Director: Chin Ka-lok
Notable Cast: Ekin Cheng,
Jordan Chan, Michael Tse, Chin Ka-lok, Jerry Lamb, Eric Tsang, Kurata Yasuaki,
Billy Chow, Alan Ng
Hong Kong action cinema is evolving. For many fans, it
hurts. They don’t want the classic feel of the films to be changed in anyway,
which is problematic in its own ways, and they don’t appreciate that the genre
is starting to add in new influences to the mix. This is what makes Golden Job an interesting film. At its
core, there are a lot of old school influences. Not only in getting the gang
from the 90's Young and Dangerous franchise back together, but in how the film
embraces its subject matter and some of the foundations of the script are a love letter to an older style. It’s also a film that is heavily influenced by
the new Hollywood blockbusters that have been making huge waves in the Chinese
market, most obviously the Fast &
Furious series. The combination, while odd at times, is still fairly
charming and extraordinarily entertaining. Golden
Job is a perfect storm of old and new, taking modern action influences and
grounding them in classic Hong Kong action tropes. It’s a flawed film overall,
but Golden Job pulls a heist on all
the entertainment and delivers on all the best Hong Kong cinematic cornerstones
of action, heart, and comradery.