Cold War 1994 sees me at a bit of a disadvantage, as it’s the third film in a series, following 2012’s Cold War, and 2016’s Cold War 2, but the first to come across my radar.
This prequel does have some scenes in 2017, following on from both scenes, but mostly goes back to the year in which I had my aortic valve operation, at a time when – as I remember in the UK – you could still smoke in offices, although ours had a separate smoking room.
Ambitious young cop, MB Lee (Terrance Lau, above) goes out on a drugs bust on the operations of Tiger Fong (Samuel Pang) with fellow cops, the uber hot Bianca Yeung (Mandy Tam), and Johnny Boy (Mak Pui-tung) – in the doghouse with work, because he went out gambling, while having confiscated cocaine still in his pocket… and then lost it.
New Police Commissioner Hui (Michael Chow) is at odds with Deputy Peter Choi (Daniel Wu – Tomb Raider (2018)) – who runs the OCTB (Organized Crime and Triad Bureau of the Royal Hong Kong Police) – and doesn’t even want Choi coming to his induction ceremony. What a miser!
However, at the drugs bust, Johnny Boy finds his work troubles will cause him no more issues, thanks to Tiger’s gun, the baddie also having kidnapped another man, none of which looks good on Lee, and results in Choi suspending him.
But a reasonably interesting set-up leads to the age-old nonsense of # Bad Cops… Bad Cops… # – as there’s a dodgy out there, but who is it? They’re doing deals with baddies in order to spare other baddies, everyone’s getting antsy over the forthcoming 1997 Hong Kong handover, and on and on it drags… as it’s more a drama than the action film I was expecting.
And towards the end, comes the most hilarious thing, as brief appearances are phoned in by a bored-looking Aidan Gillen (Bohemian Rhapsody) as “F.M.”, the MI6 Head of Asia-Pacific, and slightly-more-awake Hugh Bonneville (Twenty Twenty Six) as UK Cabinet Minister Chris Hughes.
There’s a mid-credits scene, for which the initial part of the credits recommends you to stay in your seat so you don’t miss it…
Cold War 1994 is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 117 minutes
Release date: May 8th 2026
Studio: CMC Pictures
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K))
Rating: 3/10
Director: Lok Man Leung
Producers: Ivy Ho, William Kong, Lok Man Leung
Screenplay: Fei-Fan Cheung, Jolyon Cheung, Liangyu He, Lok Man Leung
Music: Lok-Hang Au, Jolyon Cheung, Iris Liu
Cast:
Peter Choi: Daniel Wu
MB Lee: Terrance Lau
Simon Poon: Wu Kang-ren
Sir William Poon: Tse Kwan-ho
Oswald Kan: Chow Yun-fat
Tiger Fong: Samuel Pang
Older MB Lee: Tony Ka Fai Leung
Adrian Yip: Louis Koo
Jodie Yuen: Louise Wong
Dickson Hui: Michael Chow
Rosa Poon: Fish Liew
Bianca Yeung: Mandy Tam
Johnny Boy: Mak Pui-tung
F.M., MI6 Head of Asia-Pacific: Aidan Gillen
Chris Hughes: Hugh Bonneville
Irene Poon: Karen Mok
TF Ma: Chen Yi-wen
KF Wong: Carlos Chan
Roger Ma: Locker Lam
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.