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Edmund Lee

3.5/5 stars
Billed as Hong Kong cinema’s first nuclear radiation disaster blockbuster, Cesium Fallout is a mega-budget ensemble drama that just about survives its flimsy set-up to offer an engaging hypothetical scenario of how such a crisis could be handled.
As just the second solo directing effort of veteran cinematographer Anthony Pun Yiu-ming (One More Chance), the film is a blend of firefighting action, government workplace bureaucracy, nefarious business practices and epic effects sequences that vividly picture the city in ruins (some of which were clearly purpose-built for the trailers).
A brief prologue set in 1996 – the last year by which bad government decision-making was still a possibility, according to recent Hong Kong films – sees the city’s financial secretary, Simon Fan (Andy Lau Tak-wah), introduce a policy change that indirectly turns it into a destination for dumping electronic waste.


In a contrived series of events, Fan’s wife, a firefighter, dies in an explosion caused by the illegal import of hazardous chemicals encouraged by Fan’s calamitous decision; this accident happens right in front of her brother Kit (Chinese actor Bai Yu), who works on the same team.
When the story resumes in 2007, Fan has left his executive post and instead fashioned himself as an environmental protection specialist – just in time to be picked as the government’s sole expert consultant to look into a radiation leak in a large recycling plant in Fanling, in the northern New Territories.
The personal dramas see Fan again being confronted by Kit, one of the leaders of the district’s fire brigade, while facing an unnecessarily difficult time at crisis-response sessions opposite the city’s acting chief executive Cecilia Fong (Karen Mok Man-wai), who intends to conceal the imminent disaster from the public.
What ensues over the next 24 hours, in both the frontline and the meeting rooms, is a protracted but gripping battle to work out how to contain the radioactive substances and put out a fire without using water – which reacts with the titular cesium-137 – before a rainstorm arrives.

Crazy as this might sound, considering that its selective use of logic miraculously ensures that the mainland Chinese territory across the border remains unaffected by the radiation, Cesium Fallout proves an immersive experience that rarely feels like it is insulting your intelligence.
Part of this is down to the sensible screenplay, credited to five writers, which patiently considers most of the reasonable angles to the emergency, while much of it is by virtue of the solid performances by the many rising stars playing the heroic firefighters, in spite of limited time for character development.
Even if Cesium Fallout stops short of pulling off anything spectacular, at least its audience is getting bang for their buck in more ways than one.
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Cesium Fallout movie review: Andy Lau leads Hong Kong radiation disaster drama

Andy Lau in a still from Cesium Fallout. Photo: Edko Films.

Andy Lau (left) and Karen Mok in a still from Cesium Fallout (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Anthony Pun. Bai Yu also stars. Photo: Edko Films.

Bai Yu in a still from Cesium Fallout. Photo: Edko Films

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Philip Keung (left) and Candy Wong in a still from Possession Street (category IIB; Cantonese), a zombie horror film set in an old Hong Kong mall directed by Jack Lai. Yeung Wai-lun co-stars. Photo: Mei Ah Entertainment

Yeung Wai-lun in a still from Possession Street. Photo: Mei Ah Entertainment

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Shu Qi attending the 15th Hong Kong Film Awards at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1996. Photo: SCMP

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Implausible? Yes. A flimsy set-up? Also true – but this mega-budget film starring Andy Lau, Bai Yu and Karen Mok is immersive and engaging


Implausible? Yes. A flimsy set-up? Also true – but this mega-budget film starring Andy Lau, Bai Yu and Karen Mok is immersive and engaging.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | Cesium Fallout movie review: Andy Lau leads Hong Kong radiation disaster drama

Implausible? Yes. A flimsy set-up? Also true – but this mega-budget film starring Andy Lau, Bai Yu and Karen Mok is immersive and engaging