Colour of the Truth (2003) | Hong Kong Movie World review

Colour of the Truth (2003)

China Star | S&W Entertainment Limited | Jing's Production Ltd. | Bob & Partners Co., Ltd.

Cast: Anthony Wong, Raymond Wong Ho Yin, Jordan Chan, Patrick Tse Yin, Terence Yin,

Gillian Chung, Lau Ching Wan, Francis Ng, Pinky Cheung,Winnie Leung, Ng Ting Yip,

Carl Ng, Viann Lang, Isabel Chan, Meng Fai, Gobby Wong, Bill Loh, Tsui Wing,

Li Yiu Tung, Pong Sheng Chu

Cameo: Jimmy Wong, Bey Logan

Presenter: Charles Heung Writer: Wong Jing Action Director: Lee Tat Chiu

Editor: Marco Mak Music: Marco Wan

Administrative Producer: Tiffany Chen Executive Producer: Wong Jing

Director: Wong Jing, Marco Mak

Genre: Action | Drama

"For common interest, even Bush and Hussein can be hing dai (sworn brothers)."

Colour of the Truth

For those who haven't yet tired of HK cop thrillers, Colour of the Truth is not bad.

Plotwise, there's little to distinguish it from other movies of its kind, yet the acting and production

are a bit better than average. It's probably not a coincidence that this movie was released soon

after the similarly themed Infernal Affairs, which also featured Anthony Wong. In it's portrayal of

a youth who grows up to avenge the murder of his father, Colour of the Truth is also reminiscent

of another recent Wong performance- Riley Yip's Just One Look.

In the film's opening scenario, Lau Ching Wan and Francis Ng guest star as conspirators on

opposite sides of the law. Policeman 7-Up (Lau) has been accepting bribes from gang figure

Blind Chiu (Ng). One night the two are caught together on a rooftop by 7-Up's fellow cop pal-

Chief Inspector Huang (Anthony Wong), who has been pursuing Chiu for arrest. There's an

unwitnessed (even by the audience) scuffle between the three and subsequent gunshots,

after which only Huang is left standing.

Fast forward 10 years later. 7-Up's son (Raymond Wong Ho Yin) has joined the police force,

and his superior is Huang. Though he calls himself Cola, Huang doesn't appear to know he's

7-Up's son because his name changed when his Mom (Pinky Cheung) remarried. Cola believes

Huang is a bad man, and ponders the possibility of avenging his father's murder.

Cola soon learns there's another guy with those same feelings, Chiu's son Ray (Jordan Chan).

Ray pressures Cola to join him in a plan to kill Huang, but Cola has reservations about such

talk. While working together, he's observed a conscientious Huang on duty and with his invalid

father, so he isn't so sure he's a bad egg.

The subplot merely provides opportunities for gunplay action. Huang and Cola are assigned to

protect a mobster informant Wong Kwan (Patrick Tse Yin, looking like a hip grandpa in his

blonde streaked ponytail) and his vain daughter (Gillian Chung) from his Vietnamese drug

running rivals, led by an unkempt Terence Yin in yet another thuggish killer role as 'Cyclops'.

As I was sayin' Colour of the Truth doesn't add much new to the genre, it simply does its job of

entertaining the viewer and keeping him or her interested. Despite a repetitious soundtrack and

some cliched camera effects, it works allright. The violence is more subdued than some other HK

action films, but not altogether absent. The addition of Raymond Wong in a lead role was a nice

change, but at this point I can't see this happening too often in the future. He's just not interesting

enough. Chapman To's comedy relief part was an obvious insertion but enjoyable nonetheless.

Veteran editor Marco Mak and prolific filmmaker Wong Jing have put together a decent crime

picture, but the film's anchor is Anthony Wong's natural performance as a smart and savvy cop.

Colour of the Truth is worth seeing for him alone.

Notes: There is a scene which was apparently deleted from the final print of Jordan Chan and

Anthony Wong in a boxing ring.

- Though Lau Ching Wan is prominently displayed on the movie poster, his part and Francis

Ng's are merely cameos.