In Off Track, Jacky Cheung plays a Triad boss and champion street racer who manages to stay on top of his game even though his dad (Wu Ma) is a cop. An unknown racer (Max Mok) challenges him and almost wins, which begins to damage his street cred. Things only get worse when Jacky's sister (Loletta Lee) begins falling for Max. Jacky becomes obsessed with proving to his followers that he is still the best, and his quest for revenge begins to harm all those around him.

Even though the whole street racing thing isn't (or rather, wasn't) anything new in HK films -- they've been digging on them for years, whereas the gimmick has just caught on the States with the popularity of The Fast and the Furious -- Off Track still manages to present a fairly enjoyable take on the tried and true Triad genre (which is saying a lot, considering how many films of the type have and still do come out). Even though the plot is pretty straight-forward, there are enough twists and turns to keep the viewer interested. It probably says a lot that the script of some obscure low-budget film like this is more well put together than most of HK's (and, for that matter, the US) output nowadays.

The smart script is helped along by solid performances by the cast. No one involved is really considered a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but they do well and make their characters believeable. Again, it's saying something fairly bad about the state of HK movies nowadays when Max Mok (a HK B-list actor if there was ever one) does a better job than a lot of the top "actors" stinking up screens in HK lately.

So why doesn't Off Track warrant a better score? For how good it is, Off Track is ultimately the same old kind of thing all over again. Sure, the street races (which are pretty well done besides some really obvious undercranking in parts) add a bit of spice, but this is your usual Triad stuff all the way, right down to the syrupy ballads when characters die. Also, the movie's low budget is very apparent; it looks very stiff and dull in parts. Still, if you're a fan of the genre or Jacky Cheung, you'll probably enjoy killing 90 minutes with Off Track.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]