asia. Kudos to the casting team behind director Leung Lok-Man and producer Bill Kong. Every character in the Cold War Universe is meticulously cast, down to the background actors. The impressive ensemble consists of major award winners, including Chow Yun Fat and Aaron Kwok reprising their roles as the investigator duo, and the stellar chemistry played out by Daniel Wu, Tse Kwan-Ho and Terrance Lau back in the shady times of 1994.
Leung used to be a production designer, and he picked Pater Wong, a veteran designer, to recreate Hong Kong in the 90s, including an incredible replication of Kai Tak Airport which ceased operation in 1998. Bullets flying amid explosions, adrenaline-rushed car chases, as well as serene landscapes are all skilfully captured by cinematographer Anthony Pun. and editors Zhaoshuo Fan and David M. Richardson. They swing our emotions like a pendulum with their tight-paced editorial juxtapositions. A great team of artists banding together can make magic.
The Hong Kong cinema boom in the ‘80s and early ‘90s when it was being hailed as “Hollywood of the East” are long gone. Since the heyday, film productions have gone from about 300 per year down to 43 in 2025. Despite meshing the multiple storylines making the plot too complex to decipher at times, it is a delight to see Cold War 1994 reviving the once golden genre of crime thriller like the iconic Infernal Affairs trilogy, which got adapted by Martin Scorsese and won him his overdue Oscar (2006’s The Departed).