San ren xing

Watching the new Johnny To films has become a duty. It looks like WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES and MAD DETECTIVE are going to be the best we get out of him but his new film THREE intrigues.

For a movie enthusiast it can be seen as the heir to the great Hong Kong kung fu films. It's a cop movie set in the emergency ward of Victoria Hospital. After some gory close ups of drilling into skulls in the operating room, we move into the plot with shot criminal Wallace Chung being wheeled into Emergency handcuffed to his gurney.

Dr. Vickie Wei Zhao (SHAOLIN SOCCER, RED CLIFF)is already under fire from a patient after her operation left him paralyzed. He spits on her and calls her "Rubbish Doctor" and her success rate doesn't improve. She's at odds with To regular, stony faced police officer Louis Koo, who she feels is treating Chung inhumanely. Doctor and cop get into conflict over Chung's demand for the 'phone call that he is entitled too, with the patient quoting The Hippocratic Oath to her (in English) - good scene.

While this is happening, the crazy in the next bed gets away from his restraints complaining about his treatment, cop Lam Suet is trying to find the conspirator-suit who whistles classical music and the key to his hand cuffs is missing.

Finale is a large scale shoot out in slow motion - impressive moment when the moving camera comes through the ward doors and the action switches to normal speed and the sound of gunfire and panic.

The ending strips away most of the undertaking's dignity but by then there's been enough kinetic action to more than satisfy the target audience.