A crime wave was hammering Hong Kong when this film was conceived, perpetrated by the so-called Big Circle: Mainland Chinese gangs who cross the border to plunder the city's riches. Inspired by the headlines, first-time director Johnny Mak fashioned this gritty, no-nonsense thriller as a portrait of a Big Circle gang. This small crew of unsophisticated ex-Red Guards may be hicks in the eyes of most Hong Kong residents (just their haircuts are enough to give them away as Mainlanders), but they're still tight-knit and loyal "brothers." That is, until Hong Kong gets under their skin, with all its glittering excess. The film's portrayal of the Mainlanders as murderous misfits and inept criminals is far from sympathetic, but the Hong Kong residents don't come off much better. It's a cynical, corrupt world and, as their simple hit-and-run robbery goes drastically and violently awry, they are set up and betrayed at every turn. The most overtly allegorical of this Hong Kong series, the film depicts the complex web of attitudes of Hong Kong people toward the Mainland Chinese, and vice versa. It's not a pretty sight. --Tod Booth