Dante Lam’s cinema veers back into darker territory in That Demon Within, a complex psychological thriller arriving in the wake of last year’s uplifting blockbuster Unbeatable. Daniel Wu takes the lead as Dave Wong, a cop first seen posted to a hospital’s accident and emergency department. One night, in the aftermath of a deadly shootout with the police, Hon (Nick Cheung), a.k.a. the Demon King and the ringleader of a bunch of diamond thieves, rushes himself to the hospital to treat his severe wounds. An immediate blood transfusion is needed, and Wong quickly offers help. But as his blood is being drawn to save the other man’s life, Wong looks across to Hon and sees a familiar face.
The moment turns out to be a trigger for Wong to recall hidden fears and grim scenes from the past. Soon it transpires that Wong has been seen as a problematic character in the police force, a loner with “personality issues” that hold him back from promotion. After Hon escapes the watch of the police in the hospital and a second bloody jewel heist is staged, Wong becomes absent from work and turns vigilante to snare Hon and his gang.
Since The Beast Stalker hit cinemas in 2008, pained and scarred protagonists have been a recurring presence in Dante Lam’s films. That Demon Within follows suit and moves to extremes, with Wong’s mental state coming to the fore against a backdrop of criminal dealings and police pursuit. The filmmakers regularly intercut harsh fragments from Wong’s past, and his woes are thrown further into relief through a gruelling session of hypnosis. Fiery imagery and distorted visuals escalate the drama, too, but the filmmakers show little urgency in revealing a clear picture of what’s going on.
The action in That Demon Within, choreographed by Philip Kwok and Ku Huen-chiu, is similarly forceful. The diamond thieves’ heists are gruesome, broad-daylight shootouts in which cops and others on the street are struck down, while smaller skirmishes have especially violent turns and the climax erupts in CGI-fuelled footage of flipping cars and a petrol station inferno. Hitting cinemas after Firestorm and As the Light Goes Out, Lam’s picture does its bit to keep up Hong Kong cinema’s current action excesses.
Lam thankfully allows for occasional comic touches to offset the film’s hard edges, the best coming when Wong turns the amusing gang of thieves against each other. Also diverting is Lam’s smart use of principal settings away from the flashy towers of the CBD; the story unfolds largely in districts with less modern development and, in the case of the thieves’ meeting points, in a funeral parlour and at graveyards.
Many viewers may be drawn to That Demon Within simply by the reteaming of Lam and Nick Cheung, given that the pair topped Hong Kong’s local-film chart last year with Unbeatable. Cheung cuts an exciting figure on the screen as Hon, but his role moves to the side after strong early action sequences, leaving Daniel Wu as very much the centre of attention. As the extent of Wong’s troubles is increasingly hinted at, Wu adopts a tormented, driven and sleep-deprived look and – with precious few light moments in his character’s world – plays a major part in making That Demon Within feel all the more intense.
Tim Youngs