Option Zero is a different take on the "special forces" cop squadron drama by focusing on the private lives of some of its key members, and how that affects their work in the field. Julian Cheng plays Ben, a member of the Hong Kong police's special duty officers who take down some more major crimes and figures. While they are tracking a Korean arms network, you get a glimpse into the relationships that develop between members of the group. When their head is killed, the some of the members join an elite, private bodyguard company named G4. Things appear to come full circle when the Korean dealers come gunning for the men G4 are paid to protect.
Unfortunately I saw this film without seeing the first two installments of the "option" trilogy, and I'm not sure how that affected my enjoyment one way or the other. The script is well done and the characters are fleshed out quite significantly in a relatively short amount of time. Julian Cheng is quite wooden, but the other actors make up for him short-comings. Anthony Wong (looking grossly overweight) is good and the relationship with this wife makes for interesting scenes. I found Nancy Lan's character to be incredibly annoying and the cameo by Michael Wong was almost laughable as he tries way too hard to come off as suave and tough. The action scenes, although few in number, are of a very high quality and take no liberties in terms of bloodshed and brutality. Kudos to veteran Chin Kar Lok in this effort. Now I'll have to check out the first two to see how they compare to this enjoyable film.

7/10