Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Director: Derek Chiu
Year: 1997
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
The last thing I would I would have expected from Hong Kong would be a black comedy about Catholicism, but that’s exactly what Final Justice turns out to be.
Father Li Chi Ho (Lau Ching-Wan) can’t catch a break. His childhood friend Kim Shun Fat (Eric Tsang), now a gangster, insists on confessing to him after every heinous deed. His irreligious friends make fun of Father Li’s clerical vows. His female parishioners try to seduce him. But Father Li’s problems are only beginning.
Both Father Li and Kim Shun Fat end up having legal problems which are resolved in different ways. The larger question at the center of Final Justice becomes “What is the nature of justice in this world?” But in the meantime, there are plenty of opportunities to examine the intricacies of faith and sin, which screenwriters Lu Bing and John Chan take full advantage of in their witty script.
Lau Ching Wan gives a martini-dry portrayal of Father Li as an all-too-human but genuinely devout Catholic priest. Eric Tsang is broad but funny as his childhood friend. And Almen Wong is intriguing as a troubled young woman who Father Li tries to help.
As I wrote in the beginning of this review, Hong Kong’s cinema is the last place I would expect to find a literate comic discussion of issues of religious faith, but then again, life is full of surprises, isn’t it?
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