Overheard 3 (DVD) (Japan Version) DVD Region 2

The film revolves around the Ding House Policy, a 1970s act by the then British-controlled Hong Kong government which allowed each male heir of families living in villages in the New Territories the right to build a house without paying dues. In the present day this has resulted in the Ding grants being extremely valuable to property developers and village leaders, the film following the fortunes of the Luk family, whose land group makes an ambitious bid to go public and to build a luxury high rise residential housing estate. When the Luk brothers (Lau Ching Wan, Gordon Lam, Alex Fong and Lam Ka Wah) find themselves losing out on the deal thanks to the schemes of a Mainland developer, they decide to enact their own plan to rise to the top and take over the company. Meanwhile, their half-brother Jau (Louis Koo) is released from jail after serving five years for eliminating a Luk rival, and joins with a surveillance expert called Joe (Daniel Wu) to spy on the rest of the clan for his own mysterious ends.

Overheard 3 is a somewhat different to the other films in the franchise, as though there's still plenty of wiretapping, hidden cameras and earphones, the focus here is very much on the Luk family and its various struggles, Alan Mak and Felix Chong clearly aiming for a crime family epic. There's certainly something to be said for this, and it does help to make the subject of property development far more entertaining than it might otherwise have been, with a complex (and occasionally convoluted) plot that packs in plenty of generational tensions, back-stabbings, betrayals and illicit relationships. It's all very mock-grandiose, and though undeniably bloated is fun and often hysterical in a soap opera style fashion, its many twists and turns holding the interest despite a lack of any likeable or sympathetic characters and a very simplistic greed is bad philosophy.

This black and white moralising is rather a shame, as in taking on the subject of NT property development, Mak and Chong have a potentially fascinating piece of social criticism on their hands, and the film does indeed start off as if to head down a more challenging route. Perhaps unsurprisingly given its blockbuster leanings, this is quickly jettisoned in favour of broad strokes, action scenes and shouting ?not necessarily a bad thing, as the set pieces are decently handled, and though amusingly gratuitous, do inject a welcome bit of pace now and then. Mak and Chong are old hands at big budget popcorn cinema and generally press all the right buttons in these terms, striking a balance between the film's more serious elements and more mass audience friendly elements, even managing to make sitting in front of a computer screen look vaguely glamourous.

The powerhouse cast are obviously the main selling point here, and the leads all prove solid value for money. Of the three, Lau Ching Wan comes off best, mainly due to having the most interesting character of the Luk brothers, though Louis Koo is fine, glowering effectively throughout, and Daniel Wu plays somewhat against type as a tech-geek. The supporting cast all do their bit, and it's enjoyable to see familiar faces jostling for position and adding further star power, and while Zhou Xun is a bit wasted in a needless possible romantic role, Kenneth Tsang, Ng Man Tat and others all throw in some worthy scenery chewing.

Overheard 3 is a fitting end to the series and on par with the first two films, insofar as it delivers slick drama and thrills, flirts with serious social issues and delivers a reasonably intelligent and complicated script. Though none of this is enough to make it remarkable or truly memorable, and the franchise is unlikely to ever be viewed in the same light as Infernal Affairs, it's definitely above average when compared with many other Chinese blockbusters screened during its run, and was marked by at least making an effort to tackle topical subjects.

by James Mudge - EasternKicks.com