A murder of an architect leads to the arrest of Mak Kwan (Francis Ng from Bullets Over Summer). He only pleads guilty of manslaughter but police finds suspicious evidence at his house, including a vault blueprint and explosives. The investigation reveals that he has an extensive engineering background and cop Pao (Lau Ching Wan from La Brassiere) tries to piece together the plan of Mak Kwan's. Soon the investigation does not just become a battle between cops and robbers but between Pao and Kwan...

When Ringo Lam is on top of his game (and working with gritty, raw material), he's untouched by most directors working in Hong Kong. Early on here, it must be said that Full Alert just oozes of strength that wasn't allowed to make it into Maximum Risk. Bottled up if you will and now in Full Alert it exploded! You can talk about clichés forever in any cinema and even Ringo can't avoid them. That's not something that turns out to be negative despite him structuring the beginning of the film like any other cop thriller with interrogation scenes that are kind of stiff and simply made. Nonetheless interesting and representing zero hindrance when looking at their place in the narrative in hindsight though.

Full Alert uses a very non-stylized camera language and Ringo and cinematographer Ardy Kim (Police Story III: Supercop) wisely chooses to visually make certain points only occasionally during the film. Opening for instance emphasizes red and death to good effect while character flashbacks proves to be haunting due to that same filter. The use of handheld camera can be seen in a few of Ringo's films and I've always liked how he makes it fit much better than most directors out there. In other movies, the handheld only seems to be employed due to laziness on behalf of a director but Ringo usually makes it integral for the mood of a particular scene. There is one sequence in Full Alert where the cops enter an apartment filled with explosive gas and the sense of panic works wonderfully well with the fast and loose style of the handheld work. It's not easy to achieve that though and I reckon it takes patience, even when it's as simple as point and shoot, to convey exactly what you need. Lam is known for his meticulous working ways so no wonder this explosive scenario works.

Fleshed out characters and gritty violence is, as I mentioned, two things I think of when talking about the films of Ringo Lam. Lam, co-writing with Lau Wing Kin, structures the movie very clearly which also gives room for development of our main characters. Lau Ching Wan as Pao is the one who needs and gets the most space in terms of that. As many other cops in movies, Pao has trouble balancing work with family life but a key event in the film triggers a decision that he might quit the force. That's in the middle of the investigation though and Pao is now pulled in multiple directions. One concerning his dedication to solve the case, secondly to beat Kwan at his game and finally to make sure those around him are safe, whether it's the fellow cops or his family. In this movie it's not the actor who saves the clichéd characterarc as such but the writers provides a large amount as well. Nothing out of the ordinary is done in the creation of Pao but it's thanks to clear and solid writing that the character seems alive already on paper.

Francis Ng as Mak Kwan does not share many things with his nemesis and compared to the arc of Pao, he seems to receive less depth. That's where casting plays a huge part in making the character presence stand out. Mak Kwan is not to be underestimated and in the hands of Francis, this fact gets even more evident. The surprise twist for the character comes via the fact that audiences sympathy towards him turns around at one point, furthermore solidifying what a great combo of hard hitting and more deeper elements that Full Alert possesses.

The violence in Ringo Lam's movies is something that's always stuck with me. He has rarely shown the ballistic side of shooting action and gunplay. Instead Ringo has focused on making the violence more realistic and in tune with the characters. Full Alert has relatively little action and violence but the overall effect is brutal. Among the things we get to see is a really fine and exciting car chase followed by a short but strong shoot-out.

I have mentioned the actors already but I'm going to talk a little bit more about Lau Ching Wan. Playing a cop yet again, you really should look for the more subtle and maybe not as noticeable things Lau Ching Wan does. There's one shot where he's watching the aftermath of the shoot-out and he does one incredible thing with his face that is impossible to do justice in writing. The portrayal of him as a family man struggling with his purpose as a cop are amongst Lau's best work in the film as well.

