Spy Gear is a 2001 Hong Kong action film starring Louis Fan.
Cheng Jia-Long (Fan) is an ex-cop turned hitman with a mysterious past, and one of the most feared assassins in the underworld, but he was assumed dead after a botched assasination five years ago... until a string of killings and murders started happening in South-East Asia. Inspector Ming, formerly Long's partner, has to investigate the killings and track down Long before he can strike, and her investigations leads to a gang war led by a sinister entity called the White Dragon, that is brewing rapidly out of control, ready to spill and explode into the streets.
Spy Gear provides the following tropes:
- Asshole Victim: The mob leader Long assassinates outside a car wash, who is introduced berating a car-wash worker boy for not washing his car quickly enough, even grabbing a handful of soap suds and throwing it at the boy accompanied with plenty of verbal abuse. Needless to say, his imminent demise delivered by Long (set on fire and shot) is the most satisfying onscreen death in the whole film.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Long and Zheng during the ambush scene where the corrupt military bribed by Saijo and White Dragon tries to hunt them down.
- Cloth Fu: In Long’s first fight with Canary, Long managed to briefly pull off his opponent’s long jacket and uses it to tie up Canary, but Canary untangles himself in an instant and slips his jacket back on.
- Cool Shades: White Dragon and Zheng wears sunglasses throughout their scenes, although they remove them when getting into shootouts or fights.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Long is raised to be an assassin, and losing his fiancée five years ago made him a ruthless vigilante and murderer who waged a war against the mob.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Long’s fiancée Jane, after she is shot and mortally wounded, and he is forced to deliver a Mercy Kill.
- Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: Canary’s belt, which he can remove and use as an Epic Flail. But used in a fight against Long, well… Long simply grabs hold of the belt and twists it around Canary’s neck, effectively strangling Canary with his own weapon.
- Dramatic Wind: Used in one Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene between Long and Vinci in the outside, with the wind causing both their hairs to flow dramatically throughout their entire conversation. Incidentally, his hair is actually longer than hers…
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Long’s first target is Canary, an effeminate assassin with flowing blonde hair, pale skin, and wears lip-gloss for some reason. He even makes a feminine scowl when Long lands a kick on his face!
- Eyedscreen:
- Featured in the exchange scene when Long and Zheng, where the camera focuses on both their eyes.
- Also featured in the ending shootout when Long prepares to confront White Dragon, one-on-one after killing the last wave of mooks outside the mansion.
- Fake a Fight: During the exchange scene, Long and Zheng suddenly realizes that they’ve been Lured into a Trap, and the bodyguards around them are waiting to pull guns on them. So, both of them decide to feign a quarrel, suddenly fight each other, and just as the guards are distracted, they grab each other’s pistols and blast away at the guards.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Long is seen smoking several times in the movie, as is Saijo and the Big Bad, White Dragon.
- Guns Akimbo: Mostly by Zheng in the final shootout.
- Hellish Copter: After the exchange scene goes awry, which culminates with Long and Zheng shooting their way past the guards and corrupt military, Saijo’s number two quickly catches up with the fleeing duo in a helicopter, firing at them from above with a machine-gun, and then a rocket launcher. When Long and Zheng repeatedly dodges his firing, he quickly throws down a freaking warhead causing a massive explosion the size of a building… and it didn’t work.
- Improbable Age: When Inspector Ming looks through Long’s profile, the database lists Long’s age at 26, and that he has been an assassin for the past 5 years. Ergo, Long have been killing people ever since he was 21…
- It might be possible that Long lied about his age though.
- Klingon Promotion: Saijo’s number two betrays him this way, gunning him down from point-blank and taking over his position in the mob.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: In the finale, Big Bad White Dragon managed to disarm Long and impale his sword through Long’s shoulder, into a wall ornament, causing the blade to snap in the process. Long then grabs White Dragon and force the blade still embedded through him into White Dragon’s chest, killing White Dragon once and for all.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Long.
- The Lost Lenore: Long frequently pins for his deceased fiancée, Jane, which he cannot let go even five years after her passing.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: In the final shootout, Long had eventually killed off every remaining mook in White Dragon’s mansion hideout as he marches into White Dragon’s quarters, pistol trained on his opponent. White Dragon instead throws a sheathed sword towards Long while holding another sword himself. Long obliged to his challenge – cue Sword Fight.
- The Man Behind the Man: White Dragon is pulling the strings behind the weapon smugglings and mob war, while Playing Both Sides for his own benefits.
- Man on Fire: The fate of an opposing mob leader executed by Long, after Long dumps an entire canister of fuel on his car and set it alight with him still in it. As soon as he gets out, Long puts a bullet through him while he’s still alight.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: Briefly happens in the final battle between Long and White Dragon.White Dragon: "Seems like you've improved a bit."Long: "No – you’ve gone rusted yourself."(cue both combatants staring down each other for at least ten seconds as they pause to catch their breaths before resuming combat, although a Reveal Shot later shows that both combatants are bleeding from cuts on their necks)
- The Mole: Ming’s superior and Superintendent turns out to be under White Dragon’s payroll, and is responsible for setting up the whole ambush to have Long and Zheng Lured into a Trap.
- One-Man Army: Zheng and Long actually take turns being a One-man army in the final shootout. Firstly its Zheng who takes on White Dragon’s mooks and killing most of them, but when Zheng gets killed, Long arrives in time to continue the battle where he left off.
- Pink Is Feminine: Vinci wears a pink dress throughout all her scenes in the movie.
- Red Baron: The Big Bad is only referred to as White Dragon.
- Replacement Goldfish: Long eventually got over his fiancee Jane's death towards the end of the movie, where its revealed that Long and Vinci had become a couple, and are flying to Korea to be married.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Long was assumed to be dead for five years before coming back to settle an old score. Naturally his little sister May is more than surprised after spending all those years mourning for him.
- Reveal Shot: May spends much of the first act pinning for her brother, who she claimed was killed in action five years ago and whose identity was deliberately made unclear to the audience… until halfway into the film, when a scene in May’s house shows a snapshot of her and Long together, revealing Long to be the supposedly dead brother.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Subverted. After Saijo’s number two betray and kills Saijo, the man is suddenly ambushed by White Dragon, who beats the snot out of him and had a foot shoved into his neck. But then White Dragon instead praises his action, and in the next scene Saijo’s number two is a henchman leading White Dragon’s mooks.
- Sacrificial Lion: Zheng dies in the final shootout, leaving the rest of the baddies, including White Dragon, for Long to clean up.
- Shout-Out:
- To The Killer (1989), when Long and Ming suddenly had a Mexican Standoff right in front of Long’s grandmother who is blind, and both of them have to fake having a casual conversation while trying not to pull the trigger on each other.
- Saijo’s number two is never named onscreen, but he’s frequently seen wearing a nametag that says "Wang Yu"…
- Slashed Throat: Zheng does this in several of his assassinations, whenever he’s opting for a stealthier approach.
- Storming the Castle: Zheng marching towards White Dragon’s hideout in the finale, shooting the gates open and shooting his way past legions and legions of mooks. When Zheng gets ambushed by Saijo’s number two, Long arrives and takes over, killing Saijo’s number two and the remaining mooks before marching into White Dragon’s hall for his final battle.
- Sword Fight: Between Long and White Dragon which climaxes the movie. Long wins.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Long’s flashback of his fiancée Jane getting mortally wounded, weeks before their wedding.
- Unnecessary Combat Roll: Used by both Long and Zheng, but especially Zheng during the shootout against the corrupt military soldiers.
