Taiwan experimental writer-director George Hsins thought-provoking film Aground is inspired
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Long before Storm Riders & Infernal Affairs made him into a directing heavyweight, Andrew Lau paid his dues working on genre pictures in the trenches of the Hong Kong film industry, serving as a cinematographer for everyone from Wong Jing to Wong Kar Wai. His directorial debut, 1990s Against All, is a by-the-numbers crime drama that hits all the familiar notes, right down to the obligatory appearances by Danny Lee ( The Killer) as the hero cop & Shing Fui On ( Final Justice) as the bad guy. But Laus cinematographers eye
- & a lead performance from an up-&-coming Nick Cheung ( Election, Exiled)
- make Against All worthwhile viewing for fans of Laus work on the Infernal Affairs trilogy or the films of Johnnie To.
While on a trip to Thail&, teenager Fai (Nick Cheung) falls head over heels for a local girl (Jacqueline Ng, Raped by an Angel). The young lady follows Fai back to Hong Kong, where she finds work as a singer in a nightclub with underworld connections. Quite the looker, she soon finds herself the center of some unwanted attention from a particularly nasty mobster (Shing Fui On). With the triads on their tail, the two lovers turn to Fais policeman uncle (Danny Lee) to save the day. But after Lee is seriously injured, Fai must face their enemies on his own.