What Ringo Lam shows with Full Alert is that he's at his best on home turf in Hong Kong. In 1997 City On Fire celebrated its 10 year anniversary and looking at this movie you can easily see that Ringo had just gotten better and better over the years. It's feels repetitive to always use the word terrific with his movies but with trademark elements once again conveyed in an engrossing fashion, Full Alert certainly deserves to be associated with that grade.

REVIEW:
Lau Ching Wan plays the cop, Francis Ng plays the bad guy and Ringo Lam dictates the rules of the duel. Full Alert is not as unforgettable as Lam's other classics such as City on Fire or Full Contact, but still manages to be a solid police drama.

The movie starts with the senior police officer Pao (Lau Ching Wan) heading up the investigation on the murder of an architect. A suspect called Mak Kwan (Francis Ng) is arrested and explosives and stolen plans are found in his apartment. Apparently, Kwan is a member of a gang planning a big robbery somewhere in the city and now all of the pressure to find the other members is on Pao. It gets worse after the criminals' attempt to rescue Kwan results in a police officer killed in action. Pao begins to lose his mind, entering a dangerous psychological war against Kwan that could cost his job and his family.

As you can see, Full Alert is not a "heroic bloodshed" piece, but a police drama focused in two main characters. Yes, we have a great car chase and some gun fights, but they are there just to add more tension to an already tense scenario between the two. Francis Ng does his usual stuff here, being that kind of villain that makes the audience wish they could jump into the movie only to kick his ass, while Lau Ching Wan plays a tough cop, but with a very human side. He is a family man afraid to fail with his duty and with his ideals. They both had better performances before, but their work here is pretty competent, especially in the final confrontation. Its a very emotional and powerful sequence that can easily brings tears to viewers that follow the mood of the picture.

Ringo Lam did a great job here. He could have made an emotionally heavier film, adding more depth to the secondary characters and their relationships with the main characters. Instead, Lam's decision to focus only in the two main characters gives more agility to the plot, making it work better as a police movie. Full Alert is a solid picture, not as action-filled as you could expect, but it has its own merits.

Full Alert was director Ringo Lam's return to Hong Kong after making the horrid Van Damme movie Maximum Risk. Those expecting a return to the hyper-kinetic action of Lam's last HK effort Full Contact will most likely be disappointed. Full Alert strike a balance somewhere between Lam's earlier gritty HK movies (such as the On Fire series) and his later work like Wild Search. The movie begins in a dark, almost film noir-ish tone as Pao begins to interrogate Kwan and his girlfriend (Lee, who really only provides pretty window dressing) and then goes into a very Hollywood-style crime thriller, complete with a car chase. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Lam handles the characters and story very well, never letting it degenerate into melodramatic mush. We see this most clearly in the scenes between Pao and his family. They're touching and add to the character's development, rather than bog the story down with sappy, cliched dialogue like many other films. It's small scenes like this that separate good directors from great ones.

People like Michael Bay might be able to put together decent action sequences, but one you look past the explosions there's really nothing there. I'm not knocking "pure" action movies -- certainly not many people will chide Jackie Chan or Wong Jing for making films with relatively lightweight stories or weak characters, since the action sequences are usually so original and satisfying. But when the whole package (action and drama) comes together, it's quite satisfying. Films like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, The Killer and A Hero Never Dies prove that you can have an intelligent action movie, and Lam provides another one with Full Alert. Lam even manages to weave some symbolism about the 1997 takeover into this "standard" crime movie. I don't think Bay and his ilk even know what symbolism is, and if they do, they sure as hell don't know how to use it as subtlety as Lam does here.

Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have Lau Ching-Wan as your leading man. He is definitely one of the best actors working in HK, able to run the gamut from comedy to high drama. Lau gives a great performance as he slowly breaks down over the duration of the case. The final shot of the film, where Lau simply looks off-screen while contemplating all that has happened, speaks more than any speech or soliloquy could. Francis Ng, less over-the-top than many of his other roles as a criminal, is also quite good and provides a nice counterpoint to Lau's character.

