“An
intense action thriller about a crack
sniper team attached to the Hong Kong
Police, The Sniper centres around a new
recruit who is fascinated by a former
team member who spent four years in
prison for the accidental shooting of
a hostage and is now out for revenge...”
WHILE INVESTIGATING A SUSPICIOUS CAR, hot-headed Hong Kong Policeman OJ (Edison
Chen: The Dark Knight; The Grudge 2; Initial D: Drift Racer) and his
partner unwittingly disturb a special forces sniper team at work.
Hartman Fong (Richie Ren: Seoul Raiders; Breaking News), the team leader,
and Shane (Bowie Lam) recognise OJ's skills with firearms. They draw comparison
with sharpshooter and former team member Lincoln (Xiaoming Huang: Ip Man
2; The Message; The Founding Of A Republic), who was sentenced to four years
for alleged manslaughter when a hostage situation went badly wrong and an innocent
young man was killed.
Having served his time, Lincoln is now free but obsessed with vengeance as believes
that his former friend Hartman withheld key evidence that could have saved him
from prison.
Hartman won the SDU Sniper Team Top Shooter Championship four years in a row,
but Lincoln was the only one in the team who could hit 500m in a full-speed
wind. He wanted recognition, but Hartman had the better leadership skills and
therefore was given the promotion.
Hartman has domestic problems as his materialistic wife, Mon (Michelle Ve),
has left him. He delivers his daughter Jenny (Chan Lai Ling) to Mon but has
to return when a hysterical Jenny discovers her mother has tried to take her
own life.
OJ is beginning to exhibit the same level of shooting skills that made Lincoln
such a legend on the force. The young rookie is fascinated by Lincoln, causing
Hartman concern that his behaviour may mirror Lincoln's cavalier attitude.
After leaving prison, Lincoln goes home where he reconnects with his wife, Crystal
(Mango Wong). There is a wonderful shot of Lincoln watching Crystal through
the fish tank and, as he pours his heart out to her, we get an insight of the
person he has become.
Lincoln has ingratiated himself with a gang of criminals by taking pot-shots
at the police, wounding them in the legs to incapacitate them and thereby saving
the gangsters' lives but Hartman recognises the skilled marksmanship as his
old friend's.
Lincoln then helps the gangsters set up a massive heist, knowing that this will
attract the attention of Hartman and the team. The lines are drawn and the heist
is under way and Lincoln is setting out to re-enact the operation that sealed
his fate.
It is the ultimate showdown between three expert snipers who are evenly matched…
The Sniper is a fantastically choreographed, thoroughly enjoyable and
perfectly-paced action thriller filmed in Hong Kong. The shoot-out scenes are
terrific with bullets flying along corridors and ricocheting in a lift as Lincoln
expertly stays one step ahead of his former team-mates. An excellent film that
doesn't demand too much of the viewer but gives a lot back.
The Sniper (Sun cheung sau) also features: Jack Kao as Tao; Liu Kai Chi
as Big Head; Wilfred Lau as Iceman; and Charmaine Fong as Kit. Written by Jack
Ng; Story by Dante Lam; Director of Photography is Cheung Man Po, HKSC; Original
Music by Henry Lai; Executive Producer is John Chong; Producer is Candy Leung;
Director is Dante Lam.
• From Dante Lam, director of the pulse-pounding
The Beast Stalker, comes the equally intense action thriller The Sniper,
released on 12 March 2012 | Certificate: 15 | Running Time: 90 Minutes | RRP:
£12.99.
"The Sniper is a fantastically choreographed, thoroughly enjoyable and
perfectly paced action thriller" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar
"…series of action set-pieces of nail-biting intensity" — Time Out,
Hong Kong
"…a wild action movie that goes right for the jugular" and "Edge-of-your-seat
exciting from beginning to end" — Beyond Hollywood.Com
“An
intense action thriller about a crack