February 3, 2005 -- This Hong Kong cop drama about two men leading parallel lives has a fairly interesting plot about moral dilemmas and mixed allegiances. One man, Yan (Tony Leung) is an undercover cop who has successfully infiltrated organized crime. The other, Ming (Andy Lau) is a organized crime figure who has successfully infiltrated the police department. Both have been undercover so long their allegiances and morals have become confused. The undercover cop has been a crook so long that he is more crook than cop. The gang member who has infiltrated the police department wants to continue being a cop and to leave his criminal past behind him. Eventually, the two men confront each other. The result is not what you'd expect.

The drama of the story is similar to an old John Woo Hong Kong cop film, “The Killer,” and to the great American police drama, “Heat.” It isn't as good as either of those two films, however. The story emphasizes the degree to which criminals and cops are alike. Another parallel has the two men reporting secretly to their superiors. Ming reports to ruthless Triad crime boss Sam (Eric Tsang). Yan reports to Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong). Wong is the only man on the force who knows that Yan is a cop. It also emphasizes how all people are both good and bad. The movie explores the grey area between good and evil, right and wrong. This is a pretty high-budget, slick film with good acting and good production values. Most Hong Kong films feature over-the-top action. This one is more subdued in tone.

There is also a kind of romantic subplot involving a couple of women in love with the two men, but that doesn't work nearly as well as the story of the two conflicted men. This is probably because little time is devoted to those love stories. If the love stories had been more developed, or left out altogether, the film might have been stronger. It rates a B. Although this film was only recently released in the U.S., it was released in 2002 in Hong Kong. Two sequels to this movie have already been released in Hong Kong because the original film was a huge hit in Asia. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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