Writer: Goh Wen Xuan

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Watch this if you liked: “New Police Story”, “Double Tap”

A battle of minds and guns - that would the exact sentence to summarise the whole movie in "Triple Tap". Derek Yee's latest action thriller toys with more psychological warfare rather than his previous works in "One Night In Mongkok" and "Shinjuku Incident".

Louis Koo ("Connected") and Daniel Wu ("Shinjuku Incident") team up again after appearing in "Protege", which coincidentally also is directed by Derek Yee. Louis Koo plays successful finance whiz that happens to be a competitive marksman. He witnesses an armoured van heist, and ends up killing almost every robber using his competition gun. In comes CID inspector Daniel Wu, who incidentally is the person-in-charge for the case, and after having lost the championship to Louis Koo, he processes the case with caution, for fear that people would think he has a vendetta with Louis! In the end, Daniel is burdened with his professionalism and his actual instincts, sceptical whether Louis is really the squeaky-clean-financier, or someone with an ulterior motive.

The plot is actually very refreshing, with a great twist at the middle of the story, which could turn out to be a shocker to moviegoers! "Triple Tap" focuses more on psychological battles rather than gunfights, enabling the main characters to develop their storyline whilst provoking questions and thoughts for the audience. It is actually great to see the director's approach to lessen physical action in order to create a dramatic feel through dialogue and actor's performance. Audience should pay attention to the opening sequence, as it might have another twist in the end of the movie.

Louis Koo's character comes as a smart financier with a background in psychology, easily hiding his expressions and projecting a Good Samaritan image at the start. Unfortunately for Daniel Wu, his acting turns a bit subdued, maybe due to the fact that he plays a good cop this time? Charlene Choi and Li Bingbing both share the same man (Louis Koo), which this reviewer hopes that there would be more screen time for them to develop their characters more. Appearances by Alex Fong, Suet Lan, Andrew Lin and Chapman To give "Triple Tap" more boldness to both Daniel and Louis' characters.

Do go watch "Triple Tap" if conniving Louis Koo is your cup of tea, or stay at home watching "Criminal Minds" and "CSI" is more of your preference of solving crimes.

Cinema Online, 28 June 2010