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It all starts when detective Chan (Simon Yam) is entrusted with
guarding a prime witness against gangster boss Po (Sammo Hung) during his
transfer from his hiding place to court ... but bos Po has him killed in a
staged traffic accident, that only detective Chan and the witness's
little daughter Hoi-Yee survive - and Chan immediately decides to adopt
the child and have his revenge on Po - a matter that becomes al the more
pressing when he learns that he has terminal cancer and his time is
running out ...
2 years later: Chan has since assembled a trio of cops - Wah, Lok and
Sum - around him who are like him hell-bent to give Po his just desserts,
no matter at what cost, and who, like him, also care about little Hoi-Yee
and are planning for the time after Chan's death from cancer ...
But now time is really running out, as within three days Chan is
to be retired and replaced by detective Ma (Donnie Yen) who isn't really
into the whole vendetta thing.
Then Chan's undercover man within Po's organisation is killed, and
somehow, Chan and company get their hands on a tape that shows Po beating
the undercover copto a pulp with a golf club - then it shows someone
else shooting him ... Chan and the boys figure they have found gold
anyways, since they can manipulate the tape so it looks as if Po was the
killer, then they bully the witness who took the tape into confessing he
has seen Po shooting the man, and they take care of the real killer, just
to make sure ... which is when Ma catches up with them and sees them
brutally killing the killer. Ma is understandably shocked, but somehow
Chan and the others can persuade him that it is all for the best of
justice, and since they cannot take in Po by legal means, they are gonna
help a bit, just to let justice prevail (which is of course
questionable at best).
Po is soon brought in for questioning and taken into custody, but his
men leave no stone unturned to prove their boss's innocence, and
eventually they find a copy of the tape, showing who the real killer was
... and all of a sudden, Po is a free man again, while Chan finds himself
on the run from internal affairs. And the first thing Po does once
he's out is to order Chan's men assassinated. Ma does his best to save
them, but he always arrives on the scene of the crime to late ... and with
his dying breath, Wah tells him that htey have actually stolen a large sum
of drug-money from Po, for the sake of little Hoi-Yee.
Eventually, Po agrees to forget the whole thing should the money be
returned to him, but Chan actually plans to use the handover only as a
means to get close enough to Po to kill him ... but somehow, Po has
anticipated that, and ultimately, Chan ends up all tied up at Po's mercy.
Enter Ma, who has since quit the force to concentrate on Chan's vendetta
that has since become also his. Soon enough, Ma and Po fight it out, with
Ma ultimately defeating Po ... or so it seems, as seemingly out of
nowhere, the defeated Po appears with new-found strength and pushes him
out of a window to his death.
Now, Po is victorious at the end of this film ?
Not really, because he pushed Ma right onto the car where his wife and
baby son, the only two people in the world he really cared for, were
sitting in, and when Ma came crashing onto the car, it meant their deaths
too.
The last scene shows Chan sitting at the beach and watching little
Hoi-Yee play ... and slowly, he dies from his terminal cancer ...
Ok, so this film has Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen, two of Hong Kong's top
fighters, engaging in combat, which of course looks terrific, this film
has plenty of cool action and fights, and quite a bit of gore, and a
stylish direction doesn't hurt either, naturally. But what really makes
the film work is an excellent script, that takes the tired old plot of a
cop taking revenge, twists it around a bit (well, a lot), and in the
process asks uncomfortable questions without giving simple answers and in
which the distinction between good guys and bad guys is harder than ever,
especially in scenes where the cops (the traditional good guys) turn out
to be bullies and even cold blooded killers, while the gangster boss (the
traditional bad guy, chillingly portrayed by Sammo Hung) turns all soft in
things concerning his wife and baby, even to the point of crying
uninhibitedly. In this respect, to have the finale take place on Father's
Day, where everybody is suddenly reminded of his fatherly role, was an
excellent decision (and not half as cheesy as it sounds).
In short, Saat Po Long is a great movie, highest recommendation.
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