Chapter 458: Cold War

Chapter 458: Cold War

Chapter 458: Cold War

Like "Wolf Warrior 1" and "Wolf Warrior 2", the story of the movie "Cold War" is also extremely close to the real world.

This is not a story that takes place in another virtual science fiction universe, but is inextricably linked to the real world in which the audience lives.

The story takes place in Hong Kong, which is very familiar to the Chinese people and is currently paying close attention to. The Mong Kok explosion at the beginning, as well as the robbery of the military van and the five people in the car, still have a familiar flavor, making the audience think that the medicine is the same. This is something that Hong Kong directors are very good at, a thrilling police and gangster film.

However, as the plot progresses, especially after the high-energy scenes in which Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung Ka Fai's characters Liu Jiehui and Li Wenbin force each other to abdicate, the genre suddenly changes and the power struggle surfaces.

Many power struggles within Hong Kong’s police department are involved here.

As a hawk, Li Wenbin has worked his way up from the grassroots level of the police force and has always been fighting on the front line. Therefore, he is deeply admired and loved by the practical personnel within the police force. In addition, his family has been deeply involved in the police force for many years and has extensive connections, so he can be regarded as the leader of the grassroots faction within the police force and a "military general."

Liu Jiehui is a "civilian official" who has always worked in the management department of the police force. He has never even patrolled the streets, but he has reached a high position at a young age. The reason is that after four years of management by Liu Sir, the police force's accounts have been very well managed.

At this time, there are still two and a half years before Director Zeng Xiangrong retires, and a power vacuum is about to appear. 44-year-old Liu Jiehui and 51-year-old Li Wenbin are both strong candidates to compete for the throne.

Li Wenbin, who belongs to the hawkish faction, has always enjoyed the support of internal frontline police officers, especially criminal police, so on paper he should be promoted.

However, the ideal candidate for the top government position is Liu Jiehui. The two sides, one civil and one military, one grassroots and one high-level, the competition can be said to be extremely fierce, and there are undercurrents beneath the calm surface.

The robbery of the assault vehicle was undoubtedly a huge rock thrown into the lake, which stirred up the turbulent undercurrent and brought many things to the surface.

Because this is not a simple case of a police van hijacking. In Hong Kong, the police force has encountered bigger cases than this.

Not to mention the distant past, let’s just talk about the major case that happened in Hong Kong not long ago, which was caused by a woman. It caused such a big commotion at the time, and the Hong Kong police force was not even able to intervene in it. They just served as guards on the periphery.

Afterwards, information about this incident was circulated within the police force. It was said that a fellow on duty had seen the situation at the scene and that the military had even dispatched heavy firepower. The ground at the scene had been plowed directly, and a layer of it had been directly removed.

Compared to that kind of thing, the hijacking of the assault vehicle is nothing.

But this incident involved Liu Jiehui.

After Liu Jiehui took office, he single-handedly led the upgrade of the police force's communications system.

Of course, this is no ordinary communications system upgrade.

If Liu Jiehui asked for a budget of 100 million yuan because it was for upgrading communications, the boss of the police department could only say outside that the Hong Kong police force had strong communications capabilities.

However, Liu Jiehui calculated carefully and requested a budget of 80 million. Not only was the bill very beautiful, but the reasons he gave were also very trendy.

According to him, this upgrade is closely linked to the latest concepts of technological policing and smart policing, and is closely linked to "Internet +" and "emerging technologies."

Taking this as a starting point, we will strengthen the department's integrated combat capabilities, break down information transmission barriers, reduce the shackles of multi-police cooperation caused by poor communications, and achieve the goal of maximizing the effectiveness of crime prevention and control.

While ensuring the safety and stability of Hong Kong, this will serve as a window to showcase the elegance of Asia's financial capital and a global financial hub.

With this reason, the head of the police department can go to Copenhagen to promote Hong Kong as the safest city in Asia.

What? Are you talking about the vicious incident that happened at a playground in Hong Kong not long ago?
There was no such thing at all, so this matter was completely covered up.

However, today, Hong Kong, which has always been known for its stability and prosperity and is claimed to be the safest city in Asia, has experienced two vicious incidents in succession in a short period of time. Naturally, this quickly attracted the attention of senior Hong Kong government officials.

So taking this incident as a starting point, Li Wenbin's senior assistant Kuang Zhili immediately led people to break into the home of Du Wen, the technical director of the Information Department, after the hijacking occurred.

Just because Du Wen was Liu Jiehui's subordinate, it was at his suggestion that Liu Jiehui cut the annual budget of Li Wenbin's action team on the grounds of building network information security. Every police car and police officer's walkie-talkie has the information security system they built.

