Director Lau Shing-Hon (who only made one movie before this and didn't step behind the lens again until 1999) seems to be unable to find his footing. In some instances, he's firmly capable in his gritty delivery of casual yet brutal violence, invoking a whiff of the more talented "new wave" directors like Ringo Lam that were making a name for themselves in Hong Kong at this time. But then, more times than not, Lau oversteps his comfort zone with dramatic scenes that look like they were pulled from a soap opera's B-reel.