Endgame is a 2021 Chinese-Hong Kong action black comedy film co-written and directed by Rao Xiaozhi, produced by and starring Andy Lau. Lau stars as a world-class hitman who swaps identity with an unfortunate actor (Xiao Yang). The film is a remake of the 2012 Japanese film Key of Life. Production for the film began on 24 October 2019 and ended on 7 January 2020. The film was released on 12 February 2021, the first day of the Chinese New Year holidays.
Plot
One night in a parking lot in Shanghai, a man named Wu Yanzhen was killed by hitman Zhou Quan, known as Mr. Z, after Wu made a call to his lover Zeng Jiurong, which was filmed by a civilian. On the other hand, a down-to-luck extra actor Chen Xiaomeng, who is broke and massively indebt gets almost hangs himself but halts when his phone rings. Xiaomeng then finds a coupon for a bathhouse and proceeds there while Quan also enters the same bathhouse while driving away from a police road block which turns out to be a filming set. When Xiaomeng is denied entry due to the coupon expiring by midnight, Quan helps him and the latter thanks him, but Quan ignores him. When Xiaomeng was showering, his soap bar slips out of his hand which Quan steps on and falls unconscious on the back of his head. Xiaomeng then takes Quan's locker key while placing his own next to Quan and leaves with Quan's belongings and car, where Xiaomeng finds an abundance of cash and uses it to pay off his debts as well as his ex-girlfriend who is about to get married.
Xiaomeng then visits Quan in the hospital to return his belongings but he discovers Quan has become amnesiac and Quan thinks he is Xiaomeng, so Xiaomeng decides to take on Quan's identity to enjoy a luxurious life, but he pays for Quan's hospital bills. On the other hand, author and media company CEO Li Xiang, who is a single mother, arrives to the hospital as her 12-year-old son, You, collapsed on physical education class. You tells his mother he is stressed preparing a speech about his father, whom he tells everyone that he is an astronaut.
While leaving the hospital, Xiang drives on a pudding which splashes on Quan so she offers him a ride to Xiaomeng's apartment address, which he thinks is his home. As Xiaomeng owes rent to his landlord, the landlord tries to kick Quan out but Xiang helps him pay rent. Seeing the rope that Xiaomeng used to hang himself, Quan deduces that he had suicidal thoughts and Xiang encourages him to scrap those thoughts. While cleaning up Xiaomeng's apartment, Quan finds items which define Xiaomeng's characteristics and thinks that they are his own, which he marks down on a notebook. Quan also takes up Xiaomeng's career as an extra actor and shows up to work on film sets.
Meanwhile, Xiaomeng accesses Quan's luxurious apartment and lives the time of his life. He then finds different identities and outfits of different professions,bad well as a pistol in his closet before receiving a phone call meant for Quan to receive CN¥200,000 payment for a previous killing job. Xiaomeng later bumps into Quan, who invites him and Xiang to his apartment, where Xiaomeng is surprised at how Quan has cleaned it up. When Quan talks about how failed he is in life, Xiaomeng feels ashamed and tries to encourage him but leaves when he awkwardly lashes out at a loud neighbor.
Xiaomeng later meets with Quan's employer, Wang Yanhui and Yan Sheng, both of whom never met Quan in person. Xiaomeng is shown a video of Quan killing Wu Yanzhen which was actually filmed by Sheng and this is when Xiaomeng learns Quan's true identity as a hitman. Xiaomeng manages to hide his fear and Wang gives him another job to kill Zeng Jiurong for CN¥100,000. When Xiaomeng leaves, he finds a bloodied raincoat and knife in the trunk of Quan's car and becomes terrified and flees for his life but calms down when he realizes he survived suicide once. He later finds Jiurong and gets close to her. As he gets to know her, he backs off from killing her so Wang threatens him.