One other flaw is that we by no means get any actual sense of what’s driving and motivating the 2 central characters past probably the most primary notions about Ching’s all-encompassing grasping mentality and Lau’s earnest dedication to search out justice—the sort that aren’t markedly completely different from what one might need present in an outdated Monogram Photos programmer from the 40s about how Crime Doesn’t Pay. (In maybe probably the most irritating facet of a movie stuffed with such issues, there may be the trace at one level that Ching might solely be the general public face for much more highly effective and shadowy pursuits however no before it introduces that probably tantalizing chance, it appears to neglect all about it.)
The movie might need gotten away with its surface-level narrative therapy if it had not less than offered us with the form of fireworks between the 2 co-stars that followers of “Infernal Affairs” are clearly hoping to see however even right here, it’s a little bit of a letdown. They solely have a couple of scenes collectively and after they do share the display screen, the outcomes are negligible. Leung Chiu-wai has the showier position by far as Ching, and, whereas he’s having enjoyable with it, he’s unable to carry something deeper to the position. In the meantime, Lau, in what is basically a supporting flip, goes by way of his character’s acquainted paces with out each actually hinting at what’s driving him and his pursuit.
“The Goldfinger” is actually slick and stylishly made—maybe appropriately, contemplating its material, it’s apparently some of the costly Hong Kong motion pictures ever produced—and I suppose that the story it tells might need extra resonance with viewers who’ve a better familiarity with the true story that equipped its inspiration. For probably the most half, although, it looks like a movie that has already gone by way of the remake course of, casting all of the stuff that made it fascinating within the first place apart and leaving solely the shiny surfaces.