Now the police officers and the assault vehicle have disappeared out of thin air, which undoubtedly proves that there are serious problems with the information security system built by Du Wen. Even further, this is Liu Jiehui's fault.

So as soon as the incident happened, Li Wenbin immediately seized the opportunity. He first attacked Liu Jiehui and his subordinates in the meeting, then defined Hong Kong as entering a level one alert state, and personally led the team as the commander-in-chief to carry out this "Cold War" operation.

At this point, the audience has been immersed in the plot of the movie, because conflicts between police and criminals are not uncommon in Hong Kong movies, but power struggles are the first time they have been seen.

There have been many Hong Kong police and gangster movies in the past, in which the distinction between good and evil is very clear. Even if there are villains in the police force, they are thoroughly bad and obviously pure evil.

However, the beginning of "Cold War" seems to be a confrontation between police and criminals, but the conflict between Liu Jiehui and Li Wenbin, although only showing the tip of the iceberg, is already eye-catching.

After that, there were more scenes about power struggles. The "Cold War" operation led by Li Wenbin failed. Not only were the hostages not found, but the police in the operation were actually fooled.

As the plot progresses, Li Wenbin and Liu Jiehui also begin to make their own efforts on this matter.

The process of exerting force is also very interesting. Liu Jiehui is a civil servant and is deeply trusted by his superiors, so the direction of his effort is to seek help from his superior Lu Guohua.

As for Li Wenbin, he still relies on his subordinates.

Both sides have to deal with the gang of gangsters while also competing with each other to show their better side in this crisis.

This first power struggle ended up being won because Liu Jiehui had someone behind him who won over one of Li Wenbin's capable subordinates, and successfully forced the emperor to abdicate and seize power, taking away the title of "Cold War" commander-in-chief.

The scene in the movie where Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung confront each other when Liu Jiehui seizes power is considered a famous scene. The two veteran Hong Kong actors can be said to be evenly matched in terms of momentum and performance.

The two sides were tit-for-tat and neither side gave in. The strong tension in the lines and the tense atmosphere made many audiences at the scene scream with excitement.

After a quarrel, Liu Jiehui, played by Jacky Cheung, successfully took over and became the commander-in-chief of the "Cold War" operation.

At the same time, this also means that his first confrontation with Li Wenbin ended with his victory.

After taking over the "Cold War" operation, the plot of the movie develops along the path of police and gangsters, which is no different from ordinary police and gangster films, but the tension and sense of crisis of racing against time and confronting each other are very vividly captured.

The police set up a tight net and thought they had everything under control, but in fact they were played around by the robbers. Not only were 50 million stolen, but Liu Jiehui's right-hand man was also shot in the chest and ultimately could not be saved.

This feeling of frustration of being evenly matched but falling short by one move not only hit Liu Jiehui hard, but also made the audience want to continue watching.

And some smart viewers also vaguely noticed that something was wrong in the plot. Why were the gangsters still able to gain the upper hand when the police's arrangements were flawless?
Why do they know every move of the police? The director brings the audience back to the main plot and shows that Cold War is indeed a power struggle with police and criminals as the secondary.

Some viewers also realized that the kidnapping case at the beginning of the movie was just the prelude to factional disputes, and the crime against the police force's new information communication system was just an appetizer. This incident could not really hit Liu Jiehui.

The so-called title of commander-in-chief of the "Cold War" operation was just a bait, intended to deliberately lure Liu Jiehui into the trap and make him take the initiative to take charge of the operation.

If Liu Jiehui, who is a member of the senior police force, fails to command properly, he will be dismissed and may be killed during the command process. Even if he succeeds...

It's simply impossible to succeed, okay? Because when the story develops to this point, as long as the audience is not a fool, they can tell from their rich movie-watching experience and an outsider's perspective that the gang of gangsters must have planted a traitor.

It is even possible that they are not gangsters at all, but rather black gloves used by certain people to carry out certain conspiracies and achieve certain goals.

Therefore, no matter what Liu Jiehui sent by the top leaders did, he would be doomed. The reality was indeed so. Liu Jiehui suffered a tragic failure after he became the commander-in-chief.

At this time, the audience has begun to speculate who this traitor is or who is the real mastermind behind this incident?

All problems seem to be directed at Li Wenbin, because no matter how you look at it, Li Wenbin will be the ultimate winner of this incident.

Liu Jiehui failed, 5 million was robbed, and although the police officers were released, the equipment is still missing. In the end, someone has to take the blame.

At this time, Li Wenbin just had to wait patiently, and the struggle for power seemed to end with his victory.

Of course, in the movie just now, there are some other people who are equally suspicious.

