Donnie Yen's third collaboration with Wilson Yip (following Dragon Gate and SPL) is much more grounded than the previous two films. The plot involves Donnie Yen who is a fast-to-fight cop trying to tackle a gangs of Triads who are quickly rising to power (featuring Collin Chou as the main martial arts baddie). When his undercover, played only halfway convincingly by Louis Koo, is discovered things take a turn for the worst for all involved. With the police force holding back, it's up to Ma Jun (Yen) to take things into his hands and decide how far he is willing to go to bring an end to the Triads and save his friends.

The first thirty seconds of the film would have you believe this is a hard hitting actioner all the way through; the fighting starts almost immediately. However it isn't until almost the end of the movie that the action really kicks in, but the last twenty minutes is a fury of guns and fists, culminating into a blistering fight scene between Yen and Chou. There is no focus on wires here, instead we are treated to a mix of grappling and hand to hand combat. Yen is in top form, he had apparently dedicated some good time training and it shows; the end credits show sequences of Yen training which is impressive stuff on its own. There is a solid attempt at characterization in this film though Yen is probably the strongest actor at bat here. The plot lines are enough to make us ponder the moral ramifications of the characters actions, though they don't really give much extra impact to the story itself. Overall I enjoyed this a lot more than SPL or Dragon Tiger Gate - it definately feels more authentic and less flashly, which is the perfect progression for Yen.