Detailing just how bad things can get after you successfully scores on your undercover mission, Herman Yau's first of 2006 is an unusually star intense vehicle coming from him. Although it's not a stretch of the imagination at all to think the likes of Nick Cheung, Anthony Wong and Francis Ng would appear in a lower in grade quickie. After all, at least two of those mentioned actors have participated in more than their share of whoring disguised as movie roles but we like 'em anyway! We also like Nick Cheung escaping from his wannabe stint at Stephen Chow-esque stardom into solid dramatic territory acting-wise and On The Edge gives us perhaps his finest performance yet, in yet another merely competent Herman Yau crime-drama. Having said that, we also like Yau's consistency!

Working with long time crew such as producer Ng Kin-Hung, cinematographer Puccini Yu and composer Brother Hung, you still wouldn't expect an unusually low-key venture from Yau. Treading familiar ground by mixing past and present, triad activity and police procedure, at heart lies a small scale human drama where Yau directs his lost lead character in a strong, quiet fashion. Being literally lost between two worlds containing their respective ounces of justice and righteousness, Nick Cheung portrays Harry-boy with a very solid, intense dramatic touch. Absorbing the various jabs, he's about to reach a boiling point that surely will require him to scream out but that's warranted, especially in Herman Yau's level headed directed frame.

Arguably the best scenes are the initial ones where Harry is transferred back to his "true" self but there's a fear that the recurring look into the past isn't an effective builder for the very strong scenes in the present. It's all about triad activities, confrontations combined with the undercover angle done to masterful effect in other films (primarily City On Fire) but to be very fair, the work here ranks as fair as well. Yau certainly doesn't spend a great deal of time slowly building the change in Harry over the years and pretty much fails with his romance angle concerning the character of Cat (Rain Li). The drama simply plays better with Harry stuck between the two fractions of cops and triads, not trying to show his new face in front of his love that happens to be a very shallow and in a way also trapped girl. It's still not a worthwhile tangent as the exploration halts at its very basic meaning.

But even with some overdone emphasis on visuals and audio, On The Edge presents the character dilemma in a compelling way, slowly starting to blend in the Bruce Law car- and bike action Universe wanted to sell the movie with. Herman is still clear in his focus but these sudden bursts of mayhem and violence does fine things for the atmosphere. Even an affecting aura is eventually achieved thanks to a terrific Anthony Wong speech at the end that really does spin the perspective all the way into the viewer's mind. The questionable antics of Lung speaks to a righteousness overall since he is one that is prone to violence but has his eyes open more than anyone else amongst the beat cops or shallow bureaucrats. So Nick Cheung develops, Anthony scores and in what is a rather small supporting role, Francis Ng flashes a little of the ol' flamboyance and edge to make the proceedings watchable. At the same time there's minor traces of a less dangerous but correctly tuned triad boss in terms of righteousness. Traits an actor of Ng's range can nail easily. Derek Tsang (star of AV, co-writer of Isabella and the son of Eric Tsang) takes the standard role of the loyal brother to not so much surprising heights but carries himself to a bearable degree as his world starts spinning after the reveal of Harry-boy's hidden agenda.

Despite the horrible poster art for On The Edge, Herman Yau opens this particular production year amongst his usual competent grade but still manages to rise slightly above it by employing a, for him, rare low-key stance to his material, focusing thankfully on character, drama and themes. It just goes to show that standard efforts are worth commanding and Herman Yau has indeed long been one of Hong Kong cinemas most underrated filmmakers. As expressed in the film, some give up early and some stick with it. Yau has lived by the latter mantra and has shone a little light of respectability on himself for some time. You gotta appreciate that.

But there have been surprisingly few Hong Kong crime dramas which have shown what happens to these officers after their mission is over. And that's exactly why On the Edge is one of the more solid films to come out of HK over the last year. Instead of re-hashing the same old plot yet again, it actually tries to break some new ground in the genre. Even though it is not totally successful, it is still very much worth a look if you're a fan of the "old school" hard-boiled HK crime movies.

Nick Cheung plays the undercover cop in question here, a young man named Harry. After Harry busts a crime boss, Dark (Francis Ng), he is handed a measly reward, given a cramped apartment, and sent to work with a hard-nosed detective, Lung (Anthony Wong). Lung's rough tactics cause Harry to question his profession, but he cannot even go back and talk to his best friend (Derek Tsang) or girlfriend (Rain Li), because they -- like the rest of his former gang -- now regard Harry as a traitor. Stuck between two worlds, things take a even worse turn for Harry when he is framed for murder.

What really makes On the Edge stand out are the performances of the actors. Herman Yau started out as a director of gore-fests like The Untold Story, but has since emerged as one of the more solid dramatic directors working in Hong Kong. As could be expected, both Anthony Wong and Francis Ng provide great "bookends" of sorts for the movie, being counterpoints to the emotions Harry is dealing with. Both of them deliver multi-layered takes on what are often cookie-cutter characters, which makes the film so much more enjoyable to watch.

The movie's big surprise is Nick Cheung. Best known for his comedic roles, he has been going in a more dramatic direction over the past few years, and this is his best work to date. I still wouldn't rank him up at the top eschelon of HK actors, but Cheung's performance here is very much far removed from his earlier work (which seemed to consist of imitating Stephen Chow) and has established him -- at least in this reviewer's humble opinion -- as a "serious" actor.

Sadly, things aren't all a bed of roses here. Even though On the Edge only runs at eighty-nine minutes, it still felt like it could have been tightened up a bit. Herman Yau goes a bit overboard with flashbacks, and the movie's pacing suffers as a result.

Also, the ending came off as a bit flat. There's a nice car chase (directed by the under-rated Bruce Law) and a tense stand-off, which is followed by a semi-cheesy slow-motion musical montage that kills one hell of a lot of momentum the film had going. And, if the viewer doesn't get the point of the movie, it's drilled home by a totally unnecessary title card which spouts statistics about undercover cops.

Even with these problems, On the Edge still comes recommended, especially in this day and age when it seems like every crime movie Hong Kong is producing is trying to be Infernal Affairs 4. At a time when most HK directors seem to be taking the safe route, it was truly refreshing to see a bit of originality and daring.