sergeant francis li (chow yun-fat) is a cop with a pretty half-assed approach to his job but, when he has to team up with an up and coming rookie, michael cho (conan lee), and try to crack a drug smuggling ring, it's time for him to perk up his ideas. a little, at least. the only lead they have in the case is the involvement of marydonna (nina li), who is reluctant to help as both she and her brother, poison snake ping (phillip ko), are involved in ripping off the gangsters who are running the drugs...

one of chow yun-fat's must popular roles, as far as hong kong audiences are concerned. there's less of his suave dramatics, which give way to goofball antics and, err, beating up nina li. still, glossing over the beating, if i can, chow does put in a highly entertaining performance and, even if he is playing against type, as far as heroic bloodshed loving western audiences are concerned, there are still some amazingly cool moments; in particular the rope triggered shotgun and the knife spin.

alongside chow is conan lee, who does well as the straight guy to compliment his partner's antics. action wise, he definitely has the drop when it comes to the martial arts, even if he is put in place by a ti lung cameo. it's not a film for everyone, but if you like hong kong humour as well as action and you're willing to forgive a couple of unsavoury moments then it's a good fun watch.

oh, and two more things: the chainsaw fight and maria cordero's theme tune are both winners...