Featuring: Wong Yuen San, Pai Ying, Kenneth Sang, Lau Hok Nin, Ang Saan, Chick Se, Tony Lau, Luk Ying Hong, Hoh Kwok Yue, Mak Kwok Hon, Chan Kime,
Director: Ang Saan
Synopsis:
Ho Chung (Pai Ying) is a hot tempered HK Police Officer whose attention is drawn to an arms smuggling ring after the death of one of his colleages by a crook called Turkey (a fine performance by Lau Hok Nin). To Chung's disappointment, the case is passed over to another department led by the more level-headed Super Intendent Kwok Keung (Wong Yuen San), a good friend of Ho Chung's and who plays things strictly by the book. Frustrated by the situation, Chung assaults Mr. Ma (Kenneth Tsang), the alleged head of the illegal arms operation, which leads to an argument with his Chief and his eventual resignation.

As the story continues, Kwok Keung is still unable to find any concrete evidence to convict Ma and Chung begins to increase the intensity of his personal vendetta against the crooks which yields some tragic results. Further complications arise when Ho Chung's sister goes undercover and seduces Ma in an attempt to extract vital information out of him for the police.

'Cop Killer' is a fast moving action thriller which benefits greatly from it's tight pacing and an intense central performance from Pai Ying. The main bulk of the film is taken up by Chung taking on the gang single handedly with his fists, bats and guns, followed by increasingly violent counter attacks towards Chung's family from the bad guys. This builds nicely to what should have been a killer, 3-way showdown but instead, we get a prolonged and slightly unsatisfying resolution to the tale which seemed more like a tacked on afterthought and takes most of the punch out of the films climax. (For those that have seen this film, I'm assuming the inclusion of the "courtroom" scene was included to avoid any possible censorship issues in Hong Kong?).

However, despite this flaw, (which is only a personal opinion - some may find the ending quite plausible?) 'Cop Killer' was a highly entertaining film. The story was tense, with the action being tough, brutal and at times, quite sadistic (e.g. a woman being gang raped in front of her handicapped son) so I would only really recommend this film to fellow de-sensitised souls out there! Still...fans of the grittier New Wave crime flicks that were to emerge a few years later are also strongly urged to check this one out. English Dubbed