Expect the Unexpected (1998)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

You really need to pay attention in this movie. Saw this when it first came out, but I was not paying attention first time around. At first the ending seems silly, almost over done. And this got to me - cause I was "expecting" something else, the ending, at the time, didn't make sense.But when you re-view the movie again, listen to the dialogues, especially in the cafe between the 2 cops, the topic was ... I think about listening. That clues you in. And then the ending would make sense - although maybe still a tad over dramatic - but perphaps to 'wake' the audience up.But I'd give it 10 for seeing the vision to the end, and sticking by it.

Some people get it, some people don't. This movie is about the unexpected side of life. In this movie, from beginning to ending, everything are unexpected and every plans failed, there are humour and tragedy in these coincidence, it tells you life is fragile. The style of the gunfights are masterful, comparable to John Woo and Luc Besson. The plot is ambitious as it tries to capture the more realistic side of policing, I think it is quite successful from beginning to end. Moreover, it is not heavyhanded, it just tells you that bright things and bad things happen in life, hence it is not too pessimistic.Finally, I just want to say, don't treat it like a conventional cop movie, otherwise all the comedy and romantic courting would be pointless, it is in fact a movie about life.Great hidden gem.

First I like to say that I see a lot of movies and I have quite a few HK movies. Many HK movies are so bad that it is hard to believe, often ruined by typical ridiculous HK humor and unrealistic acting, but hidden among all those disappointing movies are some really good movies, sometimes so violent, morbid or tragic that they could never have been made in Hollywood. And thats what I like; serious violence, tragic, suspense, maybe a little romance but not too much and absolutely no HK humor. Unfortunately, Expect the Unexpected is not one of those very good movies, even though the ending is enough to make sure that it would be impossible for Hollywood to do a remake of the movie (not that they would want to).The beginning of the movie is good and the ending is even better, but everything in between is uninteresting romantic crap. The violence in the movie is good,consisting of realistic shootouts with some good bloodsquibs. There are no John Woo style massacres, the action is not so stylistic but more realistic. The problem is that most of the movie is a boring study of the cops romantic problems and childish courting. The directing is good, the problem is the weak story. The actors are also good. Ching Wan Lau is one of my favorites, but I recommend for instance "A Hero Never Dies" , "Full Alert" or "Running out of Time" if you want to see him in much better movies. 5/10

A police unit, led nominally by Simon Yam and smokey-eyed Lau Ching-Wan, pursue two gangs, each heavily armed and dangerous, not least of all to themselves. Expect the Unexpected begins conventionally enough, but a nudge to the plot here, a detail of characterization there, and the odd bit of unexpected humour, and before long the story is in territory at once familiar and unfamiliar. For the viewer the results are nothing less than exhilarating, like seeing an over-familiar genre through fresh, new eyes.One interesting touch for a HK film released in May 1998: the mainland Chinese in one gang had come to Hong Kong due to economic difficulties back home. (One government, two systems in effect?)Cacine Wong's routine and seemingly off-the-cuff soundtrack was the only really jarring element to Expect the Unexpected (the effects of low budget filmmaking in HK being pretty much a given these days). Other film scores by Wong include the very good spaghetti eastern-sounding Peace Hotel, co-written with Healthy Poon, and the equally good neo-noirish Too Many Ways to be Number One.Your best chance of seeing Expect the Unexpected is on video or in a rep theater. But however you see it, and whether you come in expecting the unexpected, I think you'll be in for a pleasant surprise.