When Shing (Alex Fong), the boss of the Hung Lok Gang, attempts to woo Ann (Kristie Yeung), a night club hostess, he arouses jealousy in David (Louis Koo) who has had a long term crush on Ann. This leads to an argument resulting in one of David's friends (played by Sam Lee) being beaten to a vegetative state.

David vows revenge but in an ironic turn of events he has to go to Shing for help when Ann's brother is threatened by a loan shark. Shing, in an attempt to win Ann over, sends his right hand man to accompany David in negotiating with the loan shark. Unfortunately things turn very nasty but David shows tremendous courage and Shing is so impressed that he gives him territories to look after.

So begins David's climb up the triad ladder but all the while he has never forgotten his promise of vengeance. Meanwhile Ann and Shing become closer making it difficult for her to choose sides when things come to a head.

Again the familiar themes of brotherhood, betrayal and revenge are used to underpin the story and are the main driving forces behind the characters. One of the good things that this movie has got going for it though is the strong female lead, from Kristie Yeung, that is integral to the plot. This is quite unusual for triad movies which tend to be pretty much male led domains (as you would expect).

While the acting from all parties is of a high standard I found some of the characterisations difficult to accept. Louis Koo's character seems to change overnight from an honest hardworking normal guy to ruthless streetwise gangster. I also couldn't understand how Ann could become so fond of Shing after he was responsible for crippling one of her closest friends. How this comes about isn't given much attention it just sort of happens in the background while the focus is on David strengthening his position.

The action sequences are all competently handled but again there's nothing new here and too few of the scenes actually manage to raise any sort of level of excitement. Most of them seem to be wide panning shots of large groups of men waving machetes at each other. The one exception is the scene where David goes to negotiate with the loan shark, this is genuinely gripping.

On the whole this movie is worth watching but I don't think it will linger long in anyone's memory.

Director Steve Cheng Wai-man (HOROSCOPE I - THE VOICE FROM HELL) gives this yarn a glossy, appealing veneer and Nam Yin's screenplay does a nice job of subverting audience expectations, in the wake of an all-too-familiar opening act. Unfortunately, a couple of major events in the second half are just too arbitrary to ring true and the score is very uneven (while most of the music is original, a key scene is accompanied by a library cue that dates back to the 70s). HK censors gave RULES Category III, though the content isn't really any more graphic than many IIB films. Ng Chi-hung co-stars as a triad with the unlikely name of "Sexy," while Lai Yiu-cheung, Law Koon-lan, and Frankie Chin Chi-leung appear briefly.

The movie may not be especially memorable but the DVD looks great, with a sharp, colourful image, no serious compression flaws, and a brand new source print. The Cantonese (sync sound) is okay but the Mandarin track is rather thick and a little distorted. The English subtitles have their share of errors but also translate signs, pager readouts, and song lyrics, which is a nice change from the norm. The disc includes the theatrical trailer, trailers for A LAMB IN DESPAIR, TROUBLESOME NIGHT 6, and UNGRATEFUL TINK (a sure candidate for the Worst English Title of 1999), and Chinese-only bios/filmographies for Louis Koo (incorrectly listed as "Leo Koo" - looks like someone was thinking of Leo Koo Kui-kei), Kristy Yang, and Sam Lee.