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Edmund Lee

3/5 stars
Ronald Cheng Chung-kei sets aside his laid-back comedic persona for an utterly grim role in this devastating Thailand-set action thriller, which sees the Hong Kong singer and actor buff up and play an anguished father on a deadly hunt for the evil locals who have taken his young daughter.
A co-directing effort by Cheng and Mark Wu Yiu-fai – Cheng’s director and co-star in the 2015 buddy comedy Undercover Duet – Atonement was shot in 2018 but shelved until now. It would almost certainly have been judged alongside the Louis Koo Tin-lok vehicle Paradox (2017) if not for the seven-year gap.
Incidentally, both films follow a single father from Hong Kong who goes on an exceedingly violent rampage to punish the Thai criminals who have abducted his daughter.


While Atonement is arguably no match for that earlier film, especially in the action department, it does turn out to be a surprisingly poignant watch beneath its exploitative surface.
Cheng plays Lung, a doting father who has been doing the best he can for his eight-year-old daughter, Ying (Fu Shun-ying, Little Big Master), after his ex-wife abandoned the family and saddled them with debt.
Everything changes when he heroically spoils the kidnapping plot of a local gang while holidaying in Thailand, and the bad guys take Ying instead. A long, heart-wrenching search that follows amounts to very little.

In the meantime, not long after Ying’s disappearance, Lung marries a Thai Chinese immigrant, former prostitute Lan (Chrissie Chau Sau-na playing yet another sacrificial woman for a male protagonist), and appears to have started a new life.
But their marriage soon turns sour following an unpleasant brush with a corrupt local policeman (Jiang Chao), who has his leering eyes set on Lan.
Before long, Lung is following up on new leads on the abductors’ whereabouts and intentionally getting himself locked up in prison – where it looks like his ultimate act of vengeance will take place.
Atonement does not have the most interesting of villains – they’re all awfully sketched caricatures – and the clunky storytelling of Cheng and Wu at times makes one wonder how a more sophisticated director, like Paradox’s Wilson Yip Wai-shun, could make a better film out of the same materials.

Ultimately, however, this powerful tale of a father who would do anything to avenge his daughter proves a thoroughly engaging watch in spite of its flaws.
Even if Cheng is unlikely to receive any awards recognition for his acting, particularly given his recent personal scandals, this is undeniably one of his best film outings yet.
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Ronald Cheng and Chrissie Chau star in this violent action film about a father chasing Thai criminals who have taken his daughter


Ronald Cheng and Chrissie Chau star in this violent action film about a father chasing Thai criminals who have taken his daughter.


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ronald Cheng and Chrissie Chau star in this violent action film about a father chasing Thai criminals who have taken his daughter

Ronald Cheng and Chrissie Chau star in this violent action film about a father chasing Thai criminals who have taken his daughter