bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Edmund Lee

2.5/5 stars
The one piece of advice I would give anyone wanting to watch this Hong Kong remake of the 1998 Hollywood movie The Negotiator (which is currently on Disney+) is not to watch the original first: other than some added car chases, almost every aspect of this new film pales in comparison.
On its own, Crisis Negotiators is a perfectly serviceable crime thriller, but admirers of F. Gary Gray’s Chicago-set police procedural will notice the inferior acting right away. While the remake features many of the same plot twists and dialogue, it still manages to feel unconvincing.
Rather than updating it for a present-day audience, writer-director Herman Yau Lai-to (The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell) sets his remake in the 1990s. While that decision is bewildering, it does keep the film in line with the increasingly dominant notion in Hong Kong films that bad cops only existed in the colonial era.


Playing the lead role of a seasoned hostage negotiator is Lau Ching-wan, who, despite being one of Hong Kong cinema’s finest actors, struggles to match the wisecracking charm of his US counterpart, Samuel L. Jackson.
After he finds his long-time work partner dead in a car, respected police inspector Cheuk Man-wai (Lau) becomes the prime suspect in his death amid a concerted effort by his corrupt colleagues to set him up as the fall guy and to cover up a major embezzlement plot within the force.
In a last-ditch effort to prove his innocence, Cheuk storms the police’s internal investigation office, takes several hostages at gunpoint and demands to speak to Tse Ka-chun (Francis Ng Chun-yu), a former police negotiator who now works as a social worker.

What unfolds from here is exactly as you remember it from the original, as Yau sticks closely to the narrative beats and his ensemble cast go through the motions like this is a full-scale play-acting exercise.
Yau has made only a few changes in his version, but one of them is a mistake – the second lead has been turned from a cryptic and cynical rival negotiator (as portrayed by Kevin Spacey) into a paper-thin, consummate good guy played by Ng, who looks uninterested throughout. Why is he even allowed to take charge of a police mission?
Fans of executive producer Andy Lau Tak-wah will rejoice in his turn as the star hostage-taker in a newly written, culturally specific opening scene, but Yau swiftly moves on to the kind of generic thrills that he can churn out in his sleep.

Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


‘You can’t turn him into Chow Yun-fat in one go.’ Stephen Chow’s Fight Back to School hero

How a teenager with no acting experience landed his debut role as a young murderer in Papa

Hong Kong actress Jo Koo steals the scene in crime thriller Papa

Haunting Call movie review: Lin Min-chen sees ghosts in Danny Pang’s uneven horror

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Crisis Negotiators movie review: Lau Ching-wan, Francis Ng in so-so The Negotiator remake

Lau Ching-wan as police inspector Cheuk Man-wai in a still from Crisis Negotiators.

Lau Ching-wan as police inspector Cheuk Man-wai in a still from Crisis Negotiators (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Herman Yau. Francis Ng co-stars.


Francis Ng as social worker and former police negotiator Tse Ka-chun in a still from Crisis Negotiators.

No Such Person movie review: identity theft scams at heart of diverting Hong Kong mystery thriller with a no-name cast

Kaylee Yu as Amber in a still from No Such Person.

Kaylee Yu as Amber in a still from No Such Person (category IIB; Cantonese), directed by Christopher Sun. Terry Zou co-stars.

Himmy Wong as Ming, a stock market speculator, in a still from No Such Person.

Terry Zou (left) as Ray and Kaylee Yu as Amber in a still from No Such Person.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In movie review – Kowloon Walled City reimagined in Soi Cheang martial arts spectacle

Louis Koo in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.

Louis Koo (left) and Sammo Hung in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (category IIB; Cantonese), directed by Soi Cheang.

Raymond Lam in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.

(From left) German Cheung, Terrance Lau and Tony Wu in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.

All Shall Be Well movie review: Hong Kong LGBTQ drama from Suk Suk director Ray Yeung highlights tragic legal loophole

Patra Au in a still from the movie All Shall Be Well (category IIB; Cantonese). Tai Bo and Leung Chung-hang co-star in this Hong Kong LGBTQ drama directed by Ray Yeung. 

A still from All Shall Be Well.

Maggie Li (left) and Patra Au in a still from All Shall Be Well.

Cinema Strada movie review: Hong Kong film critic and historian Law Kar narrates his view of the world

Film writer and historian Law Kar in a still from the documentary film Cinema Strada.

Film critic and historian Law Kar in his youth (left) in a still from the documentary film Cinema Strada (category IIA; Cantonese). Donna Ong directs

Law Kar in a still from Cinema Strada.

A still from an early experimental short film made by Law Kar, seen in Cinema Strada.

Suspect movie review: Nick Cheung plays detective in laughably incoherent psychological thriller

Nick Cheung in a still from Suspect.

Nick Cheung in a still from Suspect (category IIB; Cantonese). Zhang Yishang co-stars, and Sam Wong directs.

Nick Cheung and Niki Chow in a still from Suspect.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Set in the 90s – as if bad cops only existed in the colonial era – Lau Ching-wan plays a police hostage negotiator and Francis Ng an ex-cop


Lau Ching-wan plays a police hostage negotiator framed for murder and Francis Ng an ex-colleague in Herman Yau’s pale remake of Hollywood movie The Negotiator.


Chinese language cinema

Asian cinema

Film reviews

Cinema

Hong Kong cinema

Asian cinema: Chinese films

American cinema

Fame and celebrity

Hong Kong celebrities and icons

Hong Kong culture

Hong Kong entertainment

Hollywood

What to do in Hong Kong

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | Crisis Negotiators movie review: Lau Ching-wan, Francis Ng in so-so The Negotiator remake

Set in the 90s – as if bad cops only existed in the colonial era – Lau Ching-wan plays a police hostage negotiator and Francis Ng an ex-cop