The Plot: Tasked with taking down Lin Quin (Andy Lau), Hong Kong’s most notorious, yet mild mannered heroin trafficker, narcotics agent Nick (Daniel Wu) dedicates eight years of his life working his way up the ranks of the 
ultra-lucrative drug syndicate. When the ailing Quin taps Nick as the heir to his throne, the once-earnest cop struggles to determine where his loyalty lies. Inspired by true events, this drawn out crime drama also stars Jingchu Zhang as drug slore Jane.
The music reminded me of a cross between an 80’s and modern action score at 
times. It defiantly had a strange feel to it, but all in all it wasn’t that bad. This is expected for Hong Kong cinema, so it really didn’t weigh on my overall opinion of this film.
The cinematography looked nice for the most part. There were some really good angles used in the more dramatic scenes that made you feel like you were actually a part of it. It also had some far away shots that really showed off how shitty and impoverish the city is. Most of the scenes were typical for a Hong Kong 
crime drama, straight and too the point.
The acting was gritty and intense, which was perfect for this type of film. They build chemistry between a couple of different characters, and it works well. I watched the dubbed version and was surprised that it sounded so good. The one thing that I hate, but is done for most every dubbed movie like this is the fact that the kids are all just grown ups making a kids voice. It sounds horrible and annoying.
The effects were hardly existent throughout the film. There was a great scene were someone falls from a tall apt. building and they show the whole shot from above which I thought looked kinda good in a funny way. There was another scene were a guy slits his throat with a broken bathroom tile that looked so damn real.
Overall This movie was well done save a few key element…the story was way to 
straight forward to be a crime drama. It was drawn out and kinda boring in that sense. Also, I’m not sure if it was bad editing or direction, but the love interest chick went from totally normal to heroin fiend, to slore at random, I really didn’t know how to feel about this character at all. Bottom line, if they had put a couple more twists into the story, or some action then this movie would have been great.
2 ½ Out of 5 Crom’s
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