Killer Constable

Kuei Chih-hung's 1980 Hong Kong film follows a chief constable ordered to recover gold stolen from the palace. Leng is known for never bringing anyone back alive, and he has ten days. The film does not follow the usual heroic pattern of the martial arts genre. Leng carries out orders without question, and as the investigation proceeds who is in the right grows blurred; the narrative shows violence as dirty rather than spectacular. Kuei was among the directors who made the studio's darkest work. The images are cold, the locations muddy and the fights short; the closing section is markedly more hopeless than the usual endings of the genre. Who it's for: those who like Hong Kong martial arts cinema and darkly pitched genre films. Who it's not for: viewers expecting cheerful action; the tone stays heavy and the violence is shown harshly.