King of Triads

Don't you hate it when the first half of the movie is unrelentingly badass only for the second half to turn it into a steaming pile of crap? Simon Yam is listed as the star of this movie, but it really is Andy On. He has developed into a genuinely skilled martial artist with a tough guy attitude and he has plenty of scenes in this movie to show it off. Nicky Li does the choreography, which is aggressive, hard-hitting, violent, and requires athleticism to pull off. Li also did Invisible Target and Legendary Assassin (both Wu Jing vehicles); picture Wu Jing's speed combined with Tony Jaa's visceral power and that's the kind of fighting you get to see Andy On do here. His fight against Ken Lo in an empty dojo is particularly outstanding.

Except...the film itself sucks, and sucks bad. I can't explain why it's so terrible without spoiling it, but I will say that the second half feels more like a horror movie more than an action thriller. There are movies with heavy darkness and grittiness to them that can be compelling (see: Dog Bite Dog) but this movie will instead make you crack up repeatedly at its ridiculously bad script and predictable storyline.

In fact, I wanted to laugh at how bad it was, but I was too busy being mad at how bad it was, if that makes any sense.

Oh, did I mention that Andy On is ridiculously badass?