Kwan Chiu (Gordon Lam) is an ex-soldier left behind when the Brits handed Hong Kong over to China in the late 1990s; he and his former mates must make their way as best they can in a brutal, uncaring place. Mani (Bipin Karma) is a South Asian vagabond eking out a living any way he can in Hong Kong, looking after his small brother and trusting his cousin to help him. When Mani's cousin steals drugs from Boss Tai (Ben Yuen), Mani is chased by the Boss's thugs and he holes up in Chiu's apartment. Meanwhile, Chiu has made a deal with Pickle (To Yin-Gor) without the awareness of his employer, Boss Tai. Soon, everybody's after both of them....
The film is very much a "dark underbelly of the big city" type of noir, only with a *lot* of violence - one of the thugs in particular seems to delight in thinking up new ways to torture, well, anybody at all really. It's very tense and the acting is very good, but it was just a bit too lurid for me. Which isn't to say fans of ultra-violent movies won't like it, it's just not my cup of tea.
The film is very much a "dark underbelly of the big city" type of noir, only with a *lot* of violence - one of the thugs in particular seems to delight in thinking up new ways to torture, well, anybody at all really. It's very tense and the acting is very good, but it was just a bit too lurid for me. Which isn't to say fans of ultra-violent movies won't like it, it's just not my cup of tea.