Synopsis

Lin (Tony Leung) is a tough Chinese private eye living in Tokyo, he has a suave easy style and an entourage of model like sidekicks.

In Las Vegas, Macy (Kelly Chan) is waiting to be married to her Japanese fiancee, Takashi (Nakamura Toro) whom she is marrying against her father's wishes. Unfortunately, she waits in vain as he fails to show up.

When she returns to her new home in Hong Kong, she is confronted by Yung (Ekin Cheng) who is very upset because the check he was given bounced. Finding out that Macy intends to fly to Japan to look for her errant fiancee, Yung tags along in hopes of finally getting his money.

Arriving at Takashi's appartment, they find it abandoned, entering they are attacked by a gang of Japanese Yakuza. Escaping with the help of one of Lin's sidekicks they are introduced to Lin. It turns out that Lin had been hired by the Yakuza boss Ito (Hiroshi Abe) to take photograhs of Takashi's affair with his woman.

Macy who has plans of her own tries to pay off Yung and send him home. However, Yung is not so easily dispatched as he is more than he seems.

A martial art champion, Yung is employed by Macy's father as her body guard, his mission is to return her safely to Hong Kong.

Macy on the other hand has other ideas. She visits a business associate of her fiancee and is drugged, Yung who has followed her dispatches the bad guys while Lin retrieves Macy.

Turns out that Lin is also more than he seems, being an undercover cop charged with locating Takashi and retrieving a computer chip in his possession. With the Yakuza also after Takeshi, Macy becomes the only real lead to finding him, which puts her in incredible danger.

Once Takeshi shows up, victim of a car accident, Macy is used as bait in the final showdown, resulting in a boat chase at the end of which Ito and Takeshi are captured by the authorities.

All identies properly revealed, Macy accepts Yung as her bodyguard, before returning to Hong Kong she throws away her ring, inside which, Lin finds the computer chip he was looking for.

Review

This was the top Lunar New Year movie in 2000 and is extremely entertaining. Ekin Cheng and Tony Leung turn in sound and engaging performances. Although, reality must be suspended in the casting of Ekin Cheng as a wushu champion, and Tony Leung as an Inspector Gadget like Private Eye.

Both Leung and Cheng fake their fighting very well, both doing most of their own stunts, including a very daring one, in which Tony Leung jumps from a truck into a car being driven by Ekin.



Ekin's annoying and talkative character is perfect for him and he doesn't miss any chances to have fun at both Macy's and Lin's expense. The back and forth banter between Lin and Yung is particularly amusing, as is Yung's method of remembering Macy's creditcard number.

Tony Leung as usual gives a fine performance. He is an extremely experienced actor and his portrayal of Lin is tongue in cheek from the beginning, his easy style letting us know that this is all good fun.

Kelly Chen provides the beauty to the mix. However, the pathos and soul searching over the loss of her fiancee is out of place in the fast-paced action.

Jingle Ma never lets up on the action, although some of his stop action photography detracts from the action sequences. The culminating boat and jet ski chase on the river under the highway is exciting and unusual.

The movie is available on DVD with both International and Mandarin soundtracks. The movie had English and Chinese subtitles. Special features include star profiles and a "Making Of" feature.

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