The droll opening, set in a restaurant where the pecking order is rigorously observed, gives way to a complicated but uninvolving cat-and-mouse game between the police and rival gangs.

Characterisation, always a hit and miss affair in To's films, is deliberately rather thin. Instead, To and his cinematographer, Cheng Siu Keung, make the greasy, near-abandoned streets of the Hong Kong capital come alive

It's an oddity in some ways, and its brief appearance in cinemas can only be the precursor to a DVD release, which is how it will mostly be seen. It's a smart, sharp piece of work, however big the screen.

The point of the exercise is really the unfolding of sundry edgy night-time encounters and action set-pieces, each constructed with To’s customary patience, while his vision of Hong Kong after dark exudes an eerie calm that’s cumulatively hypnotic.

A conclusão interessante não compensa os 80 minutos necessários para contar um fiapo de história aborrecida.

...all the moody cinematography in the world can't disguise the inherently dull screenplay...