Plot
In Hong Kong, a mysterious terrorist organization, Vendetta, run by Ma Sai-kwan (codename Maverick) and a mysterious individual known as Blizzard, bombs the region's education bureau, making it the center of the police's attention. Poon Sing-fung, Ma's friend and a former Hong Kong Police Explosive Ordnance disposal officer who lost his leg to a neglected explosive in a rescue mission five years ago, was denied of his career by his superiors in fear of damaging the police' reputation for employing the handicapped. Enraged by their blatant betrayal, he joined Vendetta. Four months later, he is spotted placing a bomb at a hotel by security. Poon is unconscious after the bomb explodes and is now a suspect. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory about what happened, and escapes during an interrogation. Pong Ling, chief inspector of the Counter Terrorism Response Unit, and Lee Yiu-sing, CID Chief Inspector, are assigned to find out who is behind the bombings and the identity of the Blizzard and their supposedly meeting with an individual known as "Davy". Vendetta operatives are sent to the hospital to retrieve Poon but are killed by Lee and his men.
Poon corners Pong Ling after the chaos. She reminds him of his past life after his leg loss, such as being a model officer in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau (EODB), his deteriorating relationship with his superiors, and his slandering of the police forces in a ceremony honoring him. Poon is also told he is the Vendetta member Blizzard. While most of this is true, Pong claims that he joined Vendetta undercover to stop them and reclaim his career. Pong tells Tung Cheuk-man, another EOD officer and Poon's best friend, that when Poon fell into a coma, she hired top neurology doctors to manipulate his allegiance via implanting false memories. Tung is upset with their methods and only plays along as Poon's friend. Pong retorts that this is the best way for the HK supreme court to show Poon mercy after his involvement in the bombings.
Upon receiving a message containing inspiration magazine from Al-Qaeda, Poon meets with Vendetta's leader Ma Sai-kwan and four other members of the group, codenamed Money, Slave, Sniper and Rhino who are all planning yet another attack. Vendetta sends Sniper to place a bomb in the middle of the city, which would destroy a large area by rupturing gas pipelines below it. Tung, Inspector Lee, Pong Ling, and Poon's former co-workers in the EODB, Lun Ting-pong and Chan King-to, are dispatched to the scene. Sniper severely wounds Chan and Tung (who survives in part to his suit's armor). Unable to properly shoot Sniper at range, Pong's squad is forced to find their way around and eventually shoot him dead. Chan dies from blood-loss, despite efforts to save him.
Poon is then spotted talking to Pong by Vendetta, and he later wishes to withdraw. Feeling betrayed, Ma traps Poon based on a board game (Mastermind) in order to force Poon to remember who he is before leaving. Pong and Tung arrive with a squad to save Poon, though they fail initially until Poon recalls Ma's Mastermind combination, allowing Tung to free him at the last moment. Poon tells them Vendetta is planning to bomb the IFC building and the Hong Kong airport, while "Davy" is a tiny nuclear warhead. If detonated, it is of 10 to 20 tons of TNT equivalent and will leave the area irradiated for centuries to come. They then rush to intercept the Vendetta terrorists.
Ma and his men simultaneously raid the IFC and Hong Kong MTR as well as the Airport Express train. He hijacks a train and has his men plant bombs and the Davy Crockett bomb and leaves with the train but not before his men take hostages to slow the police down. Lun and his co-worker Fat Sze managed to defuse the rigged van in IFC parking garage while also killing Money and Slave. Inspector Lee arrives with his team and kills the Vendetta members to secure the area. Lun manages to intercept the other train carrying the other bomb and arranges to ram the bomb train into the water. The plan involves destroying both connections of the Tsing Ma Bridge to sink the explosives, thereby minimizing any collateral damage. Pong and her CTRU teams successfully raid the control station, killing Rhino's men, and he commits suicide.
Poon and Tung arrange for the rigged van to be near a strategic location before arming the bomb. Tung escapes into the helicopter, but Poon insists staying behind as atonement for his involvement in the previous Vendetta terrorist attacks. Tearfully saying goodbye to Pong, Poon sacrifices himself to destroy the bridge. With Lun's help, Ma's train is intercepted by the severed bridge and sinks before exploding moments later, killing him and Poon while sending a shockwave underwater, saving HK from a potential fallout. Tung and Lun mourn Poon's death, while Pong is left in tears wondering if Poon's sacrifice was worth all their efforts.
In the closing scenes, Pong requests one of the neurology doctors to erase all her memories associated with Poon, save for one particular moment. She then flashes back to encountering Poon at a police dinner, where he deliberately spills some red wine on her uniform to catch her eye.
Production
Development
A sequel to Shock Wave was first announced by producer and star Andy Lau during a celebration event for the film on 4 May 2017. [5] [6] On 16 March 2018, Universe Entertainment confirmed this and released a teaser film poster. Lau returned as producer and star while Herman Yau as director. Daneil Lam also announced that production would commence in 2019, and that it would be a standalone sequel with new characters and a new story line. [7] [1] A week later, the film was promoted at the 2018 Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart), which ran from 19 to 22 March 2018. [2]
Filming
On 8 March 2019 while attending as a presenter for the 25th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award ceremony, Andy Lau revealed that he had begun working on the filming of Shock Wave 2, and appearing in a new hairstyle look for his role in the film. [8] On 11 March, reporters spotted the crew filming a scene around Fa Yuen Street and Golden Fish Street in Mongkok, where director Herman Yau and cast members Ni Ni and Timmy Hung were present. [9] The film held its production commencement blessing ceremony in Kam Tin, Yuen Long on 28 March. The ceremony was attended by director Herman Yau along with cast members Lau, Sean Lau, Ni, Philip Keung, Tse Kwan-ho, Ron Ng, Hung, Kenny Wong, Jerome Cheung and Zhang Yang. [10]
On 30 March, filming of a car explosion scene took place in Temple Street where cast members Andy Lau, Sean Lau, Keung, Ng and Wong were present. Real firefighters and paramedics were employed for the filming of this scene instead of using extra actors [11] [12] On 27 April, filming of a major explosion scene involving Lau dropping a grenade into a sandbag defence place in East Tsim Sha Tsui. A number of police cars, ambulances and an EOD vehicle were used in the scene along with over 50 extra actors. [13] Production for Shock Wave 2 officially wrapped up on 8 May 2019, where a wrap up ceremony was held on the same day at the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui attended by the cast and crew. [14]
