Mucho ass-kicking abounds in this Donnie Yen thriller, but not until an hour in. Before then, we get a surprisingly taut, black-as-night police procedural thriller that depicts a hidden war between a gang of corrupt cops and a drug kingpin. These factors make KILL ZONE far more than the typical action thriller: it's actually an insight into the mind of a cop who will literally stop at nothing to see his man arrested. I enjoyed the way the film refuses to preach or paint characters in black or white; it's a film where dark alleyways are just as murky as morals and violent death is just around the corner.

It's also got an extremely dark, downbeat tone – I'd even call this film nihilistic. Despite all this, Donnie Yen insisted on inserting a couple of fight scenes in at the film's climax to appeal to fans, and they're the best you'll see out of all the films made in 2005. The first sees our hero tackling a brutal assassin in a famed 'alleyway fight' in which the blood literally flies and the choreography is top notch. Then Yen goes head to head with Sammo Hung, who's lost nothing of his skill over the years (even if he is bigger than he ever was before, physically). This final fight is by far my favourite, with elaborate fight choreography and bone-breaking stunts that never hold back.

Yen's character – more of a supporting role for much of the movie – features the actor at his most likable, with none of the pretentiousness I've witnessed in other movies. Simon Yam, a brilliant actor in my opinion, occupies plenty of screen time as the tormented, dying cop and gives a typically great performance. Hung, too, is multi-layered as the bad guy. The supporting cast is unusually developed – especially the aforementioned corrupt cops – and Jacky Wu has a stand-out, scene-stealing turn as the assassin.

I've now seen three films pairing Donnie Yen with director Wilson Yip. DRAGON TIGER GATE was the most disappointing, relying on special effects and wire work too much. KILL ZONE is the most adult, and probably the best made, with an original storyline for once. My money's still on FLASH POINT as the most purely entertaining, though.

I love eastern cinema. Be it Hong Action movie or quite a few of the recent South Korean efforts (and of course Kitano). Since Tony Jaa came onto the screen (and therefor into many peoples lives),pure action movies do have a difficult stand. Ong Bak (the first one) set a new bar concerning action scenes. They even set the bar higher with Tom Yum Goong. Story-wise on the other hand, both those movies had not that much to offer.

And the same can be applied here. Though the movie tries to have a coherent story, it never got me involved into anything. But the action is more than decent (even when compared to the Jaa-Mayhem). So watch this for the action and try not to mind the story too much.

Opening in 1994 as Triad leader Wong Po faces trial Inspector Chan Kwok Chung transports a key witness, along with his wife and child to the trial. Their car is ambushed leaving the witness and his wife dead. Wong Po goes free and Chan learns that he has a brain tumour after a medical examination. Chan is still determined to bring Po to Justice and puts a member of his team undercover on Po's organisation.

Three years later Chan is due to be replaced by Inspector Ma Kwan when his undercover man is killed. His murder was filmed; the recording shows Po beating the man followed by another man shooting him… the team decide to edit the film so it looks as if Po is the killer. Po is arrested and the actual killer murdered but when the uncensored footage emerges they are in trouble. Po is released again and soon his assassin is targeting members of the team; ultimately it will be up to Chan and Ma to confront Po.

If you like Hong Kong action films I expect you'll really enjoy this; there is plenty of action, some of it fairly brutal and plenty of shocking moments. The level of violence was much higher than I'd expected from a UK-15 rated film. The story is exciting and the characters interesting; the bad guys are definitely bad and most of the good guys are far from angels… watching I had to wonder if it was set in the late '90s as it was more acceptable to show the Royal Hong Kong Police behaving in such a way than the present force. The cast does a fine job both while 'acting' and while taking part in the bone crunching fight scenes. Donnie Yen and Simon Yam impress as Ma and Chan and Sammo Hung is great as Wong Po; he may be a big guy but he has got what it takes for the fight scenes. The fight were some of the most intense I've seen for a while. Without going into too much detail I will say the ending is far from upbeat; it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles; an English dub was also available on the DVD I watched.