darren (aaron kwok) and alex (wang lee-hom) are members of a special unit of the shanghai police, who get involved with the ma family, after one of their men is killed at a fashion show. it seems that ma's nephew, tony (mark dacascos) is trying to break the family's 'no drugs' policy, teaming up with the american drug lord, coolio (err, played by coolio), to flood china with drugs.

well, this is a very strange film, which i've been wanting to watch for the last couple of years, just to see if it is as fantastically bad as i'd heard. i was not let down.

stanley tong attempts to create a hong kong action movie with international appeal, but actually manages to craft a huge turkey of a film. the plot is a real 'by numbers' affair, with very few suprises; although, due to the poor script and performances, it is often quite difficult to tell whether people are trying to be witty, sarcastic, serious or threatening, which makes it that little bit more fun. scattered throughout the film are an array of very watchable action sequences: there's some genuinely exciting, high quality stuff and some pretty ridiculous moments, featuring the least subtle use of wires that i've ever been witness to.

still, who doesn't want to see a chase featuring a lamborghini and an f1 car in the streets of shanghai or coolio, aaron kwok and noriko fujiwara fighting on a huge piece of glass, suspended from a crane thirty floors above the ground? weird people, that's who. kwok has always been one of the former pop stars who looks like he could cut it as a half-decent screen fighter, and he manages to do a reasonable job here, unlike the heavily doubled coolio. mark dacascos, who seems doomed to be the star of b-movies, shows some of his physical / martial arts skills and his lack of charisma and acting talent.

still, it may be harsh to critique the dreadful acting, when they hardly have the best material to work with. for example, every scene featuring coolio, begins with him saying "damn, i gotta get me one of these / i could get used to this" (strip bar, ancient palace, nice house, bath house etc etc etc) and usually contains the line "shit, we don't have nothing like this in south central". there's also a constant exchange of friendly racist jibes between coolio and dacascos, which don't really help the film. well, they do make it more unintentionally hilarious...

basically, this film is a big fat faliure but, it fails so gloriously, it is a joy to watch: i think i had a smile on my face from start to end. and, to give it its dues, there is some good action, amongst the not-so good action.

recommended to every fan of craptastic cinema...