A kick-ass police procedural with superb action sequences to carry it through. That's all you need to know about this Hong Kong thriller, which utilises a somewhat tired plot line about cops going after a brutal criminal gang as a basis for some absolutely stunning martial arts scenes involving man-of-the-moment, Donnie Yen. Watching this, I was immediately reminded of the storyline of NEW POLICE STORY. Both films involve a thuggish gang of criminals who are always one step ahead of the law, sending bombs to the police, hurting and killing the innocent, with a determined lone detective hot on their trail. I felt that the Jackie Chan film had the emotional edge, but the plot here was perfectly watchable after a slightly shaky start.
Of course, such stories are nothing new and hardly anything that happens here is new. Therefore it has to get by on energy alone, and it succeeds with a kind of breathless determinism. There are a handful of action scenes, mostly brutal fights, thrown in along the way to keep viewers watching, but these are nothing compared to the large-scale climax, a shoot-out between the good and the bad followed by an extremely protracted showdown between hero and villain. It feels very much like an 'old school' kung fu flick, this ending, as scenery is destroyed and Yen battles the villainous Collin Chou for supremacy. Both actors went on record to say that this was the toughest fight scene they'd ever taken part in, and it shows; it's eye-wateringly brutal, full of amazing moves and relentless energy.
Yen is on top form as the hard-ass cop, and I liked his character. There's little of the vain posturing that spoiled his performance in DRAGON TIGER GATE. He's ably supported by the likes of Louis Koo as a sympathetic undercover cop, Bingbing Fan as Koo's girlfriend, and Chou as the slick bad guy. I found that the film looked good and I was entertained throughout, so I give this one a thumbs-up.
Of course, such stories are nothing new and hardly anything that happens here is new. Therefore it has to get by on energy alone, and it succeeds with a kind of breathless determinism. There are a handful of action scenes, mostly brutal fights, thrown in along the way to keep viewers watching, but these are nothing compared to the large-scale climax, a shoot-out between the good and the bad followed by an extremely protracted showdown between hero and villain. It feels very much like an 'old school' kung fu flick, this ending, as scenery is destroyed and Yen battles the villainous Collin Chou for supremacy. Both actors went on record to say that this was the toughest fight scene they'd ever taken part in, and it shows; it's eye-wateringly brutal, full of amazing moves and relentless energy.
Yen is on top form as the hard-ass cop, and I liked his character. There's little of the vain posturing that spoiled his performance in DRAGON TIGER GATE. He's ably supported by the likes of Louis Koo as a sympathetic undercover cop, Bingbing Fan as Koo's girlfriend, and Chou as the slick bad guy. I found that the film looked good and I was entertained throughout, so I give this one a thumbs-up.