At the beginning of this film, we meet Peter Cheung, played by Andy Lau, who’s been told that he doesn’t have long to live. His doctor gives him a few weeks at the most so he decides to take that time to get some vengeance and play a game of cat & mouse with a police detective played by Lau Ching Wan. I’d heard very little about this film and I must admit I rented it because I’m a fan of Andy Lau but afterwards I came away a fan of Lau Ching Wan as well.

The chemistry between these two actors is great, you can tell they were enjoying themselves. I read that Andy Lau won a Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for this role and it was well deserved, I must say. He’s both vulnerable and smooth as Peter Cheung, staying ahead of his enemies as well as the police. But he was matched every step with Ching Wan Lau as well.

If I have any complaints, I would say it wasn’t explained exactly why Cheung chose this particular policeman for his game. We see that he has some newspaper clippings of some of the Inspector’s famous busts but that’s all. My only other complaint is comic relief of Shiu Hung Hui, who plays Chief Inspector Wong. I don’t know why it’s funny to have the main cop in charge be such an idiot but that’s really a faint complaint because it works with the scenes between Lau Ching Wan and Shiu Hung Hui. There’s a slight romance hinted at but not played out between Lau and a young woman on a bus that he uses to evade police, Yo Yo Mung played the lucky woman and their few scenes had a bittersweet taste to them with you the viewer, knowing that Peter Cheung is indeed running out of time.

Waise Lee plays Baldy, the crime boss that wronged Peter Cheung’s father and is the focus of his payback. The set-up was quite elaborate and very well thought out. And it’s truly a hoot to see Andy Lau in drag too! This has truly become one of my favorite films and like I said before, has made me quite a fan of Ching Wau Lan too. He plays Inspector Ho Sheung-Sang as a man waiting for something more exciting to come his way, his enjoyment of the game Cheung sets up shows on his face. And he gets emotionally involved when he finds out Peter’s story, piece by piece, they don’t become friends exactly, but you can tell they respect each other. I definitely recommend Running Out Of Time for the good story and very good performances.

Lau Ching Wan returns as Inspector Ho Shong Sang in this sequel in name only to Running Out Of Time. Ekin Cheng has pretty big shoes to fill from Andy Lau and while he gives it a good try (along with a goatee!) he doesn’t match him. Though again, he and Lau Ching Wan have great chemistry and their scenes together are really good. One of the best involves a police chase with the two of them on bikes, fighting & running into each other until their bikes are nearly in pieces.

The only real difference (besides different protagonists) is that Ekin’s character (never given a name) isn’t dying, he just seems to be a Robin Hood, stealing from rich crooks and giving to poor people. (Though in one instance, he gave millions of dollars worth of CANDY to poor village children! Let’s hope the subtitles didn’t interpret that right). The Inspector and the thief (as he’s referred to) engage in a game of wits and again the ditzy commander, played by Shiu Hung Hui, horns in to screw everything up.

The thief also seems to be a bit of a circus performer as we see him walk a tightrope strung between two high tower buildings and do some magic. Ekin does display a lot of charm as the thief in this movie, it was the first time I could see his appeal (sorry Martin) but again the high point of the film is Lau Ching Wan, his performance is so effortless and impressive. There’s a hint of a romance here between him and a business woman but it’s not really followed through, unfortunately.

It’s a bit more action in this one with a sad subplot involving one of the Inspector’s men having a gambling addiction. Those scenes were hard to watch. Running Out Of Time 2 isn’t as good as the first one but it still has the best reason to watch it in Ching Wan Lau. I’d recommend it highly!