SPL

aka: Sha Po Lang
Hong Kong 2005, 93 minutes
Dir. Wilson Yip
In Cantonese with English subtitles
Rating: [R16]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Action/Adventure / Martial Arts

Feat. Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Simon Yam, Ken Chang, Wu Jing

Aroview: Intense cops-and-hoods thriller which clearly raises the bar for Hong Kong martial-arts by infusing its tale of an idealistic cop (Yen) who goes on the warpath against a beefy crime lord (Hung), with brawny, dazzlingly fast displays of 'wushu' fighting.

One of Yen's chief obstacles is also the dubious techniques of his police team - still loyal to their former leader Yam - who get successively smashed to pieces by one violent, imposing hitman, Wu Jing (a champion 'wushu' fighter in real life). 'Old School' in its overall approach, dir. Yip expands the basic premise with some terse thematic comments on father-son relationships, providing en excellent cocktail of drama, danger and fist pounding.