The Goldfinger (PG13)

126 minutes, opens on Dec 30
3 stars

The story: It is the 1970s and Ching Yat-yin (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) slips into Hong Kong aboard a nondescript cargo boat. In the coming years, the man of mysterious origins achieves success in the then-British colony’s property, travel agency and transport sectors. Meanwhile, Lau Kai-yuen (Andy Lau), an anti-corruption investigator, smells a rat and begins looking into Ching’s group of companies. To Lau’s frustration, Ching always stays one step ahead.

From Malaysia’s 1MDB fiasco to the fall of Barings Bank because of Singapore-based rogue trader Nick Leeson, there is no shortage of Asian financial scandals from which film-makers can seek inspiration.

The tale of Ching is that of so many “self-made men”. As The Goldfinger points out, one of his first tasks is to establish his reputation, which he does by making a few splashy purchases of prime Hong Kong real estate.

Writer-director Felix Chong seeks to make Ching a charismatic villain, a task made easier by Leung’s magnetism. The actor’s crinkly smile and easy-going manner make him believable as a man who can sell snow in the Arctic.

There is an involved thread about Ching and his entanglement with snooty British expatriates representing old colonial money. It is a feel-good moment that burnishes Ching’s reputation as the cheeky local lad whose wins are a victory for the home team.

Through flashbacks, viewers are told that the businessman is blessed with more than just charm and savvy.

The insertions that flesh out Ching’s backstory do not always work – one would have preferred more mystery, though it is fun to watch him evolve, Godfather-style, from penniless migrant to titan of industry. The odd-sounding English title appears to be a nod to Francis Ford Coppola’s classic mafia trilogy (1972 to 1990).

The last time Lau and Leung – two titans of Hong Kong cinema – met on screen was in the Infernal Affairs crime trilogy (2002 to 2003).

Chong wrote the screenplays for that franchise, so perhaps in a nod to their previous pairing, he chose to make this a two-hander, with Lau as the incorruptible cat chasing Ching’s wily mouse.

But rather than a character study of the dead-eyed cynics who rule the stock market, as Martin Scorsese did in The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013), The Goldfinger is about everything.

It is not easy to turn a story of financial malfeasance into an action movie, police procedural and rags-to-riches tale, but Chong manages to pull it off – just barely.

Good guy Lau faces off against those who wish him and his family harm. When he is not throwing punches, his team searches for smoking guns in reams of paper. The film’s main weakness is that none of these ideas are particularly fresh and seem more worthy of a forgettable television series.

Hot take: In this handsomely mounted but cliche-saddled financial thriller, Lau and Leung face off as the smart investigator looking to nail the shady businessman.