Divergence (2005)

Divergence (2005)
Original Title: 三岔口
Translation: Three-Way Intersection

 

Starring: Aaron Kwok Fu-Sing, Daniel Wu Yin-Cho, Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin, Gallen Lo Ka-Leung, Angelica Lee Sin-Je, Ning Jing, Yu Rongguang, Tommy Yuen Man-On, Samuel Pang King-Chi, Jan Lam Hoi-Fung, Eric Tsang Chi-Wai, Lam Suet
Director: Benny Chan
Action Director: Nicky Li Chung-Chi

 

For more than 20 years, I have had something of an obsession with the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography. Hollywood has never had anything like that. There has been a move to get the Academy Awards to have a best Stunt Coordination category (or something like that) for a number of years, but the Powers That Be have always dismissed it. Their reasoning is that stunt people already have their own awards, which are the Taurus/World Stunt Awards. Obviously, that excuse makes little sense: if a film can win Best Screenplay or Best Editing or Best Music at multiple awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, then why not Best Stunt Coordination?

In any case, Hong Kong has long prized itself on a quality action and recognizing it: the Best Action Choreography award goes all the way back to the 2^nd Annual Hong Kong Film Awards, for films made in 1982. And although the quality of Hong Kong cinema on the whole has fallen in recent years, I still follow up on that specific award. Back in early 2006, when I was checking out the nominees for Best Action Choreography at the 25^th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards, I was expecting a line-up to be something along the lines of Sha Po Lang; Seven Swords; House of Fury; The Myth; and Dragon Squad. That last one didn’t make the cut, with a film from Divergence by the late Benny Chan being included instead. Divergence hadn’t been covered by the then-active Kung Fu Cinema website, so I wondered what this film’s deal was. From an action standpoint, not much.

The film begins with a girl being chased through the streets of Hong Kong by some guy (Samuel Pang, of My Schoolmate, the Barbarian) that clearly has the intent to rob or rape her. When the girl runs into a lady she knows on the street, the guy hides to collect himself and figure out his next move. Suddenly, an unseen figure with a garotte strangles him to death.

Cut to a plane fight from Canada to Hong Kong, where policeman Suen (Aaron Kwok, of 2000 A.D. and The Storm Riders) is accompanying an enormous (in height and width) man by the name of Hung Chi-Man (Patrick Chow) into police custody. Apparently, Hung was an accountant working for rich businessman Yiu Tin-Chung (Gallen Lo, of A Warrior’s Tragedy and Vampire Controller), who does money laundering for the triads. Hung is to be the prosecutor’s star witness in the case against Yiu, but as with every single Hong Kong film I’ve ever seen, he’s not long for this world. He is taken out by a sniper rifle on the car ride out of the airport. The assassin is Koo (Daniel Wu, of House of Fury and “Into the Badlands”), a freelancer from the Mainland. Koo considers taking Suen out, too, but decides against it.

Lots of stuff starts happening from this point on. Koo takes an interest in Sullen Suen, telling his agent, Ting (Ning Jing, of 1911 and The Missing Gun), that he knew Suen’s girlfriend (Angelica Lee, of Princess D and The Eye). This is significant, because Suen’s girlfriend disappeared without a trace ten years ago. Suen spends his days teetering between “angry cop on the edge” and being all teary-eyed when he thinks about his girlfriend. Koo also starts having an affair with Ting, despite it being against the Hitman’s Handbook. While staking out a public event involving Yiu Tin-Chun’s rapper-dancer-boy band son, Yiu Ha (Tommy Yuen, of One Nite in Mongkok and Dragon Tiger Gate), Suen notices one thing that catches his eye. Elder Yiu’s personal attorney, To Hou-San (Ekin Cheng, of A Man Called Hero and Heroic Duo), is married to a lady that looks exactly like his missing girlfriend (also Angelica Lee). Is it her? Meanwhile, Yiu Ha goes missing.

This is where things get complicated. You see, Yiu Tin-Chun’s assets were frozen during the criminal case against him. Although the judicial order to release his assets has been given, his Triad buddies, led by Mr. Tsim (Lau Siu-Ming), have been pressuring him to give them their money. Yiu Tin-Chun thinks that Mr. Tsim has kidnapped his son in order to pressure him into transferring the money even faster. The kidnapping reaches the Hong Kong tabloids within days, which piques the curiosity of both Suen and Koo and puts them on a crash course with each other. And when Mao (Lam Suet, of The Mission and Exiled), To’s personal P.I. who’s investigating the disappearance of young Yiu, turns up dead, then Suen will find himself to be a suspect in the case, too.

Divergence is not an action film, but a multi-layered crime drama with some thriller elements. Lots of stuff happens, most of it relevant to story, some of it not. Seemingly random scenes that pop up in the story, including the opening scene, end up figuring into the narrative as the film progresses. There are number of things that don’t get explained as much as they should, like what happens to Koo and Ting at the end. I sorta think that the title should have been Convergence, since it is about how three separate characters end up on a collision course with each other.  The Brazilian title of the film is O Justiceiro[1], which translates into “The Vigilante,” which ultimately hints to the big twist at the end.

The film is defeated by a lack of forward momentum. Too much time is spent focusing on Aaron Kwok as he gets all teary eyed whenever he thinks about his missing girlfriend, or him stalking To’s wife…or both. Aaron Kwok’s overacting in many of these scenes is typical of Benny Chan, but takes away from the film as a whole. This repetitive melodrama takes away from the growing tension between Yiu and Tsim, which eventually erupts into violence at the end. I also wish that Koo had figured more into the main conflict of the story. Despite a good performance from Daniel Wu, Koo is just there after his big action sequence with Aaron Kwok.

There are two main action sequences in Divergence, staged by Benny Chan favorite Nicky Li Chung-Chi. The first one is a prolonged foot chase between Kwok and Wu, which starts on a busy highway and ends at a fish market where the two engage in a martial arts exchange while simultaneously trying to suffocate each other with plastic bags. The finale is set in the rain and is a violent firefight between two groups of Triads, ending with a final hand-to-hand exchange between Aaron Kwok and another character. The former sequence is actually filmed very well. The latter is a little lackluster.

Is Divergence good? Eh…sorta…I guess. The production values are solid. The cinematography is fine. A couple of the performances are good. The limited action sequences aren’t bad, but they certainly weren’t collectively deserving of an award…or even a nomination. I certainly would have chosen Dragon Squad over this one. The complex plot of the movie had potential, but needed fewer scenes of Aaron Kwok looking morose and wussy and more tension building…and more for Daniel Wu to do. It’s just okay in the end.

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[1] - “Justiceiro” in Portuguese means “Vigilante.” It the Portuguese name given to the Marvel character The Punisher (and all his films). It is also the alternate Brazilian title for Jet Li’s The Enforcer, aka My Father is a Hero.