The Sixth Robber

Story: Wu Xiaobao (Bao Bei'er) is tasked with manufacturing weapons for the robbery of an armored truck. Against his will, he is drawn into the heist, and after the successful operation, as they gather in their hideout to divide the stolen money, the group's leader betrays his accomplices and begins killing them. However, they do fight back. Furthermore, the police are also on the robbers' trail. Xiaobao somehow manages to escape the carnage alive, as does Wu Shengli (Philip Ng), who is subsequently captured by the police. Detective Jiang (Wu Yue) believes there is a sixth robber involved, but Wu remains silent.
Eight years later, Wu is released from prison for good behavior. Thanks to technological advancements in DNA analysis, Jiang now knows he was right and there was indeed another robber. The detective hopes Wu will lead him to him. Meanwhile, Xiaobao has opened a small DVD shop, thanks in no small part to his girlfriend, who is soon to become his wife. To marry her, however, he first has to win over her father. The father happens to be Lao Zhao (Yuen Biao), a security guard who was injured by Xiaobao's group during the robbery eight years earlier. To make matters worse, Wu then shows up at Lao's door, demanding weapons for another heist. Xiaobao seems unable to escape his old life...

Review: These days, you can't avoid streaming services like iQIYI if you want to see old-school Hong Kong action from yesteryear with a modern twist. "The Sixth Robber" is a film that will appeal to anyone who misses the raw energy of those action flicks. Of course, this also means we should expect a certain B-movie charm, and we mustn't forget that Hong Kong cinema no longer exists and Chinese censorship doesn't allow anti-heroes in the same way as back then. This makes everything somewhat predictable, but the story and plot development aren't the film's strong point anyway. Director Huo Suiqiang essentially does what earned him praise for "Blind War" already: hard-hitting action that scores points with beautiful sets and clever ideas. It won't make cinematic or streaming history, but it can be a lot of fun if you let yourself get into it.

A major problem with the film, however, lies with its characters. Right at the beginning, after the actual robbery, we're presented with a rather impressive action sequence featuring Andy On in a substantial cameo, which leaves us wondering who the story's true hero is supposed to be. Okay, that's not exactly difficult, since Xiaobao is a physically weaker guy who somehow got caught up in the whole mess and is only alive because the god of luck is watching over him. Yes, this isn't just mentioned for fun; there are a few scenes that would have been extremely unbelievable without this little hint which probably would have led to me not giving the movie a chance. After the introduction, in which Xiaobao becomes a murderer in self-defense, there's an eight-year time jump, and we see that the former gangster is leading an honest life. He's being swindled, so his DVD store is on the verge of ruin, but he has a great wife — it's never clear what she sees in him — and she's pregnant too. Since "The Sixth Robber" is based on Hong Kong films of the good old days, we can of course expect one or two more tragic events.

This is where the characters come into play. Xiaobei is meant to be our anchor, and — unsurprisingly — he's pulled back into a life of crime. Instead of the story portraying this as a gradual transformation, it happens very suddenly, and just when we think that this seemingly harmless and slightly dim-witted man is acting out of sheer necessity, there's yet another scene that makes it impossible for the viewer to sympathize with him. If this were the classic story of a professional killer who has renounced his old ways and is now forced to take up arms again, one might have understood his abrupt reorientation to completely new, or in this case old, behaviors. But nothing in his previous life hinted at just how ruthless he could be. Therefore, the film certainly doesn't score any points on a character level. Even Wu Yue ("Ip Man 4") in the role of the detective does not represent an alternative that could emotionally engage us.

The police work is also written in a peculiar way, to put it mildly. The lead detective sees clues out of the corner of his eye and makes connections out of thin air, almost supernaturally. As if he has all the information the viewer has. On top of that, there are a few digs among colleagues and between the boss and subordinates, presumably with the explicit aim of injecting some humor, but none of it lands. You get the impression that the Chinese streaming service doesn't operate much differently than its western counterparts: everyone in the audience has to be hooked. It's particularly important that something is happening at all times. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, because the consistently high adrenaline level works well, and even B-movies of back then jumped from one action scene to the next. Furthermore, the action itself is genuinely impressive. The reason for this is not only that Yuen Biao ("Eastern Condors") one of the "Three Dragons" (the other two of course being Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung) has a larger cameo and therefore we would get decent kung fu, no, the way in which the action is integrated is simply what's so special.

One example of the film's inventiveness is the action sequence on a double-decker bus whose brakes fail. The police take measures to eventually slow it down, at the same time trying to save the passengers while the bus is moving forward full speed, all while the detective and the villain – Deep Ng makes another appearance – fight to the death. In contrast to the beautiful and, above all, surprisingly violent action scenes, the actual finale feels somewhat anticlimactic. The drama, in particular, which fails miserably in its attempt to portray the protagonist as a tragic figure, is bound to disappoint. The overly "Chinese" ending also wins no awards. It should therefore be clear from the very first lines of this review that "The Sixth Robber" is intended for a very specific type of film enthusiast and will provide excellent entertainment for action fans without high expectations of a compelling story. Thus, the film falls into the "guilty pleasure" category.

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