Doom+5 (末日+5) – Review/Brief Recap – Part 1

You can also read this over at cnewsdevotee as well.  So, whenever I post C-entertainment news or somewhat related, HK-entertainment news, I’ll post over there as well. =]

Doom+5 is another interesting experiment by HKTV in 2015.

Doom+5 is another HKTV drama that I really enjoyed (amongst several others)…and left me longing for more, although I think the overall set-up is perfect the way it is.  This drama is short, with only 5 episodes, each focuses on a different character and how they deal with the knowledge that the world will end in less than 15 hours (although the poster says 14 hours…lol).  It’s been a while since I watched this. =____=”

What I like about this series are the risk they took with the cinematography, the almost nonsensical decisions/actions that each of the characters made, and the general fun philosophical aspects.

Anyways, so basically, here’s the premise of the story:  the world is supposed to end on January 23rd, 2015 at 11:45pm.  Apparently, the HK government knows that and unfortunately, this information got leaked out to a portion of the HK population as well. To prevent these HK citizens from getting the words out and cause chaos for the last hours of mankind, the HK government assesses each of these citizens to see if they are capable of coping with the fact without causing any commotion on a wide scale (aka keep it as a secret until they died).  After an intensive assessment stage, some citizens got released to enjoy their last 14 to 15 hours on earth (with intels tracking them in secret just as an extra safety measure).  Meanwhile, the rest got held back as they are deemed as a threat to the stability and harmony of society despite that they all just have less than 24 hours to live. This story focuses on 5 random citizens.

Government officials “responsibly” reminding those who got the “okay” to not spread the news and enjoy their last hours on earth.

1st Story:  Commitment

Law Dai-wai is one of the “lucky” ones who got released.  He is a movie producer by occupation and frankly, he has never done much things right (not exactly the most ethical guy either).  He is especially bad at keeping promises.  He looks back at his life and realizes that he has had never made time for those who are supposed to be important in his life (in fact, he has ruined most of their lives).  Well, now that he knows the end is almost here, he is slowly finding himself trying play the good guy for once and most importantly, tries his best to fulfill a simple request from his mother:  eat together with both of her sons.  Unfortunately, the request turns out not so simple after all!  His younger brother has gone a protest against the government like a young, hotblooded, rebellious college student that he is (so different from his money-loving self) and now, is sent to jail and won’t be released until the next day.  So, he thinks up the most elaborate way to break his brother free from jail and have dinner with his mother….by calling upon his colleagues’ original passion for movie-making and make an incredible action movie.

Dai-wai grilling his boss for trying to force a naive nobody actress to film AV. Defending the weak and on the side of justice for once in his life.

Law Dai-wai…acted by veteran actor, Philip Keung, is not exactly a handsome man, but his acting is very much alive. Here, Dai-wai remembers all those empty promises he has made to his mother dearest since “the beginning of time”.

Dai-wai tries to find out what his mother’s wish is, but she tells him off and stop distracting her from selling newspapers. He then stuffs a lot of money in her hand, in which she only took a bit and stuffs a bunch back into his pocket. When he finally annoys her enough, she just tells him that she wants to eat with both him and his younger brother. Completely elated to hear her request, he quickly drafts a plan get his younger brother out of jail.

His plan? To make a movie to distract the police and break his brother out of jail (since apparently talking to the police did not help). But first, he would need money and lots of it! Who has a lot of money? The mafia, of course. XD

Hey, it’s his last day on earth anyways….so worth to ALMOST getting his fingers chopped off.

Now that he got his mafia sugar daddies to back him up (with all of his fingers intact), it’s time to ignite the long-lost passionate flames in his colleagues. Granted, he’s not the most appropriate person to say all those inspiring words that he said.

Rehearsal before doing the real one-take roll in front of the police station. These riots….who suddenly dropped their heads and forgot about their responsibilities as real adults.

Dai-wai always wanted to wear a police uniform to represent the false justice that the HK society is experiencing. ^^ He hoped if he stared into the other party’s eyes long enough, they will treat him as a comrade.

Nope….he got caught almost right away and now heading to meet his brother in the way he least expected. He confessed to the real police officers that all he wanted to do is to eat a simple meal with his mother and younger brother.  Mr. Police Officer on the left is like “the heck is this guy on?”

Anywhoo…after all those crazy tactics and then finally crying and going ballistic at the police station, he finally got to fulfill the first and final promise to his mother right on time.

Out of the 5 stories, I personally think this one has the most humour in it, as well as has the best ending (as best as it could get with the world ending on the horizon).

Anywhoo~ too lazy, so I’ll stop here for today.  I’ll be back with the rest of the recaps for the other 4 episodes eventually. =]