Mr. DuLac’s review published on Letterboxd:
It's a Johnnie To film starring Anthony Wong with Triads in it. That's all you need to know.
Seriously though this is a great film. It has all of To's favorite themes he likes to put in his Triad films and is packed in under 90 minutes. One of the reasons he can pull this off is because there is a lot said in this film using no dialogue.
What might need a 5 minute exposition in one film is conveyed in one ice cold glare from Francis Ng. In fact there's a subplot in the film that is conveyed without a single line of dialogue. There's a great deal you can take away from what's going on in the background in this movie.
The movie does have violent shootouts, but it's more about friendship, triad professionalism and honor. One thing that is unique is that while we get big shootouts, the finale of the film is much more personal for the characters and involves very little gun-play but the suspense and outcome mean much more then all the other action scenes in the movie. Highly enjoyed!
Anyone who liked this movie should really check out Johnnie To's Exiled that includes some familiar faces from this film including Anthony Wong.