a cruise ship leaves hong kong on new year's eve, its passengers unaware that the crew have been infiltrated by a group of violent thieves. the group are after the uranium that is stored in the ship's safe; unfortunately for them, security officer alan (kenny ho) has rumbled them. 'die hard' on a boat or a straight 'under seige' rip-off? you decide...

this is a great example of a simple story, about simple characters, with touches of brutal violence, melodrama, slapstick comedy and plenty of murder. it all sits rather uncomfortably, in that way that makes it so endearing, in that hong kong way.

the plot and characters are simplistic, as with a few contemporary yuen wo-ping action / thrillers, the set ups are telegraphed, but executed with a real, brutal gusto. that is, despite their silliness. the mix of gun play and martial arts is pretty good; the choreography is decent, but suffers from some overly enthusiastic under-cranking and editing. kenny ho does a reasonable job, but is outshined by both ngai sing and elaine lui: the male / female bad guys.

persona wise, kenny also loses out to christy cheung, who is likable enough. doesn't say much for kenny. no, christy does a good job, especially in her showdown with elaine; this confrontation starts with some fun slapstick and ends with a prolonged sequence of elaine on fire, that eeks out more screen time than it should. still, that's the kind of film this is.

daft, but an entertaining daft...