Divergence

Aaron Kwok is a loser cop who tries everyday to find his missing fiancée for the last ten years; Ekin Cheng is a systematic lawyer who fights for guilty clients; and Daniel Wu is an assassin who likes to break rules. The three different characters with three different paths of lives cross-path due to a bribery case.

Divergence is an action thriller, but despite some very awesome action sequences, Divergence tries too hard for its own good. Some people will really enjoy this movie because it makes everything so cool and serious, but those who do probably haven’t watched many Hong Kong thrillers before and there's no reason to blame them, because the film does have a very "cool" vibe. But in reality, the film has very little emotional impact (With the exception of Aaron). All three main characters contain very deep personalities that depict them very well, and there is zero comedy and laughter in this movie.

After the Infernal Affairs trilogy, many Hong Kong moviemakers were trying to capitalize the Affairs formula; Divergence do get some things right, but overall, it falls a big short on all fronts. One thing that can be stated is Aaron Kwok's amazing performance. This is truly his breakout role and audience can and will feel his pain and emotional. This is certainly one of the best male performances in 2005, but it doesn't save this movie from being a little better than mediocre.

Year: 2005
Director: Benny Chan

7.3/10