Who payed the critics

the audience applauded

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Divergence tells the story of three men: A reckless hit-man simply named Coke (Daniel Wu), Suen Siu-yan a police officer whose fiancée has been missing for 10 years (Aaron Kwok), and Barrister To, a lawyer (Ekin Cheng) who works for a mobster. While conducting a routine witness transfer Suen Siu-yan feels the wrath of the hit-man Coke, after barely escaping with his life he starts further investigation into the case, the prize being Barrister To's gangster boss. At this point, three seemingly unrelated lives converge into a hailstorm of bullets and bloodshed.If it sounds like typical Hong Kong action flick thats because it is. Everything about this film, at a cursory glance, is typical. The Acting is well-done, and the cinematography and Direction is also good, and the action is good too. But there is still something lacking in Divergence. I had to watch this film twice to figure out what was missing. On the second viewing I figured it out. This movie has no heart. It has everything that makes a good action film but in the end, you just don't care about the characters. The film makes all the stops and covers all the bases, and it should be a great film. But sadly, it's not, I was hoping for a great gunkata thriller but I was sadly disappointed.

Great script, Excellent cinematography, Good directing, and Superb performances is what i have to say about this film. Before watching this film (even though i'm a fan of Aaron), i didn't expect too much out of this film because i gave up on HK cinema long time ago. However it surprise me, it's nothing i thought it will be. This film receive bad rating and comment from IMDb user, i can totally understand it. The people who will appreciate this film will not watch this film because they are expecting an usual hk action flick. The people who seen this film are people who enjoy hk action flick, which this one will disappoint them. I wouldn't consider this to be an action movie, it actually a drama. This story is not selling the cop and thief theme like the thousands of hk movie dose, it is about the connections of people with different backgrounds and occupations, and also the relationship of the main characters. Unlike all the hk movies, the characters in this film seem real. There are no true protagonist or antagonist, it depends on the viewer's judgment. Each character have their good side and bad side, and they are dynamic. Throughout the film we see the "Divergence" of the cop and the killer, the options they have and the path they chosen and it taken them to their destiny. It will take one of them to just to think before their action, the result would be totally different. The lawyer character was not explored as much as it should of, but there are good reason behind it. The script is well written with all questions answer at the end (some user said the question wouldn't answer, maybe if you actually see the film and think about it) with a little twist too. Also we see characters development in this film which is a rare in hk cinema. The direction wasn't at its best but is good enough to go with the story. It kept a good pace and intensity through out the film, but there are rooms for improvement. The cinematography is great, it create a theme/style with the greenish look. Some of the overhead shots look great and the chase scene is wonderful. The best scene is the roll back scene, great creativity, the first time i seen on screen. However, i think some of those cheesy CGI scenes are unnecessary, just use directing technique will make it look more real and stylish. And last, the performance. A great supporting cast, most of the great actors in hk are in the supporting cast. Ekin did a good job as the lawyer, even though their ain't much screen time for him but the ending he did great. Daniel's killer character have it's playful side and deliver that performance. Of course our golden horse winner Aaron, the cop character is the most difficult to play in this film and the script give a great challenge to who ever play the part. The character is not just a sorrow cop whose girl friend is missing for 10 years, for the ten years he come up to a "divergence" and he have the option to forget about it but he didn't. Which in this case it drives him to near insanity. Aaron's performance is dynamic, never overact the character to become an insane character, there is alway that ray of light at the end of the tunnel you can see in this eye, and it is that light that kept him sane. The viewers can relate the character's mind with the depth of the performance. Overall i give it a 9 out of 10, definitely the best hk film of the year and best performance in a male leading role. Bure Li

I loved this movie!! I originally wanted to see it because I am a big Benny Chan fan. Remember Heroic Duo and Gen X Cop? I thought they were awesome and so I thought I would check this one out too.The movie is basically about three guys. Suen, an obsessive, manic, rundown cop, who cannot get over his girlfriend's sudden disappearance, which happened over 10 years ago. An assassin, who we meet in the beginning of the movie when he murders the guy chained to Seun and who seems to posses secret important info. And, the lawyer. a man who can get off any client, regardless of his crime, and who coincidentally happens to be married to a woman who looks exactly like Sean's missing girlfriend - which really messes with Sean! Anyway, this was one of those movies where I could not guess how it was going to end, and that is huge to me. It was so complex! All of the characters were so well developed, with such strong personalities that it made for a really intense dramatic, thriller, mystery, movie experience. The whole time I was trying to figure out where everything was going and I couldn't! So many films these days are so ridiculously obvious and formulaic, which is why I think it's important to step out of the mainstream on occasion. This movie is a great opportunity to do that!

The movie Divergence is about three men who have their lives brought together by their jobs. The movie makes it seem like there will be some very profound and mind-blowing brilliant connection among these characters when there really isn't. However the movie does create an interesting dynamic with the jobs of the three main characters, and how each character takes on the job of another (I won't spoil it for you). The characters have a good amount of development and its likely you'll make some sort of connection with Aaron Kwok's character at the very least. The action scenes are good, definitely better than the usual fare from HK recently. The cinematography of the movie really impressed me, if you pay attention there are a lot of subtle things that are done to foreshadow things in the movie. The director really knew what he was doing. The rating that the movie has right now (floating around 5.5) is definitely too low, this is an entertaining movie and impressed me since I have been a little indifferent to HK cinema recently. At the very least the this movie shows their is still room for the thriller movies in HK, despite the recent barrage of brainless comedy flicks.