THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS is a companion piece to Shaw's HONG KONG GODFATHER and, while not on the level of that classic, still packs one heck of a punch. It's a labour of love for favourite Shaw heavy Johnny Wang Lung Wei, here writing and directing as well as playing the leader of a gang of criminals from Shandong who are busy wrecking havoc in Hong Kong. Against them are a star-studded bunch of cops, including Chin Siu Ho, Alexander Fu Sheng's brother, Lo Meng, Phillip Ko and Beardy. Given this film's outstanding cast you'd think it would have more action, but for the first hour the emphasis is on light plotting mixed with heady doses of comedy. It's okay, but hardly gripping, but then things pick up in the last half hour which leads to a break-neck climax in which characters go berserk and the blood and action flow endlessly. I always think it's more important to end on a high rather than beginning on one, and this is a film that certainly does that.