There are those police procedurals that derive their power from a kind of gritty realism, a sense that you as a viewer are getting an exclusive look at the other side of the thin blue line that separates cops from the rest of us. If this is the kind of film you're looking for, you probably wouldn't want to touch this movie with a ten foot pole. All the cop movie cliches are here -- the burnt out loner cop, the tough as nails police chief (who, while he doesn't exactly say he's sick of defending the lead character's screwball antics to the commissioner, otherwise checks off most of the other entries on the standard movie behavior list), the woman who is trying hard to get the cop on the edge to open up and let a little love in his heart, and, of course, he has to team up with a convict to bring down an even more ruthless criminal.

Having said that, this movie has a twist on the formula that is easily one of the most unusual tweaks I've witnessed in a long time: the convict the cop is teaming up with (a former police psychologist before being jailed for a murder) is an expert in hypnotism.

Also, director Benny Chan can shoot action like nobody's business, and the movie is full of opportunities to show these skills off.

Officer Lau, a decorated veteran of the force, has broken into the evidence room of his precinct and burned it to the ground. When he is questioned by our hero, officer Ken Li (Ekin Cheng), he isn't sure why he did it, he just knows he's guilty. (He also seems to know that he abused --probably sexually -- a young girl at some point in his past.) He's also sure he was hypnotized. A drawing of a man walking hand in hand with a small child apparently unlocked some door in his mind and made him susceptible to suggestion.

Then he kills himself while in custody. Officer Li decides to check the database for hypnotists who have recently been arrested and this leads him to Jack Lai (Leon Lai) the convict I referred to earlier. Jack agrees to help our hero, but before too long, he's escaped from custody and may even have hypnotized officer Li into breaking the law and stealing some gems.

And this is where the plot becomes even more ridiculously convoluted, because a criminal mastermind who has a serious hatred of Jack has kidnapped his wife, her sister, and her children and is hiding them in a SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR (cliche no. 2367), and has more or less forced Jack to engineer the jewel heist or else, well, you get the idea.

As I said, this is not a movie for those looking for a realistic slice of life. If this were an American picture, it would probably star Will Smith as the cop, be directed by Michael Bay or Joel Schumacher, and I would basically hate every minute of it.

That, of course, is because neither of those directors have the kind of eye for action that Benny Chan and his stunt coordinator, Stephen Tung, have in them. While the plot is utterly ridiculous, you can't stop watching this movie as it careens about from one fight, shootout, chase scene, high altitude jump, and explosion to another.

Highlights include a rooftop shootout/pursuit about twenty minutes into the movie that contains what I thought was one of the best high-altitude drops that I've seen in quite a while, some great hand-to-hand combat (there is a kick that happens late in the movie that made me feel as if the wind were knocked out of MY lungs) and a chase across a bridge that ends with an amazing dive.

The transfer on the disc was good, but not spectacular. The screeer copy I viewed had static in the black letterbox bars (perhaps a weak attempt to discourage piracy), but I don't imagine that over the counter copies would have the same problem, though they may also have some of the artifacting that pops up in some of the brighter scenes in the film.

Interviews with director Benny Chan and Stephen Tung provide a little bit of insight into the movie (Chan seems to think the movie is much better written than it actually is), and they mention that the sequence on the bridge was a first for Chinese movies (and amazingly shot in just two three-hour days). A behind the scenes featurette is included, but it's the usual talking heads kissing butt that doesn't really reveal much (though some footage of the stunts being filled provides some interesting stuff). Trailers for other Tartan releases (Oldboy, Tale of Two Sisters, and One Missed Call) round out the extras.

But the stunts are the reason to watch this -- check your brain at the door (or maybe you could try to wrap it around the pretzel of a plot) and you're in for a smashing good time (pun intended).