Movie Review: Helios 赤道

During my trip to China, I had the chance to catch a movie. I wanted to catch an animated movie instead, but they didn't have any at the moment. Instead every movie theater was promoting Helios. I was hesitant to try Helios because they included an international cast. I was worried that with an international cast, they would only attract as much viewers as possible, but come out with a half assed production. However seeing that they cast Jacky Cheung and Nick Cheung as main characters, it shouldn't be too bad.
The film opens with the assassination of South Korean scientists guarding a secret nuclear weapon by a man simply known as Helios. He is a world class criminal and arms dealer and the secret services of all sorts are watching him. Helios plans to sell this new weapon in Hong Kong via underground dealings. A small unit is formed in Hong Kong as a response to Helios' movements. Two South Korean representatives played by Choi Siwon and Ji Jin-hee also attend the unit in order to recover the weapon. However things do awry when Helios couldn't be captured during their operation and the weapon was damaged during the exchange. All sorts of problems arise when China, Hong Kong, and South Korea argue over possession of this deadly weapon.

I had no idea how intense this film would be. As an action thriller, it had a lot of suspense and so many surprises waiting for the audience. In order to not spoil it for the audience, I will refrain from summarizing any more events that happened in the movie. There are many times in the story that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. There was a few unexpected deaths and one of them really shocked me. There is also a big secret in the end of the film that threw us all off. I have to say, it was a spectacular movie. I think they integrated South Korean actors and English speaking actors with the Chinese cast very well. It didn't feel misplaced or awkward. In some minor scenes, they hinted a bit of humanity in Helios' nature, but still we are reminded in the majority of the film how brutal the killings were. The deaths during the operation weren't just unconscious bodies. We are talking explosions and a lot of blood. I liked seeing Nick Cheung appear again as an inspector and his moves are sick. The fighting is very real though most of the CG is focused on car chases and backgrounds. A lot of the more emotional scenes were given to Ji Jin-hee to give his character more responsibility and pressure. The villains of the story, towards the very end you will understand what being truly evil really is.

The film ends on a cliffhanger hinting at a sequel. Since Shawn Yue didn't get a lot of lines in this film, I'm guessing he will play an important part in the next one. I don't know what other new cast members will enter, but for now I'm guessing we will keep the same villains. There were times when I would jolt in surprise even though I anticipated the coming event. I won't say when, but there was one scene that I was getting close to tears because that death was murder in cold blood.