Audiences won't yearn for the dark hue and coarse nature of 1980's crime cinema during Ringo Lam's "Full Alert" as the controversial director doesn't so much lift elements from the days of yore (before 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs" turned the genre into a honey glazed ham bakeoff) as he duplicates them with an uncanny likeness rarely seen in the East or West today.

If you didn't know any better you'd swear you were experiencing something produced a decade earlier; the highest compliment a post handover Hong Kong film could ever receive.

In addition to the film's nihilistic tone, which includes some truly visceral exchanges, present and accounted for are: the 30-something hothead inspector (Lau Ching-wan) with an unsatisfactory home life; a nuanced sociopath (Francis Ng in a fine performance); and a largely unelaborated on supporting cast that includes Amanda Lee, Chin Kar-lok, Taiwanese actor Jack Kao, and Emily Kwan.

Following nearly a decade of mixed reactions to his work -- including a 1995 gig in Hollywood directing Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Maximum Risk" -- "Full Alert" was seen by many as a welcomed return to form for filmmaker Ringo Lam.