Lau Ching-Wan Movies

A psychotic ex-policeman with a mysterious supernatural gift proves invaluable in the case of a missing police firearm and its vanished owner in this tense police thriller from co-directors Johnny To (Fulltime Killer) and Wai Ka-fai (Running on Karma). Bun is an outcast detective who always seems to crack the case despite having some rather serious personality flaws. When Bun slices off his ear and offers it up as a gift at a party staged to honor one of his superiors, he is promptly forced into early retirement. Subsequently withdrawn into his own world and tormented by the specters of his former vocation, Bun finds his unique ability to see the hidden personalities and inner demons of everyone he meets nearly driving him to insanity. As a policeman Bun's gift of second sight helped him to solve some of the department's most difficult cases, but now that the visions serve no purpose, they simply serve to erode his already fragile sense of reality. Yet despite Bun's bad reputation, ambitious inspector Ho (Andy On) still believes in him. Recently, Ho has been assigned the difficult case of a locating a missing policeman named Wong (Lee Kwok Lun), who disappeared after pursuing some suspects into the nearby mountains. While Bun is indeed eager to help out with the case, he soon finds his volatile personality clashing with the seven conflicting personalities of Wong's apparently schizophrenic partner Chi-wai (Lam Ka-tung). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A respected martial arts novelist makes an unwelcome intrusion into his daughters romantic affairs after learning that she has fallen for her boss, who is also a notorious womanizer, in this comedy marking legendary Hong Kong funnyman Michael Hui's eagerly anticipated return to the big screen. Lung (Hui) is a famous Hong Kong novelist who is constantly doting on his beloved daughter Sophia (Mirian Yeung), and when he learns that Sophia has become smitten with her playboy boss Frankie (Lau Ching Wan) his efforts to sabotage the relationship go hilariously awry. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Hugo (Lau Ching Wan) has a birthmark on his face that has caused him to develop into a shy, quiet person. For this reason, he hasn't had much luck with girls until he meets Yammie (Joey Yung), a young woman who is introverted in much the same way Hugo is; she has a moustache due to a hormonal disorder. They each gain a newfound confidence through their friendship and Hugo agrees go help Yammie track down and old boyfriend. Before she finds him, however, she might discover that what she's looking for is already right before her eyes. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Derek Yee's romantic drama Lost in Time stars Cecilia Cheung as a young widow who, in order to provide for herself and her young son, begins working her late husband's job as a bus driver. Lau Ching-Wan plays a co-worker who falls in love with her, but worries that his feelings are not as selfless as he might hope. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

When May (Sammi Cheng) returns to Hong Kong after her husband had the misfortune of drowning on their honeymoon, it doesn't seem like she intends on spending much time mourning. Doing nothing to thwart the rumor that her marriage was based on financial security, May spends the majority of her time eating and watching bad television. After her own brush with death, however, she is forced to take her existence more seriously. Somehow evading death gives May -- or at least her left eye -- the ability to see the dead, and she slowly forges a friendship with a classmate of hers who also drowned years ago. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts also features Lau Ching-Wan, Lee San-San, and Bonnie Wong Man-Wai. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Johnny To and Law Wing-Cheung's sequel to To's popular action film Running out of Time plunges the hostage negotiator hero of that film, Sang (Lau Ching-Wan), into a whole new adventure. In Running out of Time 2 Sang has been promoted to a dull desk job, but when Ken (Ekin Cheng), a suave art thief with talent for magic tricks and an array of heist plots up his sleeve, draws Sang into a hostage situation, the chase is on all over again. The bulk of the film is a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game, with Ken keeping one step ahead of Sang; his bumbling sidekick, Assistant Commissioner Wong Kai Fa (Hui Shiu-hung); and Teresa (Kelly Lin), a beautiful insurance executive with a lot to lose if Ken's most dastardly plan succeeds. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi

Two childhood friends become mortal enemies after their lives take drastically different paths and they discover that they are both in love with the same woman in this Hong Kong action thriller. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Master Hong Kong director Ringo Lam spins this wild genre-bending flick that is equal parts psychodrama, action thriller, caper movie, and ghost story. The film opens with computer designer Ma (Lau Ching-wan) getting kidnapped in a parking structure. His girlfriend Amy Fu (Amy Kwok) informs the police that though he had been jobless for a while and had a lot of debt, he was basically a good egg. Police detective Pit (Tony Leung Kar-wai) soon discovers Ma beaten, bloodied, and dangling upside down from the ceiling of an old abandoned hotel -- one that has been notoriously haunted since the murder-suicide of the owner and his feckless wife. Ma subsequently starts terrifying Amy by behaving like the famous ghost of the hotel. The police, however, suspect that Ma's possession might be a ruse to shield some larger and more nefarious crime. Due to a creative dispute that Lam had with producer Joe Ma, there are two different endings to this film. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In this action thriller from Hong Kong, Jack (Leon Lai) and Martin (Lau Ching-wan) are gunmen who work for two rival kingpins, Yam (Yam Sai-koon) and Fong (Fong Ping). Jack and Martin have been warring on their bosses' behalf for close to a year, but when the two factions declare a truce, the trigger men, who have both taken a physical and emotional beating, find they're now expendable and are cut loose. After a period of bitter poverty, the two men decide to join forces and take on the gangsters who used them and threw them away. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

John Woo protégé Wai Ka-fai follows up on his acclaimed Chow Yun-Fat vehicle Peace Hotel with this wild and woolly black comedy. With a nod to both Tarantino and Kieslowski, Wai fashions an inventive narrative based around ideas of fate and accident. The film follows Wong Ah-kau (Lau Ching-Wan), an inept gangland foot soldier with no self-esteem, no money, and no clue. One day, a friend of his offers him a stack of cash to deliver some cars to Mainland China for a big crime boss. It seems like easy money. Around the same time, he gets another offer to go to Taiwan and do a mob hit for an even bigger sum of dough. The film shows what might happen to Ah-kau if he were to go deliver the cars and then rewinds to show what might happen to him if he whacked someone in Taiwan. Over the years, this film has become something of a cult classic for mavens of Hong Kong cinema. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

After his Hollywood debut (Maximum Risk), Hong Kong director Ringo Lam returned to his homeland for the 34-day shoot of this $13 million action pic. After cops find a corpse and bomb chemicals, Inspector Pao (Lau Ching-wan) arrests suspect Mak Kwan (Francis Ng), hoping his girlfriend will lead them to his Taiwan gang, but Mak makes an escape and the girlfriend makes off for Macao. Pao figures that the gang will go for the $230 million at the Hong Kong Jockey club. Shown at 1997 film festivals (Rotterdam, Berlin). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Martial arts star Jet Li donned a black hat and mask to portray a comic book superhero in this pulp action tale that gets the full-blown Hong Kong treatment from choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, who later designed the fight scenes for The Matrix (1999). Li stars as Tsui Chik, leader of Squad 701, an elite commando team of genetically-engineered super-soldiers. When the unit was deemed a failure because of mental instability in some of the test subjects, the project was disbanded. Tsui now lives quietly in Hong Kong, masquerading as a shy librarian whose only friend is a cop (Lau Ching Wan). When some drug lords begin turning up dead, Tsui dons a black mask and hat to investigate the slayings and learns that his former Squad 701 comrades, led by psychotic Commander Hung (Patrick Lung), are plotting to take over the drug kingpin's illegal trade. Among their number is Tsui's ex-girlfriend Kaelin (Francoise Yip). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi