Eternity - Elliot Travers (2013) - Central Piers

This next film is another story that shares common ground with the recently looked at Expired. Both are low-budget, antipodean sci-fi productions that use Hong Kong for its "futuristic" ambience but you end up wondering why they bothered coming here given the general use of not-particularly futuristic locations. Of course, that might just be my perception of Hong Kong from living here for 20+ years.

This film is about a detective, Richard Manning (Elliot Travers) who inadvertantly messes up a case when a hacker he is interrogating commits suicide right in front of him. To make up for his mistake, Manning is given the opportunity (along with a bunch of other peeps in similar circumstances) to partake in "Transference": a cutting edge technology that allows the user to be beamed into a computer simulation in order to solve a crime. The winner, the first one to solve it, is released from the computer simulation and can continue their career. The losers must remain. Although it doesn't mention what happens after. Once inside, however, a virus takes over the system causing it to endlessly loop and the only escape is to solve the crime before the next memory wipe and reboot!

The story is marred by extremely poor acting, and a script trying to be far too clever for its own good. You do wonder, like with Expired, why the crew bothered coming to Hong Kong to film when it features so little and adds nothing to the story. Far better are the New Zealand locations which, I believe, include the Two Paddocks wine estate of the recently late, and very great, Sam Neill (R.I.P).

Anyway, the opening scene starts with the botched interrogation and the police are operating out of an unnamed futuristic city that Hong Kong provides the backdrop for. This view looks to be the one from the (currently closed) walkway that connected the IFC Mall with the ferry piers. It's currently decommissioned as another architecturally-dubious mall development - Central Yards - is constructed along the waterfront.

North Kowloon Magistracy - Now and Then

I used to live in the area and was always walking past this rather magnificent building on the way to and from Shek Kip Mei. Before moving apartments I made an effort to actually stop and try to capture some comparisons with some of the screencaps I took from Donnie Yen's excellent Flash Point. He may not be the world's best actor but Donnie has been and still remains, even in his 60s, one of Hong Kong's foremost action movie stars. I for one am looking forward to John Wick: Caine (currently filming in Hong Kong as I write this in August 2026 - along with Henry Cavill's Highlander reboot, apparently).

The North Kowloon Magistracy building was constructed in 1960 and served as the main courtroom for most of Kowloon - particularly following the closure/repurposing of the South Kowloon Magistracy on Gascoigne Road which now serves as the Lands Tribunal. For several years the building was leased to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) but that rather useful repurposing came to a shuddering halt following the imposition of strict Covid regulations in 2020. Other than a bit of a touch-up the following year - mainly to remove the SCAD sign from above the main entrance - the building appears to have just been sitting empty for the past 6 years. It's such a shame because it's a great building, but I suspect the internal layout and location might make it difficult to repurpose as anything other than some sort of adult education centre.

If you have seen Flash Point, you will know that the main antagonist, Archer (Ray Lui), goes to court after being caught by the police. He has to surrender his travel documents but otherwise can go free.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - View from Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho

Some more digital manipulation in the final scenes of this movie as the gang are chased along a road by the local gangsters. The problem with this scene is that the view in the background looks real enough, it has recognisable buildings, but has actually been digitally superimposed onto the background. How do I know this? Because the view has been inadvertantly reversed. The background view shows a mirror image of the view when you travel along the Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho looking towards the Macau mainland. So I assume this last sequence was shot back in India and touched up later.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Cemitério Hau Si, Taipa

Kabir has a meeting with local gangster Johnny Bonzela. This was filmed in the Cemitério Hau Si, located on the north side of Tai Pa (former) Island.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

The wedding scene was shot in front of Macau's most famous historical landmark.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Aberdeen Marina

The next con the gang try to do is to pretend one of them is a rich investor who rocks up to the casino and demands the valet park his boat. The shot we are shown is a view across the marina next to the Aberdeen Marina Club - most likely shot from the Shum Wan Pier Drive area where the floating casino pontoons were located - and not, as the editing tries to convince us, outside the casino in Macau. 

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Fisherman's Wharf, Macau

It's been years since I visited here - they still had the fake volcano on my last visit circa 2006/7 (it has since been replaced by another hotel casino - Hotel Legend Palace). The last images were taken outside the Rocks Hotel which is located at the far end of the development. The development has been seen twice on the blog previously.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Lai Chi Kok Park, Kowloon

The four men formulate a plan to win over the heart of Kabir's wife by pretending to save her from an escaped gorilla. Yes, as you can imagine the fake gorilla they were supposed to confront and rescue her from ended up being replaced by a real one. Supposedly still in Macau, this was filmed at Lai Chi Kok Park next to the Mei Foo estate. The park is quite nice if you ever get the chance to go. These scenes were filmed inside the Chinese garden section.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Praça de Ferreira do Amaral, Macau

The four men meet at the Praça de Ferreira do Amaral to formulate their dastardly plans. Even though the infamous statue has been removed (at the request of the Chinese authorities prior to the Macau Handover) the man's name remains in place. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, see this post about the Ferreira do Amaral statue, now located in Lisbon.

City on Fire - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Wo Heung Street, Fo Tan

The mystery of the triple-location heist sequence is finally solved. Readers of my City on Fire posts will know that the initial heist scene where the gang hold up a jewellers, was filmed in at least two locations. The building they rob is located in the Yau Tong Industrial Area. It's the Chung Pak Commercial Building - I think it's still there but it's been a while since I checked. The subsequent shootout was filmed a fair distance away on Wo Shui Street in Fo Tan. However, there was a third location that I wasn't sure about and we see it as the gang make their getaway as the cops shoot at them.

It turns out I should have just looked around the corner on Wo Heung Street. The shot shows a CLP Electricity Substation on the right hand side as the cars speed off. This is the Fo Tan Substation located on the corner of Wo Heung Street and Wo Shing Street. Here's the reminder.

If you want to see what it looks like now, here is the Streetview. Anyway, as you can see I do endeavour to track these things down, even if it takes me a few years...