Johnnie To returns to the police/crime drama with "PTU." He takes his assured cinematic style to the level of the beat cop in this tale of a police officer, Lam Suet, and his efforts to recover his lost gun before the end of the graveyard shift. Simon Yam, as a squad leader of a Police Tactical Unit (PTU), assists Suet during the same shift. They have until dawn to recover the gun before the incident is to be officially reported. During this time, Ruby Wong, playing a CID investigator, is on her own search for information as to what is actually transpiring between Suet and the PTU squads.

Johnnie To's direction is very deliberate, quite and unassuming. He lets the characters define themselves by their actions. For example, Simon Yam's strength of conviction is implicit in how his character faces situations, which appear corrupt at every turn. When physical coercion is exercised, the violence is startling. Although the main protagonists are police, they seem to live by an unwritten code of ethics that borders on moral ambiguity: That means living in the gray areas where bending the rules to the breaking point is necessary. The cinematography by Cheng Siu-keung heightens this moral decay as the characters are presented in harsh shadows and reflected light. There are no soft edges. Chung Chi Wing's music perfectly captures the film's deliberate pace and complements the cinematography.

"PTU" tells its story in a tight 88 minutes. The script by Yau and Au is a tad too tidy and clean and coincidental, but the deft execution is what makes this film so enjoyable. The standouts are Simon Yam, Maggie Siu and Ruby Wong. Lam Suet is quite good but his braying performance is too affected.

Johnnie To's smooth direction in "PTU" furthers the work illustrated in "The Mission" where characters are heavily defined by their actions and the consequences thereof, which lends to elaborating where dialogue is sparse. It is with an unflinching eye that To is able to capture portrayals that are so full bodied and speak volumes in character development.