This movie apparently didn't have much of a box office impact in HK theatres, seeing how quickly the DVD was released. Surprising, because I thought this was a rather well made action movie with a fresh script, production values that were fairly high despite a limited budget, and overall giving the impression of not having been haphazardly thrown together like so many other low-budget quickies but rather having been assembled with attention to details such as music soundtrack etc.

It's the story of a professional Japanese killer who runs into some resistance during his latest assassination and after the ensuing shootout, ends up with a bullet in his head. He survives, but with this constant and at times quite painful reminder of the price of violence permanently lodged deep inside his brain, he changes his outlook on life. In fact, the only thing that keeps him from turning suicidal are the adrenaline rushes he gets from extreme situations. He begins to seek out danger and approaches it as if he didn't care about his life, and maybe he doesn't. While doing so, he gets involved with a group of criminals in HK, and makes friends with a young cop and former SDU sniper who can't get over the fact he accidentally shot a fellow officer. Of course the cop gets assigned to the unit investigating the Japanese guy and his gang.

What follows is the familiar mix between heist scenes, chases, shootouts and fisticuffs, interlaced with fast cars and big guns and driven by underlying themes of friendship, betrayal and revenge. Much of this feels fresh, in particular a robbery in the middle of the film that takes a few unexpected turns. The supporting actors are first class, including Terence Yin (how does this guy manage to appear so repulsive time and again?), Lam Suet in a small role, Sam Lee doing his comical relief routine in a subdued fashion, and Josie Ho as the generic tough female inspector. The leads are less impressive: the fella playing the young cop is somewhat bland, and Kenya Sawada is hampered by language and appears for the most part like a Japanese Ekin Cheng (same hair, same facial paralysis).

The movie is not a classic, but after a rather slow start it offers enjoyable entertainment, some fresh takes of stale genre cliches and even the semblance of what could have been deeper layers of meaning. And the action scenes are uniformly well done. Not spectacular or highly innovative, but a testament to solid craftsmanship. The film made me kind of lean back at the end and say to myself: "Now why doesn't Milkyway do films like this anymore?".

Recommended. The DVD is adequate. Good transfer, DTS soundtrack.