After watching Full Alert, one can see why Lam was courted by Hollywood. You could easily substitute some decent American actors and a US city and you would have a very good Hollywood movie. It might not provide the biggest bang in HK cinema, but it should satisfy fans of Ringo Lam and crime/action films in general.

When a dead body is found floating in a water tank the police waste no time in arresting a suspect. Leading the investigation is Pao, played by Lau Ching Wan, who quickly begins to realise that there is a bigger picture when it is discovered that the suspect, Mak Kwan played terrifically by Francis Ng, is an explosives expert and that he has in his possession the blue prints to a strong room. Mak quickly confesses to the murder but despite an extended interrogation he refuses to give any further information about his associates or plans.

The rest of Mak's gang become nervous that their plans for robbery may be endangered and decide to free Mak or kill him in the attempt. Although a rescue attempt ends disastrously for both police and criminals, Mak manages to escape and reunited again the gang set about putting their plan into action.

This a extremely well paced and mature offering from Ringo Lam, with the emphasis on the drama and characters. Rather than the balletic chaos that is the characteristic of many Hong Kong films, the action here is far more realistic (as has always been the case with Lam's films) and the use of shaky hand held camera angles add to the realism. That's not to say that it isn't fantastic to look at, the car chase and running gun battle between police and villains that comes when the attempt is made to free Mak is as exciting as anything seen in a John Woo film.

What really makes this film though is the acting, which is faultless. Lau Ching Wan excels as the detective fighting to prevent his obvious stress from getting out of control. When it all finally becomes too much his anger explodes and violence takes over. The relationship between Pao and Mak is also expertly handled as both men turn the situation into a personal competition with Mak never letting an opportunity to mock the policeman escape him. When the final showdown comes each is equally convincing in expressing their characters' rage.

Quite simply, this is Hong Kong cinema at its best.

FULL ALERT is a good old-fashioned crime caper movie. It stars Lau Ching-wan (is it just me, or does he look a little like Mr. Bean?) as Inspector Pao, a rather grizzled veteran of the police force. He tends to have a short fuse, made even shorter by a criminal named Mak (Ng Chun Yu) who, after being arrested for the murder of an architect, escapes with the help of his Taiwanese gangster buddies, with whom Mak is planning a major robbery. Mak, his buddies and his girlfriend are planning to rob the Hong Kong Jockey Club; not only does the Club have lots of money, but it is also a personal matter for Mak. He lost all his money betting on horses at the track, but more important than that is the challenge of breaking into an underground vault that is considered impenetrable. Mak, a former architect himself, plans to enter from underneath, through an abandoned drain pipe that runs underneath the Club.

What really gets under Pao's skin is Mak's taunting attitude; he knows how smart he is, and knows just how Pao plans on preventing the heist. Mak is also something of a philosopher, and strikes a chord within Pao when he talks to him about the difficulty, and haunting aftermath, of actually killing another man. While Mak is cool and calculating, Pao is emotional and prone to explosive action. The final confrontation between the two men is worthy of any number of other Hong Kong action movie finales.

Although Lam claims that he designed the movie to be much more like Hollywood action movies than like those from Hong Kong, the kind movies for which he is so well known, it is really much grittier than most American actions movies; it is closer to such movies as SE7EN than to DIE HARD or even MAXIMUM RIS K. From its opening black and white shots (don't worry, the rest of the movie is in color), FULL ALERT signals its down-to-earth, dirty and edgy qualities. Instead of knocking us over with expensive special effects and bombastic background music, it creates tension and suspense, largely eschewing background music altogether. There are a few special effects, but they are not pervasive or even impressive; an explosion in an apartment, seen from the street, looks patently fake. But don't worry, the pleasures of this movie are not its special effects.

If you are a fan of Hong Kong action movies, and especially the gritty crime movies featuring gunplay and car chases instead of flying fists and kicking feet, definitely check out FULL ALERT. And something to think about while you're watching the movie: Ng Chun Yu, complaining about how cold the water was in the drain pipe, said that he tried to keep himself warm by pissing in the water...now that's inventiveness!