For example, the Senior Superintendent Kwong Chi-lap played by Lam Ka-tung is hard to tell whether he is loyal or treacherous, and he doesn't look like a good person at all.

What surprised the audience was that in the face of Liu Jiehui's failure, Li Wenbin neither became complacent nor pressed on to win. Instead, he expressed support and comfort to Liu Jiehui.

Of course, this support and comfort was of no use, and a new round of power struggle began again.

At this point, the main plot of the movie changes from a police and gangster film to an Infernal Affairs film about finding a traitor, while the subplot is another struggle between civil servants and military officers.

Both sides have their own camps behind them. Liu Jiehui uses the Independent Commission Against Corruption to investigate the situation within the police force. In order to make the process more confusing, the director also inserted the branch line of Chin Kar Lok.

The story once again became confusing and full of twists and turns. Li Wenbin was also invited to be a guest of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and more information was elicited through conversation.

This information seemed to clear Li Wenbin of suspicion. In addition, Liu Jiehui took the initiative to ask Li Wenbin to exchange intelligence. The two stood on the same front again, and the rhythm of the movie returned to the normal rhythm of police and gangsters.

Following certain clues, the police found the hiding place of some of the criminals.

However, during the attack, due to a traitor, a violent explosion occurred on the rooftop of the building, killing all the gangsters, even the traitor.

This is naturally what the real culprit behind the "Cold War" incident would like to see, but the net of heaven is vast and long, and nothing can escape it.

Late at night, when Li Wenbin's son, Li Jiajun, played by Eddie Peng, returned home, a test result on his body made the planner of the submachine gun hijacking case realize that he had been exposed.

So he no longer hid it and told his father Li Wenbin all the truth.

It turns out that all of this was really planned by him. Their purpose was very simple, which was to take out the more than 5 million yuan and the hijacked equipment and let Li Wenbin solve the case.

In this case, coupled with Liu Jiehui's failure in the "Cold War" operation, the position of Commissioner of Police must belong to Li Wenbin.

Of course, Li Jiajun was not alone. Li Wenbin looked at his son and knew very well that with his influence in the police force, he was not able to command so many people and cause such a big commotion.

The real people behind this operation were the radical grassroots faction that split from the grassroots of the police force. They created such a crisis in order to overthrow the superiors and force Li Wenbin to take the position.

Because Liu Jiehui, a civil servant, has taken office, fiscal cuts will never stop and may even become more stringent, which will make life even more difficult for those at the grassroots level.

At this point in the movie, it is even difficult for the audience to judge who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

It is obvious that Li Wenbin was unaware of this incident. The crisis was secretly planned by his young subordinates and son. He even cooperated with Liu Jiehui to capture his own son.

Liu Jiehui is also a positive character. At least from his performance in the movie, there is nothing wrong with him. He is dedicated to the public and has no selfish motives. It is only natural for the police to catch criminals.

As for Li Jiajun and those young grassroots police officers, it seems that their actions are understandable, because one of the advantages of China's long history is that everyone can often find corresponding events in history.

Like the struggle between the civil and military forces in the police force in the movie, isn’t this the conflict between the civil service group and the military honor group in the Ming Dynasty?
Everyone knows very well what the final result will be when the civil service group suppresses the military group. It is nothing more than weak military force, which will eventually be taken advantage of by foreign enemies.

The results of the "Cold War" operation undoubtedly proved this point. The problems revealed in this operation proved that the so-called management and beautiful accounts were just superficial.

Those young people at the grassroots level are the ones who are actually doing the real work, and it is unreasonable no matter how you look at it for the management to cut their funding.

Coupled with this, many viewers associated it with their own experiences and encounters. They worked hard, but the credit was taken away by those who worked in offices, developed apps, and made reports. This made them empathize even more with those poor grassroots people who had to resist.

From this perspective, the boundary between good and evil, right and wrong seems a little less clear.

But unlike the audience in front of the big screen, Li Wenbin was very clear-headed when he looked at his stubborn son.

For him, for someone in his position, no matter what reasons his son or subordinates have, breaking the rules is intolerable in itself.

Today they can find reasons to support their own promotion to power, and tomorrow they can find another reason to support others in driving them out.

Things like lower-ranking officials rebelling against their superiors are the most taboo for high-ranking officials, even if the other party is their own son.

So at the end of the story, the leader of the grassroots faction, Li Wenbin, understood the righteousness of the matter. His son was arrested, and he and the Commissioner of Police applied for early retirement. Liu Jiehui is about to become the youngest police chief in history.

The only problem is that Operation Cold War isn't over yet.

(End of this chapter)