Movies set in the 1960s brings out some very unique things for its time. Most notably early on in Arrest The Restless, the government wishes to make youths care less for pop stars, music and movies and instead concentrates on worthwhile values. Harmless activities when viewed with today's eyes but director Lawrence Lau (Gangs, Spacked Out) takes care free characters with those interests into the realm of the comedic and violent in his period piece.

I feel like a record on repeat but it's still a fact that Hong Kong cinema rarely showcases a fear of mixing it up in terms of moods. Arrest The Restless is at one hand farce, resonates dramatically and disturbs greatly with some heavy violent acts. Yet, it's a mixture that is highly effective even though it's not always comfortable to watch. Unlike the similar effort It's Now Or Never, starring Cheung Man, Arrest The Restless comes with several aspects worth caring for underneath the glossy surface. Director Lau early establishes fine production values and cinematographer David Chung provides the eye popping colours of the settings and then we're onboard.

There are several interesting themes baked into the story by writers Tsang Kan-Cheung (now regular Stephen Chow collaborator but no stranger to violence as seen in his disturbing directorial debut Intruder) and Joe Chan (Eighteen Springs). You've got the gang conflicts, of course taking place initially at the big dance with everybody sipping soda pop and a set of buffoon cops (the character of Whiz within this group is played by no other than Made In Hong Kong director Fruit Chan!) but soon the issues underneath turns out to be very real ones. During a time where economy isn't prosperous, both Teddy and cop Lam are struck by hard issues of the real world. Lam is looked down upon by his wife as he's not fallen victim to corruption and therefore not as prosperous economically. Home life for Teddy consists of having to keep his mother (Deannie Yip in a wonderful supporting performance) away from loan sharks and it's no wonder he's not choosing to leave his leader status behind because there's no future to look forward to. What basically becomes a fine dramatic driving force of the film is how Lam sets out to actually provide a social service as a cop and get Teddy on the right track while most other characters within the force just randomly arrests whoever they lay their hands or has an political agenda.

All told with a combination of, again, David Chung's eye for the visual and Lau's eye for social commentary. As I said, you will experience quite a contrast of moods throughout and looking back at them, I see Lau effectively making all of this work to entertaining, funny and painful effect. The comedy, mostly headlined by Fruit Chan, registers well as a storyelement, the low-key drama is felt, the hard hitting doses of violence suitably in your face and the complaints along the way in Arrest The Restless stems from the fact that Lau puts the peaks of the moods a bit too close to one another. It would make more sense to keep a better balanced throughline rather than to jump back and forth between scenes such as the acid torture to the comedy cop fight (complete for sportscaster-like commentary by one of the officers on the scene). Some aspects such as Teddy's and Leung Siu Man's relationship seems lacking also but here's where Lau has a knack for featuring what he needs for the audience to accept this portrayal as full.

In a rare starring role we see Charles Heung, known as a profile within the triads but one of the few along with brother Jimmy that actually cared about producing films, not forcing actors and filmmakers to work for them. Charles heads Chinastar today and his most popular acting gig thus far remains the role as the bodyguard of both Chow Yun-Fat and Stephen Chow in the God of Gamblers series. He received a Best Actor nomination for his performance in Lawrence Lau's film here and while not a great act, Heung brings a well-honed stoic and honorable presence to Lam as well as an aura where he's resigned to his fate as an honest but lowly cop. The late Leslie Cheung is extremely suitable for the setting and as a James Dean-esque heartthrob. He responds well to the journey Lawrence takes him through and is equally tough, caring, sensitive and care free. The almost unspoken father-son bond between him and Heung's character is memorable and helps the otherwise expected climax reach memorable places thematically. Watch out for references to the characters of Limpy Ho and Lee Rock during the film. Two real life characters that were highlighted in the bio-pictures To Be Number One and Lee Rock (also directed by Lau) respectively.

Lawrence Lau's prologue feels like the only substandard bit in Arrest The Restless as it so relentlessly and joyously wraps up the story and sends characters on their way. On the other hand, it feels slightly valid and welcome although audiences wouldn't have walked away with less positive feelings about Lau's work here without it featured. Despite, Arrest The Restless is a hybrid of contrasting elements to an extreme almost and if you've not embraced that as part of the Hong Kong cinema experience by now, you'll most likely frown upon the funny, affecting and painful retro journey that Lau takes us on. If you have accepted, Arrest The Restless takes on gem status with effective execution in all areas.

Like many crime movies cranked out in the early 1990's, this is fairly standard Triad stuff. The difference from similar films in the genre is that it is more of a period piece. There is a more relaxed attitude in here which might prove off-putting to some viewers, but it actually allows the characters to develop more -- to a point. Despite its' attempts to become something more, Arrest the Restless ultimately falls into cliche and stereotype. Just about every generic character falls into the mix here, and this tends to grind the film down in parts.

If you were expecting some Category III over-the-top violence to liven things up, you will probably be disapponted. There are a couple of violent scenes (including one where Leslie's girlfriend Vivian Chow gets acid dumped on her face), but the rating I suspect comes more from the fact that some of the characters are based on real people (or just for "young Triad" shenanigans in general) than for violence. At any rate, Arrest the Restless is nothing mind-blowing, but it does provide some decent entertainment, mostly through the star power of Leslie Cheung. Even though he looks a bit old to be playing a young hooligan, Cheung does manage to create an interesting and sympathetic character that should manage to hold the viewer's attention, even though the rest of the film is strictly by-the-numbers.