2 million taels in gold has been stolen from a vault within the Forbidden City. The Empress wants the money returned within 10 days. Chief Constable Leng Tian-Ying is hired to bring back the gold robbers, dead or alive- and Leng's earned a reputation of never bringing anyone back alive.
Acting
Chen Kuan-Tai's hollow-eyed fanaticism—terrifyingly committed.
Direction
Kuei Chih-Hung's relentless downward spiral choreography.
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI carnage: every slash, fall, and fire stunt hits different.
Director
Kuei Chih-Hung
Chen Kuan-Tai
Leng Tian-Ying
Ku Feng
Fang Feng-Jia
Walter Tso Tat-Wah
Security Chief Liu Jing Tian
Jason Pai Piao
Fan Jin-Peng
Chiang Tao
Zhao Jian
Dick Wei
Sun Heng
Lee Chun-Wa
Tao Bau
Yuen Wah
Ba Jia
Kwon Yeong-Moon
Zhang Long
San Kuai
Wang Wan-Wu
Leung Seung-Wan
Ah Niu
Teresa Ha Ping
Ah Niu's Wife
Keung Hon
Lord Wang
Yau Chui-Ling
Xiao Lan
Gam Biu
Ma Zhong
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kuei Chih-Hung subverted Shaw Brothers heroism here—Leng's 'righteous violence' curdles into self-destruction, predating the heroic bloodshed revisionism of John Woo by years.
Released during Hong Kong's 1980s identity crisis, the film's rotting Qing bureaucracy reads as anxious allegory—imperial authority as hollow gold.
HK
