Expect the Unexpected

1998 [CN]

Action / Crime / Drama

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 78% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 78% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 1204 1.2K

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Plot summary

In this "cops and robbers" film, a raid on a jewelry store staged by a band of amateur hold-up artists goes horribly wrong, leading to a shoot-out. The elite Organized Crime Bureau team, headed by Captain Ching King Gen, is poised to go into action at a moment's notice. Working as a unit, they bring law and order to Hong Kong streets, where they must rely on their courage and skills to survive.

Director

Tat-Chi Yau Photo
Tat-Chi Yau

Top cast

Simon Yam Photo
Simon Yam as Ken
Raymond Ho-Yin Wong Photo
Raymond Ho-Yin Wong as Jimmy
Ruby Wong Photo
Ruby Wong as Macy
Kar Sin Pak Photo
Kar Sin Pak as Isabella
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
830.96 MB
1280*588
Chinese 2.0
NR
24 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 15
1.67 GB
1920*882
Chinese 5.1
NR
24 fps
1 hr 30 min
Seeds 29

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Sing-108 8 / 10

Exhilarating, but words fail me

A police unit, led nominally by Simon Yam and smokey-eyed Lau Ching-Wan, pursue two gangs, each heavily armed and dangerous, not least of all to themselves. Expect the Unexpected begins conventionally enough, but a nudge to the plot here, a detail of characterization there, and the odd bit of unexpected humour, and before long the story is in territory at once familiar and unfamiliar. For the viewer the results are nothing less than exhilarating, like seeing an over-familiar genre through fresh, new eyes.One interesting touch for a HK film released in May 1998: the mainland Chinese in one gang had come to Hong Kong due to economic difficulties back home. (One government, two systems in effect?)Cacine Wong's routine and seemingly off-the-cuff soundtrack was the only really jarring element to Expect the Unexpected (the effects of low budget filmmaking in HK being pretty much a given these days). Other film scores by Wong include the very good spaghetti eastern-sounding Peace Hotel, co-written with Healthy Poon, and the equally good neo-noirish Too Many Ways to be Number One.Your best chance of seeing Expect the Unexpected is on video or in a rep theater. But however you see it, and whether you come in expecting the unexpected, I think you'll be in for a pleasant surprise.
Reviewed by tntokmenko 6 / 10

Lackluster in comparison to some of To's other early crime thrillers, but on its own merits makes for an enjoyable tale of gritty cops n' robbers drama.

Personally when it comes to Johnnie To's early crime movies I find Ching Wan Lau character in "The Longest Nite" and "Running Out of Time" much more artfully crafted and intriguing. Similarly I favor Simon Yam in To's "The Mission" and "Fulltime Killer". I didn't fully accept the chemistry between Yam and Lau in this feature, which granted it is sufficient to deliver the plot, but in my opinion it just never reached the competitive potential it could have been. Regardless of where this movie ranks on To's overall filmography, it is still worth a watch as the tension is fierce and keeps the audience interested from start to finish.It's a heist movie, and with a title like "Expect the Unexpected" it's going to have some twists. Good news, the twists do deliver. I won't mention any details about the plot because the synopsis is unbelievably simple as are the synopses for most of To's films, but the director's execution and his ability to gain strong feedback from the actors makes the viewing experience worthwhile. It does have some serious flaws though, my biggest complaint besides the chemistry between the two male leads are the amount of tonal shifts present. A romance subplot is thrown in, and the action scenes meshed with the romantic scenes don't blend very well. The movie takes the viewer through an unnecessary emotional roller coaster due to this romance subplot, and I feel it could have been handled in a more subtle manner, but that's always easier to say looking back in hindsight. -6/10Johnnie To once again does an excellent job delivering a solid crime thriller which is still enjoyable to watch 15 years later. Didn't care for the premise but other fans might. Once again also from 1998 and by Johnnie To, I prefer "The Longest Nite" with Tony Leung and Ching Wan Lau, as I find this thriller haunting and much more effective with its twists. If you enjoy Expect the Unexpected definitely give the other a watch as they go hand in hand, and may To continue to do what he does best in the coming years. Thanks for reading.
Reviewed by ken-miller

Uneven but watchable

Expect The Unexpected is one of those Hong Kong films thatswitches from lightweight romantic scenes to hard-boiled details(like the dead baby in the washing machine), then back to moreupbeat scenes. This kind of thing just isn't done in Western picsand can be disconcerting to viewers used to one kind of story orthe other. The romantic interludes are accompanied by an amiable scorefrom Cacine Wong, which suits the atmosphere of those scenes. But where the film scores highly is with the series the gritty streetshoot-outs that are well-done and vicious. Parts of this film just ramble along, with conversational sequencesthat are just not needed, but Yam & Ching Wan are good, and theending really is unexpected. Uneven but watchable.
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