Flying Tiger II Review

Flying Tiger II (飛虎之雷霆極戰) 2019 has been released on China’s Youku in early September. But due to the political upheaval and strong anti-police sentiment in Hong Kong at the time of this review, TVB has yet to announce a broadcast date for this drama. It is a pity because this is obviously a big-budget production and it follows on the success of previous dramas of the same theme. It also has a star-studded cast with many of them having lots of experience portraying police officers which make them convincing to watch. You can check out my Flying Tiger II review below for the synopsis and overall verdict for this drama.

Episodes: 30
Type: Crime, Action
Aired: September 2019
Images Credit: Sogou

The Cast

• Michael Miu Kiu Wai as Lok Ka Sing
• Bosco Wong Chung Chak as Eddie Wong Kwok Tung
• Ron Ng Cheuk Hei as Cheung Man Lung
• Kenneth Ma Kwok Ming as Ting Ho Yin
• Oscar Leung Keng Fai as Tong Wing Fei
• Jennifer Yu Heung Ying as Yiu Ka Lam
• Lawrence Ng Kai Wah as Pan Hock Weng (Pan Sir)
• David Chiang as Wong Kwok Keung
• Dominic Lam Ka Wah as Au Yeung Zheng
• Yoyo Mung Ka Wai as Au Yeung Man Yi
• Kelly Cheung Hei Man as Jean Yau Hau Yuet
• Jacky Cai Jie as Mo Yat Man
• Lee Pace as Sam Collin
• Joel Chan Shan Chung as Ho Chun

Main Characters

Lok Ka Sing

Ka Sing is the chief officer of the Special Duties Unit (SDU) in the police force. He also leads the team during operations and is often involved in shoot-outs and other dangerous situations. Ka Sing is an upright officer who is very dedicated to his job. He reports to Pan Sir who is also his good friend. His love interest is Man Yi whom he met while helping her to deal with a road bully one night.

Eddie Wong Kwok Tung

Kwok Tung is an inspector at the Serious Crime Department before he was absorbed into the A Team at the SDU to investigate an international network of arms smugglers. He is a very capable police officer who is not afraid to take on criminals head-on. He reports to Ka Sing. While on duty, he bumps into Man Yi who is an old school mate and develops feelings for her.

Kwok Tung’s father, Kwok Keung, also used to be a police officer. They migrated to a foreign country while he was still young. Kwok Tung used to be a special agent in his adopted country before he moved back to Hong Kong after the death of his brother, Ben Wong Chi Pan. His brother died in a terrorist attack while waiting for him at a cafe.

Cheung Man Lung

Like Kwok Tung, Man Lung was absorbed into the A Team from the Anti-Drugs division and reports to Ka Sing. He distrusts Kwok Tung initially due to the latter’s past ties as a foreign agent. Man Lung is a reserved person who is not that easy to get along with. He grew up an orphan after his father was killed during a shoot-out with criminals. His father was also a police officer and coincidentally, was also Kwok Keung’s friend while in the police force.

Man Lung, Wing Fei, and Ka Lam are childhood friends. Man Lung also treats Wing Fei’s mother like his own. His love interest is Yat Man.

Ting Ho Yin

Ho Yin heads an intelligence team in the police force and he was also roped in to help out in the A Team. He has an easy-going character. Married with one daughter, he is devoted to his wife. While good at what he does as an intelligence officer, Ho Yin’s weakness is his inability to shoot a gun. He developed a phobia after gunning down a fellow officer by mistake years earlier.

Tong Wing Fei

Wing Fei works as a right-hand man for a gangster who runs a trans-shipment company. He wanted very much to become a police officer but was unable to pass the required exams. Tricked by a high-level inspector to become an undercover as a means to get into the police force, Wing Fei ended up working for an underworld figure.

As a result, he broke up with Ka Lam and had s strained relationship with Man Lung. They couldn’t understand why he changed for the worse.

Yiu Ka lam

Yiu Ka Lam is also a member of the A Team set up at the SDU. Her specialty is in the forensics department. She tends to hide her feelings and doesn’t appear to be a particularly happy person.

Ka Lam broke up Wing Fei when he became a gangster. At that time, she was pregnant with Wing Fei’s baby and decided to abort it without his knowledge. Subsequently, she develops feelings for Man Lung but it is unrequited.

Pan Hock Weng (Pan Sir)

Pan Sir is the head of the whole police department. His job comes with a great deal of pressure as he needs to keep Hong Kong safe while constantly being monitored by politicians for mistakes made by his men. He has a good friend in Ka Sing but the buck stops with him.

