by Charles Kirkland Jr.
A young gangster’s loyalty is tested when he is forced to choose between his boss and his two best
friends in The Unwavering Brotherhood.
One day on a delivery for their boss, Wah, Kwok, and Fei are attacked by members of a rival gang. As
they fight off the gang and survive the attack, the money that they are delivering is stolen. The
three friends report the money stolen to their boss, Fa Kam and they are severely punished for their
failure in front of the other bosses. Afterward, their boss instructs them to find the money and those
who stole it. Unfortunately, Wah finds out that his friends lied about losing the money and used the
stolen cash to pay for the cancer treatments of their sister and to cover his other friends’ gambling
debts. Wah must make a choice between reporting their actions or helping his brother extricate
themselves from their debt to the gang.
The Unwavering Brotherhood is written by Kin-Hung Chan. The action drama stars Bosco Wong, Louis
Cheung, Carlos Chan, Chi-Fai Chan, Mark Ho-nam Cheng and Niki Chow. It is the fourth feature film
directed by Ka-Wai Ng.
The Unwavering Brotherhood is a martial arts action drama about trust and loyalty. Wah finds himself
in a dilemma when he must choose between loyalty to his friends whom he considers brothers and his
rising boss who considers the trio as his sons. The subplot involves their boss trying to ascend into
the leadership of the crime family and the complications that the trio’s actions create for him.
Director Ka-Wai Ng trusts conventional camera angles and traditional framing to tell this story. His
direction, short of one incredibly complex scene near the end of the third act of the film, feels safe and
inauspicious. Because he takes no risks in the delivery of the visuals, nothing stands out as important or
special in the communication of the story.
Everything about the movie is just passable. The story seems familiar and unremarkable. The acting is
good without any exemplary performances. The martial arts action scenes are also just incredibly plain
and nothing special to watch.
The Unwavering Brotherhood is not a bad movie, it’s just not a great movie. The action scenes and
story have nothing intriguing or different to offer minus one scene. There are a lot of better
movies to see but there are also a lot worse ones to see as well.
except.
Grade: C
*This film was seen at a TIFF market screening and there is no indication of when it will be available to
the public.