By Amanda Kim
“Superman is a hero even if he wears his underwear inside out”.
In the film, “Two Thumbs Up”, the main character Lucifer, also known as “Big F” recently gets released from prison and goes to gather up his crew gang to plot a plan to rob a corpse to become rich. Big F serves as the leader of the gang who plans to steal a corpse from the delivery from China because it is filled with cash. The other gang crew members consist of “Crazy B” who works at a bowling alley to make a living, Johnny T, the hairdresser who styles people’s hair in a dark backstreet, and finally, the clumsy one in the crew, East L who is a bus driver and also works at an automobile shop.
The gang crew first takes apart all of the Emergency Unit police vans and puts the parts onto a public minibus and disguise themselves as cops to steal the corpse. As the gang crew goes on the hunt to steal the corpse, another highly armed thieves are also involved in the same plot that Big F had from the beginning. As a fight between these two gang criminals occur, Johnny T gets separated from the crew, and a girl member from the second criminal group goes along with Big F and his crew. Although their mission is to steal the corpse, their first motive is to switch back their crew members to the rightful gang. As they come to an agreement to switch back the crew members, the loyalty of buddies is expressed deeply.
Although Big F and his crew are criminals, they go beyond the label as “thieves” and do heroic deeds at one point when they save an ice cream girl from getting raped and also a little girl from being kidnapped. The gang crew all has morals in themselves. Even though they have the intention to rob the corpse, they do this for a way to have a stable living in the end. The characters in the film all have morals and reflect on their situation. For example, as Crazy B deals with the kidnapped girl, he remembers his own daughter and reflect to be a better father.
As Big F and his crew goes out to find the other group of criminals, Officer Tsui is also in the hunt to find the criminals and be seen as a hero that everyone respects. However, as his journey to be named hero goes on, he learns that aside from being the true super hero, the action portrays a heroic deed itself. Once officer Tsui confides in Big F, Big F and his crew comes joins in with officer Tsui to catch the second gang criminals who tried to get away and steal the corpse.
In the end, Big F and his crew put an end to the second gang criminals with their comedic bowling skills and turned themselves in. As Hong Kong is dealing with a cockroach outbreak, Big F, Crazy B, Johnny T, and East L are picking up trash to pay their dues for their robbery act.
At one point of the film, Big F excitedly tells his crew that “two thumbs up” aren’t meant for those who done a good job, but a reminder that the two thumbs up are for ourselves.
This is the first film Lau Ho-Leung directed. This action packed comedy serves a message that a hero is known for his actions without the costumes he wear. The concept of having the thieves become the good guys and take the title as heroes show that anyone can be a hero if they put their heart and mind to it.
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