The Goldfinger

2023 [CN]

Action / Crime / Drama

21
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 59% · 22 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 75% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 1677 1.7K

Plot summary

In 1970s Hong Kong, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was formed to bring down the corruption syndicate led by British government officials. One of its top investigators is Senior Investigator Lau Kai-Yuen, who brought down countless corrupted officials. Just as he thought stability and prosperity are within reach, a new era of greed and riches takes him into a new battlefield of corruption.

Director

Felix Chong Photo
Felix Chong

Top cast

Man Yeung Photo
Man Yeung as
Andy Lau Photo
Andy Lau as
Tony Chiu Wai Leung Photo
Tony Chiu Wai Leung as (as Tony Chiu-Wai Leung)
Simon Yam Photo
Simon Yam as
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 1080p.WEB.x265
1.13 GB
1280*538
Chinese 2.0
NR
Subtitles
24 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 3
2.32 GB
1920*808
Chinese 5.1
NR
Subtitles
24 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 11
1.13 GB
1280*536
Chinese 2.0
NR
Subtitles
25 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 3
2.1 GB
1920*804
Chinese 2.0
NR
Subtitles
25 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 4
1.88 GB
1920*804
Chinese 2.0
NR
Subtitles
25 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ObsessiveCinemaDisorder 5 / 10

A flashy rise-to-fall crime story that misuses Tony Leung and Andy Lau, makes for a disappointing reunion since Infernal Affairs

There's a shot from the Goldfinger teaser that got me wildly excited: a close-up of Tony Leung biting a cigar smugly laughing with gold Mardi Gras raining down all around him.Tony Leung's cheese-eating grin came across as an attempt at something new, different from the usual shy side smirk from his repertoire of introverted characters. Leung is creating a high-energy chaotic character, a performance we haven't seen yet.In The Goldfinger, Tony Leung plays Henry Ching, a fictionalized version of real-life businessman and financial criminal George Tan who ran the Hong Kong conglomerate Carrian Group which collapsed from a corruption and fraud scandal in the 1980s.Henry arrives under mysterious circumstances in Hong Kong in the 1970s, working his way up to founding the Carmen Group. The sudden collapse of a billion-dollar company due to a stock market crash draws the attention of ICAC prime investigator Lau Kai-yuen, who begins an investigation on Ching.The Goldfinger is a disappointment. It pains to say...Writer-director Felix Chong, one of the writers behind the Infernal Affairs trilogy, gets lost in an overbaked plot and delivers a flashy run-of-the-mill rise-to-fall crime thriller that sinfully misuses its two leads Tony Leung and Andy Lau.Felix Chong gets caught up in window dressing the plot, using a non-linear structure of police interrogations conducted by Andy Lau's ICAC officer to fill in Henry Ching's past and set up the mystery behind Henry's secret money backer. It's a plot that Chong never gets the audience to care about.The audience's priority is quite simple: to see Andy Lau and Tony Leung chewing scenery.Infernal Affairs fans who are eagerly anticipating Tony Leung and Andy Lau's reunion will be let down. First off, Andy Lau is in a supporting role as the ICAC investigator. Secondly, Leung and Lau's scenes are procedural and plot-serving and lack the dramatic scene-chewing quality like the rooftop finale in Infernal Affairs.As for Tony Leung's performance, it's an unsatisfying half-creation that lingers between the Tony Leung we're all familiar with and something brand new. The script positions Henry Ching as a mysterious cipher for so long that Leung never gets the screen time to properly develop his part.Decked out in flashy expensive suits and tinted sunglasses, there are glimpses of the chaotic flamboyant Tony Leung that the trailer promised, but it's too few and far between, only appearing in montage moments-just enough to cut into a trailer!What remains is Tony Leung's usual persona. As a result, the performance becomes an unfortunate case of the costume wearing the actor, like a cosplay.Andy Lau is stuck in a bland stock hero role who's delivering exposition and driving the story, or rather investigation, forward. Lau is given a family subplot involving a disgruntled wife who's mad at him for neglecting his family for his job, but it goes nowhere.It all fizzles out awkwardly at the end. As the end title cards are showing the fate of the characters, you realize the whole film is a string of historical facts.I walked out of the theater bored and exhausted, contemplating how I got so excited over a trailer. Trailers lie. Lesson relearned.
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Reviewed by dorMancyx 7 / 10

White Wine Reddens the Face, Golden Glow Blackens the Heart

It kinda reminds me of a Chinese TV series called The Knockout (Kuang Biao), given their similar duo-protagonists, ambitious-police-versus-powerful-criminal setups. But really, The Goldfinger is extremely fluent and complete, with a convoluted plot, captivating narrative, and outstanding performances across the board. Some of investigation and stock center scenes impressed me especially, which are perceptibly well-considered and thought-out. I see no immediate flaw after my first watch-through. If we have to knit pick, I guess some of the dangling threads in the first half could be resolved with more detail, for instance Carmen's part and KK's end. Overall, I'd say this is one of the best Chinese films of the year.

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