When popular television actor Wu Ruofu was kidnapped in Beijing in 2004, the Chinese detectives led by Chief Xing quickly form a task force and sweep the city in 20 hours because Mr. Wu will be killed at 9pm regardless of whether the money is collected or not.
This blend of abduction thriller and police procedural ... is an entertaining genre exercise that methodically reshuffles its timeline to fend off predictability.
While all the attention is naturally on Mr Wu and Lau, the film's true breakout star here is China actor Wang Qianyuan, who is vicious as the criminal mastermind.
It's a tight, fast-moving, entertaining cop drama that does away with the criminal mastermind clichés to show a more realistic portrait of a kidnapping and police investigation energized by car chases, flashing sirens, and strike force action.
Gleaming, elementally machined, Ding Sheng's "Saving Mr. Wu" stars Andy Lau in a crackling true-life thriller ... [T]he inevitable showdown... is cleanly choreographed.
