General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

L Storm

L Storm (L风暴; original Cantonese title "'L' fung bou") is a 2018 Hong Kong action crime film directed by David Lam Tak-Luk, the third installment of the Storm series about the work of Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). It stars Louis Koo as ICAC investigator William Luk and Julian Cheung as Joint Financial Intelligence Unit (JFIU) Chief Inspector Lau Po-keung, following Z Storm (2014) and S Storm (2016).¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director / producer	David Lam Tak-Luk; produced by Raymond Wong Pak-Ming²
Screenwriters	Wong Ho-Wah and Ho Man-Lung; story by David Lam²
Series position	Third of five Storm films, between S Storm (2016) and P Storm (2019)¹
Hong Kong release	23 August to 21 October 2018; 97 minutes; Cantonese; rated IIB³
Hong Kong box office	HK$17,412,266 from 230,420 admissions in the first run³
China release	14 September 2018; grossed $63,894,019, the overwhelming share of its worldwide total⁴
Main cast	Louis Koo, Julian Cheung, Kevin Cheng, Stephy Tang, Adam Pak, Patrick Tam, Michael Tse¹

Spoilers

Plot

ICAC investigator William Luk (Louis Koo) and JFIU Chief Inspector Lau Po-keung (Julian Cheung) are separately investigating a corruption case and a money laundering case, both involving the customs officer Dik Wai-kit (Michael Tse), but neither can find usable clues.⁵^•⁶

The frame-up. Ching Tak-ming (Kevin Cheng), of ICAC's L Team, the internal disciplinary investigation unit, receives a report from the model Eva Ng (Stephy Tang) claiming that Luk has accepted a bribe of HK$12 million. Unable to explain the payment, Luk is immediately suspended from his duties.⁵ Lau discovers that Luk was framed, and that the frame-up is linked to the money laundering case he has been investigating. He comes to suspect the bank director Thomson Yau (Adam Pak) of assisting the gangster Wong Hoi-wo (Patrick Tam) in laundering money.⁵

Mainland connection. Director Hong Liang (Ding Haifeng) of China's Anti-Corruption and Bribery Bureau arrives in Hong Kong with intelligence for Lau, revealing that corrupt mainland Chinese officials are involved in the laundering operation, which is connected to a corrupt Vice-Ministerial-level cadre.⁵^•⁷ Luk risks his safety to collect evidence to prove his innocence and is imprisoned at one point in the story.⁵

The film closes with the sentences of the conspirators: Minister Zhang Pang sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery, abuse of power, and property crimes of unknown origin; Wong Hoi-wo to 25 years for money laundering, illegal possession of firearms, and assault; Thomson Yau to 15 years for money laundering; an unnamed murderer to life imprisonment; and Zhao Mei-xin to 10 years for assisting in money laundering, while Eva Ng serves as a state witness under a one-year bind-over order.⁸

Cast and characters

Louis Koo plays William Luk Chi-Lim, the ICAC lead investigator, and Julian Cheung Chi-Lam plays Lau Po-keung. Kevin Cheng Ka-Wing plays Kenny (Ching Tak-ming) of the internal investigation team, Stephy Tang Lai-Yan plays Eva, Adam Pak Tin-Nam plays Thomson, Patrick Tam Yiu-Man plays Wong Hoi-Wo, Michael Tse Tin-Wah plays Dik Wai-Kit, Liu Kai-Chi plays Tsui Yau-Choi, and Ding Haifeng plays Hong Liang.² Adam Pak, a newcomer, was nominated for Best New Performer for his role as Thomson.⁹

Production and release

The film was produced by Pegasus Motion Pictures (Hong Kong) Limited, with cinematography by Zhang Ying and action choreography by Tony Ling Chi-Wah.² Filming ran from 21 August to 23 October 2017.¹⁰

It opened on 23 August 2018 in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand, and in China on 14 September 2018 under the Mandarin title 反贪风暴3 (Ante Storm 3).¹¹^•⁴ Its Hong Kong theatrical run lasted 60 days.³

Box office

China supplied nearly all of the film's earnings: Box Office Mojo records $63,894,019 from a $29,316,564 opening in China, against $597,922 in Hong Kong and $25,515 in Australia, for a worldwide total of $64,517,456.⁴ The Numbers lists a slightly different China figure of $64,139,632 and a worldwide total of $64,176,617.¹²

Reception and context

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a Tomatometer score of 14% from three critics. Edmund Lee of the South China Morning Post called it "a sometimes exciting, often ludicrous and ultimately very forgettable sequel," and Clement Yong of The New Paper gave it 2 out of 5, criticizing the thinness of the female characters.⁹ IMDb users rate it 5.7 out of 10.⁶

Scholarly commentary on the Storm series notes that, unlike classic Hong Kong crime films that blur the line between good and evil, the films cast justice-oriented law enforcement officers as protagonists in straightforward detective stories, a framing that fits the "main melody" ideological trend in mainland Chinese cinema, in which films are used to educate audiences about the dangers of corruption. The series is produced by Hong Kong filmmakers but aimed primarily at the Chinese market.¹³ The series continued with P Storm (2019) and G Storm (2021), each directed by David Lam and starring Louis Koo.¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Action, thriller, and crime series film entries › Entries released in the 2010s › Crime and heist entries

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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