Running Out of Time (1999)
The premise for Running Out of Time (1999) seems simple enough on the surface: a police negotiator matches wits with a criminal who has terminal cancer. This could be the foundation for a generic cat-and-mouse plotline, but the relationship between Officer Ho (Lau Ching-wan) and the would-be criminal Cheung Wah (Andy Lau) evolves into something more interesting.
Ho is completely consumed with his job to the point that when he is in between cases he just hangs out at the police station doing odd jobs. He has no family and no close relationships, which allows him to have laser sharp focus on his job and subsequently makes him the best negotiator in the force. After Cheung gets his cancer diagnosis, he becomes enamored with Ho's skills and commits a crime to get his attention. Once he finally meets up with Ho he gives him 72 hours to capture him. Ho cannot resist a good case and he will stop at nothing to beat Cheung at his own game.
What sets this film apart from other crime flicks is the silly humor running underneath the entire narrative. Ho seems to have a wry sense of humor about everything going on and many of the side characters are flat out comic relief. It never gets too serious, even when a major crime syndicate gets involved. That being said, some of the plot twists and events are honestly just ridiculous and that adds some silliness that might not always be intentional.
Running Out of Time was written by Laurent Courtiaud and Julien Carbon, two French men. Their European sensibilities are definitely felt especially with a romance that Cheung has with a random woman he meets on a bus while trying to run from the police. It's actually quite touching and well executed but ends rather abruptly. The relationship between Ho and Cheung also has homoerotic undertones, and it's made obvious that Ho isn't interested in the women in his life, and that he only lights up when he is chasing Cheung. At one point Cheung even disguises himself as a woman and Ho gives him a little kiss!
Structurally, the film feels a bit haphazard and messy with a lot of side plots that don't really add to the narrative. It refocuses itself in the third act and finishes up strong. It's an intriguing change of pace for those who think they have seen everything that crime films have to offer.
Running Out of Time 2 (2001)
Inspector Ho is back to play another game with a clever criminal, this time played by Ekin Chang. The writing is even more thin in this outing, they don't even bother to give Chang's character a name. For whatever reason, The Thief is a magician who has decided to try his hand at extortion and he becomes enamored with Inspector Ho and wants to play hide-and-seek with him in the city.
The first film wasn't a tightly constructed narrative, but the sequel almost feels like it's operating with dream logic. The story jumps around to strange asides and absurd twists and turns. There is literally a twenty minute scene where the forward motion of the plot comes to a complete standstill and they go birdwatching to find a terrible looking CGI bald eagle which culminates in a eagle chase sequence (!) that has to be seen to be believed. Another side quest involves an officer (Lam Suet) who gets obsessed with with The Thief after he loses numerous coin tosses to him. All of it is just incredibly weird and doesn't add to the main story.
That being said, the relationship between Ho and The Thief is quite entertaining and the homoerotic subtext from the first film has been dialed up to ten this time around. Ekin Chang isn't given much to work with as far as his character goes, but he makes up for that with boundless charisma and humor. Everyone is hamming it up and it's more of a comedy caper than any sort of serious crime movie. Towards the end it turns into a Christmas film and all bets are off. While it's inferior to the first film on a technical level it's more entertaining overall. Just watch out for that CGI eagle.
