To compare this film to the classics like The Killer or Beast Cops is unfair. This is more of a gritty drama than an action film, despite my one line summary.
This film has a few great elements going for it. The performances are quite good, especially Anthony Wong as the gangster pursued by Danny Lee (in another fine performance as a harried police inspector). Kirk Wong does a fine job on this film again - he seems to be in many ways like a Hong Kong version of Sidney Lumet. Both are obsessed with the police system, and this film is the one that illustrates that the most. This is not quite as good as the excellent Jackie Chan film Crime Story, which Wong also directed, but it's one to check out if you're a fan of Hong Kong films. Just don't expect the pyrotechnics of a John Woo film or the quirkiness of Gordon Chan and Dante Lam's Beast Cops. This is a very straightforward police procedural, boiled down to its purest essence.
This film has a few great elements going for it. The performances are quite good, especially Anthony Wong as the gangster pursued by Danny Lee (in another fine performance as a harried police inspector). Kirk Wong does a fine job on this film again - he seems to be in many ways like a Hong Kong version of Sidney Lumet. Both are obsessed with the police system, and this film is the one that illustrates that the most. This is not quite as good as the excellent Jackie Chan film Crime Story, which Wong also directed, but it's one to check out if you're a fan of Hong Kong films. Just don't expect the pyrotechnics of a John Woo film or the quirkiness of Gordon Chan and Dante Lam's Beast Cops. This is a very straightforward police procedural, boiled down to its purest essence.