Wong Kwok Keung

Kwok Keung is an ex-police officer who has retired for about 20 years. He was living in a foreign country with his wife but moved back to Hong Kong at her request to be close to their son, Kwok Tung. His wife is also a cancer patient and he used to get help from Au Yeung Zheng for her medical bills. He was also a good friend of Man Lung’s father in the past. In the initial stages of the drama, it is pretty clear that Kwok Keung has a lot of secrets to hide regarding the past.

Au Yeung Zheng

Au Yeung Zheng is a successful businessman who sits on the board of a few public listed companies. However, underneath that facade, he runs an underworld syndicate that involves arms, drugs, and money laundering. He has a loving relationship with his wife and daughter, Man Yi.

Au Yeung Man Yi

Man Yi runs a boutique and is ignorant of the underworld dealings of her father. She befriends Ka Sing after he helped her with a road bully one night. Eventually, Man Yi fell for him and they started a relationship.

Jean Yau Hau Yuet

Jean is a long lost school friend of Kwok Tung. They bumped into each other at a function and again when Jean moved to Hong Kong to become a PR consultant. When her boyfriend died under mysterious circumstances, Kwok Tung was tasked by Ka Sing to investigate the cause. But Jean is not who she is supposed to be – an innocent PR worker.

Mo Yat Man

Yat Man is an intelligence officer working under Ho Yin. She is good with computers but is still green when it comes to fieldwork. She develops a crush on Man Lung and is always trying to break down the wall that he builds around himself.

Sam Collin

Sam is a special agent and used to be Kwok Tung’s superior in a foreign country. He shared his intelligence with Kwok Tung to stop an arms trade and they trust each other. Sam was working to get his hands on a powerful chip before the terrorists do when his family was abducted by them. He is then forced to change his plans.

Ho Chun

Ho Chun is an international arms trader and only appears in the second half of the drama. His deal with another trader brought him to Hong Kong and he uses that opportunity to settle some old scores.

Synopsis Of Flying Tiger II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_5AcDxK18

Flying Tiger II has a totally different storyline and characters from its prequel. The drama begins with Kwok Tung and Man Lung heading their respective team to nab some arm and drug dealers respectively. As it turns out, the drug deal was of a smaller than expected amount. It was a ruse to camouflage a bigger deal that is to take place at the same time. This was an arms deal to sell an explosive missile set up by a double agent named Kyle.

Kwok Tung managed to stop the deal although the missile drive was missing. The police also found out Hong Kong is being used as a center for arms and missiles trading among terrorists. At the same time, the drugs deal that Man Lung was investigating led him to the trans-shipment company controlled by Wing Fei’s boss. As the police dug deeper, they suspect that the drug and arms deals could be inter-related.

The A Team

Due to the risk that the arms trade and the presence of terrorists could put Hong Kong in grave danger, Pan Sir and Ka Sing decided to set up the A Team to quietly investigate the case behind the scene. They need to do it in secret to prevent panic among the people and investors. The officers selected by Ka Sing to join the A Team included Kwok Tung, Man Lung, Ho Yin, and Ka Lam. The A Team operates under the cover of the SDU to prevent reporters and politicians from prying into its affairs.

So, the plot of the Flying Tiger II basically centers around the investigation into a network of arms trading to uncover the big boss behind it. Will the officers succeed in their mission? What is the price that they have to pay? What are the secrets that some of the characters might be hiding?

Flying Tiger II Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

In the last episode, a showdown with the terrorists resulted in the death of Ka Lam. These terrorists are actually paid mercenaries hired by Ho Chun to extract Kwok Tung’s brother, Ben from police protection. While everyone thought that Ben has died, he is just in hiding. He is brilliant with computers and together with 3 other friends, they accidentally discovered a powerful chip that is useful for military purposes. As his friends start to disappear one by one, he went into hiding. He also becomes a target for both government agents and terrorist groups.

Who Is Ho Chun?

Ho Chun is actually Cheok Tin Loi. He used to be Au Yeung Zheng’s boss. During a police raid, Au Yeung Zheng pushed him into the path of the police in order to escape. Ho Chun jumped into the sea to avoid arrest. He was thought to have died. Years later, he reappeared with a different face. His motive is to seek revenge against Au Yeung Zheng as he conducts his arms dealings in Hong Kong. Ho Chun kidnapped Au Yeung Zheng’s wife (which is Ho Chun’s girlfriend then) and daughter, Man Yi, and extorted him for money. Au Yeung Zheng died when Ho Chun shot him in anger during the delivery of the money. He also killed Man Yi’s mother not long after.

