‘Cold War 1994’ review: Third in Hong Kong crime thriller franchise is astute and entertaining

Dir: Longman Leung. Hong Kong. 2026. 117mins

In the run-up to Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, two inspectors of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force clash with the outgoing Special Branch, local triad gangs and the spectre of one empire making way for another. Writer-director Longman Leung’s astute and highly entertaining Cold War 1994 is the third in the Cold War series, and it ends with a clear nod to a Cold War 1995, reportedly set for release in 2027. It also firmly sets up Leung’s franchise to be the spiritual successor to Andrew Lau’s Infernal Affairs trilogy, albiet with far more allegory than Lau was compelled to include.

The spiritual successor to Andrew Lau’s Infernal Affairs trilogy

The two previous films, 2012’s Cold War and its 2016 sequel Cold War 2, grossed a combined US$115m; the latter got a significant bump thanks to its mainland China co-producer status. This third feature releases in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia on May 1 and should prove just as successful – particularly with its nostalgic setting popular with Hongkongers, a top-loaded cast and a laundry list of supporting stars, including Carlos Chan, Fish Liew, Karen Mok, Cecilia Yip, kung fu titan Yuen Biao, and Brits Aidan Gillen and Hugh Bonneville.

Leung has become a reliable mainstream filmmaker with pan-Asian appeal following his Cold War debut – Helios (2015) was a regional romp and Anita (2021) was a biopic of influential Cantopop star Anita Mui – and his latest should garner attention from the same distributors, and carve out a similar niche in North America and Europe, where its narrative should also resonate. Constructed less like a straight police procedural and leaning more heavily into its political thriller trappings, Cold War 1994 doesn’t shy away from a timely dissection of wealthy business interests and their unholy proximity to power, drawing a clear socio-political parallel with the present reality in most corners of the globe.

When Cold War II ended, the force had just reckoned with a corrupt co-deputy commissioner and his role in a conspiracy to reorder the power players in Hong Kong law and governance. MB Lee (Tony Leung Ka-fai) took a forced retirement, Sean Lau (Aaron Kwok) was elevated to commissioner, and Lee’s co-conspirator Peter Choi (Chang Kuo-chu) was exiled. Cold War 1994 begins with Lee’s abduction and Choi’s murder in the wake of the selection of the city’s new Chief Executive-elect, Adrian Yip (actor-producer Louis Koo). Lau wonders if the crimes have anything to do with a kidnapping case from 1994, about which legal watchdog Oswald Kan (Chow Yun-fat) has a fat file of information. 

From there the action moves back in time, pivoting on the shady working relationship between a young MB Lee (Terrance Lau, Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In) and his boss Peter Choi (Daniel Wu, Into The Badlands). At this time, Lee is a chain-smoking organised crime superintendent and Choi is the well-dressed power broker inside the force, adored by the rank and file and disdainful of management. 

The two cross paths when the scion of the powerful Poon family is kidnapped by a conflicted gang member, which drags Lo Yuen Triad leader Sister Yuen (Louise Wong, Night King) into the fray. Hovering above it all is the Poon patriarch (Tse Kwan-ho) and his eldest son (Wu Kan-ren), who want to ensure the family’s financial and social positions. To do that, they tap current commissioner and Poon ally Dickson Hui (Michael Chow) for ethically questionable favours.

Kwok, Chow and Leung appear in glorified cameos, handing off the major storytelling arcs to the younger cast and, as entertaining as Cold War and II both were, Cold War 1994 is arguably the strongest of the three to date. It’s more sophisticated screenplay plays with concepts of shifting colonialism, fractured policing infrastructure and our seeming inability to eliminate outside interests from meddling in public policy – like the UK-based politicos who prefer continuity to wholesale change post ’97. 

But Leung doesn’t sacrifice crime story action for subversive storytelling. Blanketed by a past/present, warm/cool sheen courtesy of cinematographer Anthony Pun, Cold War 1994 flirts with an opposites-attract romance between Lee and Yuen and a truly spectacular airport set piece re-establishing Leung’s action bona fides. What at first blush seem like dangling story threads (Koo is also a cameo, albeit wryly dressed up as a hybrid of former CEs and also-rans) have the potential to carry forward in 1995, and cement the franchise as one of the best from post-handover Hong Kong.