SPL Review: A Milestone Donnie Yen/Sammo Hung Crime Opus That Still Holds Up
After failing to protect a witness and his family from retribution by ruthless Triad leader Wong Po (Hung,) Inspector Chan (Yam) discovers that he has cancer. Vowing to take down Po no matter what, and seemingly now with nothing to lose, Chan gets a team of like minded officers and begins to resort to illegal means. Hoping to keep things orderly, Chan is assigned a new boss, Inspector Ma (Yen) who has a serious reputation and is more than capable in a fist fight. It’s difficult to believe that SPL was released 15 years ago at the time of this review. I remember the anticipation I had when the first trailer was released and the prospect of a Sammo vs. Donnie matchup with Yen choreographing. What I wasn’t prepared for was the grey shades of right and wrong morality tale and revenge story that carry the film tonally to the […]
