But at some point the creeping unease at just how much of the film’s violence is visited on the slight, pitiful Wang To flares into all-out discomfort. And the action scenes are well mounted, symphonically choreographed to make the most of Cheng’s camerawork and the glowering ruined Hong Kong backstreets where they play out. Initially, “Limbo” is quite some Fincherian fun, cycling through tropes we’ve seen before (like the well-known penchant in the serial killing community for decorating one’s lair with discarded store mannequins) but doing so with panache. Cham slaps her around a bit more, and sells her out to the gang she’s just betrayed, but eventually realizes she might be useful in the hunt for the killer. To, already wracked with guilt, begs his forgiveness –- it’s explicitly his forgiveness she must earn - and offers to turn informer as recompense. Cham’s wife has been on life support since a car accident caused by young addict Wang To (Liu Cya), and when Cham spots To, who’s just been released, the red mist descends and he pursues and practically kills her. Au Kin Yee’s screenplay certainly doesn’t. The only thing the victims have in common is drug abuse, otherwise they were “social outcasts, nobody cared about them,” says Will, which is cool because that way we don’t have to care about them either. Cham has just found another left hand, and when a left-hand-less third body shows up, they know it’s a serial killer case. They’ve been partnered to lead the investigation into the killing of a young woman whose left hand was found severed from her body. The two men are Will Ren (Mason Lee), the well-dressed newbie who’s been installed in a senior position despite little practical experience, and Cham Lau (Lam Ka Tung), the rumpled long-timer whose gruff approach belies his keen detective instincts. Appropriate, given one might spend quite some time hunting through the clutter for a point. Anamorphic widescreen cityscapes buckle at the edges to cram in more detail sometimes the fish-eye effect gives a first-person-shooter vibe to a moving shot, and when the camera is still, Mak Kwok Keung’s exhaustingly maximalist production design looks like a hidden object videogame. Already here, DP Cheng Siu Keung’s dazzling black-and-white, hi-def photography hints it will be the movie’s MVP, delivering a classic urban noir aesthetic updated to the 4k digital age.
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