Ho Chun also has a son which is Ben. Ben was brought up by Kwok Keung and treated as his own when Ho Chun disappeared. It was a favor as they were all in it together in an arms smuggling deal. Man Lung’s father and Kwok Keung accepted a bribe while investigating the case. When Ho Chun reappeared, he demanded for Ben. The whole case resurfaced and Kwok Keung was jailed as the past finally caught up with him.

In the end, Ho Chun died in a car accident during a chase by Kwok Tung. Ho Chun was trying to get Ben from the police to escape together with him. Ben was under police protection then as many people were after him due to the valuable information that he possesses.

Jean And Kwok Tung

Jean is actually a foreign agent working under Sam. When she fell in love with Kwok Tung, she wanted out of the mission to hunt for Ben. Due to her disloyalty to her country, she was quietly sent away to an unknown location by the Hong Kong police after helping Kwok Tung. Hence, for the ending of Flying Tiger II, this couple remains separated.

Sam was set up by Kwok Tung with the help of Jean. As Sam hunted for Ben on the orders of the terrorists, he was arrested and sent back to his country in the end. He was forced to work for the terrorists as his family has been kidnapped by them.

Flying Tiger II Review

For the Flying Tiger II review overall, I have to say that it is quite well-paced and there is a good combination of action and investigative scenes. You will get a gun battle and car chase right from the beginning to start you off on a high note.

Along the way, you will also be pulled along to make a guess on what Kwok Tung’s father might be hiding regarding his past and the relevance to the current arms trade. Then, there is also the curiosity as to what Jean might be up to as Kwok Tung begins to develop feelings for her. The other interesting bit is who Ho Chun is and how he fits into the overall picture. All added together, it makes the drama having an adequate “chase” factor to make me keep watching.

Acting

Male Leads

I have to say that all of the main stars perform as expected. None of them really shine through in their respective roles but neither did they do a bad job either. Since they have played police officers numerous times, it is indeed hard for a real breakthrough especially when the characters that come with this type of genre are pretty standard – stoic, fearless, capable, and rational.

Despite his age, Michael Miu is still good to look at. He is just perfect for this type of role of being a respected high-ranking police officer. He is able to display a composure that befits his role as a serious, cautious, and calm superior. The good on-screen chemistry that he has built with Bosco Wong and Ron Ng continues on in Flying Tiger 2019. Both the younger actors handled the action scenes well to make them look realistic. In fact, they are better in these scenes than more expressive ones that involve inner emotions. In such scenes, they can appear a bit wooden, especially Ron Ng, which I have come to expect.

Kenneth Ma is a nice addition to the cast. His expression is more varied as his character allows him to switch between playful and serious as situation demands. It is a pleasure to watch his ability to switch from one to another.

As a side note, the Flying Tigers II theme song is sung by Karen Mok Man Wai. The Mandarin song title is Not Enough Love (只是不夠愛).

Female Leads

It has been quite some time since I watched Yoyo Mung. She has been rather quiet in recent years. Hence, it is a nice surprise to see her reappear in Flying Tiger II. I think she did an acceptable job portraying her role as she appears too young to be Micheal Miu’s love interest while too old to be Dominic Lam’s daughter. It is kind of awkward to watch but I guess she is experienced enough to carry the role through with the right balance of sweetness and maturity.

Kelly Cheung is as pretty as ever and her looks are fitting for her role as someone from abroad. I would say that her chemistry with Bosco Wong is passable with much room for improvement. Personally, I think she did better in Big White Duel as a doctor than her role in Flying Tiger II. Her body language is lacking in giving viewers a more convincing feel to her character.

My Verdict

Flying Tiger II is not a drama that you would watch for the acting skills of the cast. I wouldn’t call it great but interesting enough for its suspense element and action-oriented nature of the whole drama. It doesn’t have the individual minor cases like ViuTV’s PTU to act as fillers nor does it have the office politics and in-fightings that dominate The Defected. The plot is to stop arms trading in Hong Kong and there is little distraction to take viewers away from the main story.

However, there are still weak points here and there. The main one is Man Yi’s character which is supposed to be younger than Ben but turns out to be very much older in the form of Yoyo Mung. Obviously, if they want to pair her with Ka Sing, she would have to be someone more matured given the man’s seniority. Hence, this pairing doesn’t really make sense. The acting skills of almost all the Caucasians in the drama are also a pain to watch and they tend to gloss over their roles which makes the story a bit difficult to follow at times.

To me, the first half of the drama is definitely better than the second half. The suspense tapers off when it should be building towards a climax for the ending. I wouldn’t say skip it because there is still the action to look forward to with a plot behind it rather than just senseless gun battles. But they could have definitely done a much better job with Flying Tiger II if they’d just paid a bit more attention to the details.