Blood, Sand and Gold - Aaron Costa Ganis (2017) - Garden Road Flyover, Central

We were here just a few months ago, except that time we were following a couple of an epic walk from SoHo to Lan Kwai Fong via Katmandu (or at least that's what it felt like). This time it's just a quick scene as a car drives down Garden Road down towards Queensway.

Battleship - Taylor Kitsch (2012) - Central, Hong Kong

The final post from this very quick snippet of Hong Kong is an overhead shot of Central as it burns from the crashed spaceship. The buildings on fire include the two towers of the Lippo Centre, the gold-glassed Far East Finance Centre and the new Govt HQ on the left.

Ghost in the Shell - Scarlett Johansson (2017) - Lippo Centre, Central

Another place that hasn't really had much done to it during the funking up phase of the city was the Lippo Centre along Queensway. The basic elements of the building are still there in terms of shape but it's had some CGI facade upgrading. The walkway, on the other hand, has been left untouched - obviously futuristic looking enough already..

Knock Off - Jean Claude Van Damme (1997) - Various shots around town.

It seemed pointless to me to add a separate post for each of these seeing as they occupy so little time on screen. It's a little montage of around town shots, at the beginning of the film,  just to establish that we are in Hong Kong (and it's 1997). Starting with...

China Hong Kong City in Tsim Sha Tsui

A view across Central

Driving along Chater Road past HSBC

Along Connaught Road next to Admiralty Station

A view (also used again later in the film) across to Wanchai

The Lippo Centre

and finally a view across Kai Tak airport.

Actually, that last one is a cheat because it is seen well into the film and is a quick shot looking up Pedder Street (you can see the famous Pedder Building on the right with the archway) but I figured it was too small a shot for its own post.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Queensway, Central

A quick one as we follow an unmarked cop car past the Lippo Centre et al.

Speaking of the Lippo Centre, we also get a nice fly-by view of the harbour side of the same area showing the gold Far East Financial Centre, the (now) Chinese PLA HK Building (formerly part of HMS Tamar), followed by the Lippo again and ending with a partial view of Bank of America tower.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Various aerial pictures of Central, Hong Kong

No specific locations here but some nice aerial views taken from the opening section of Episode 6: Fan Tan Man. The quality isn't great (remember, these are screen grabs from a DVD that was made from a VHS copy that was done when the original series was shown in the UK back in 1990/91 (can't remember when it was exactly - I just wish ITV would release a proper restored DVD...)

The first two pictures give us a nice view across the Central harbourfront. The little bit of harbour water seen on the lower right on the bottom picture has now all been reclaimed and those piers you can see have completely gone.

The above picture shows the area around the (now named) Lippo Centre. We can see Hong Kong Park being created from the old Victoria Barracks and the tall building on the left is the Queensway Govt Offices. Just to the left of that is the shell of what was to become the Island Shangri-La (2 Pacific Place). Eagle-eyed readers may also spot the Hongkong Hilton just behind the B.O.C tower.

Again, another shot that is now be water-less courtesy of the reclamation that the IFC sits on top of. Of course we can see the old (and better located) Star Ferry piers and to the right of there is the last incarnation of Blake Pier. Actually, until I saw this I wasn't too sure where it was but now I can see it started right next to the GPO in front of Jardine House. I guess Man Yiu Street occupies some of that now.

The last few shots show the old helicopter landing pad that used to sit on the waterfront in front of Caine House (that's the low-rise building we can see at various distances on all three snaps, but is at the background on the lower picture) - it's better known as being the Central Police HQ. The are where the landing was is now partly occupied by the intersection of Lung Wui and Lung Wo roads. The site is largely empty still but slowly being redeveloped (into what?). The basin on the right in the top picture was originally part of HMS Tamar and now has the new Central Govt Offices on it.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Garden Road Flyover, Central

An easy one to identify here but still worthwhile including 'cause you never know when a building may disappear...

It's just an establishing shot with no actors on screen and is used a couple of times in the movie (though both times at slightly different angles). The first one shows a good view of what is now called the Lippo Centre, but at the time of filming was only a few years old (completed in 1988) and still called the Bond Centre.

The second time the shot is used we see it from a location slightly further to the south so that the front part of the Bank of China building can be seen on the right.