Protégé

Protégé follows Nick, a police officer who has spent roughly eight years working undercover inside Asia's organized crime networks. He has built a position as the trusted protégé of Lin Quin, a major drug figure who presents himself as the owner of a small supermarket. Quin, growing older, begins preparing Nick as his successor and introduces him to his operations and partners, while Nick's superiors hold back from making an arrest in the hope of reaching higher up the chain.

Directed by Derek Yee Tung-Sing, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tin-Nam Chun and Lung Man-Hong, the Hong Kong production was made with companies from China, Singapore and Thailand, and produced by Peter Chan. It was the first of five films Yee directed in the period covered here, ahead of Shinjuku Incident, Triple Tap, The Great Magician and Sword Master. The cast is led by Andy Lau as Quin, Daniel Wu as Nick, Zhang Jingchu as Nick's neighbor Fan, Louis Koo, Anita Yuen and Nirut Sirijanya; it runs 106 minutes.

Audience response has been positive though not unanimous: on IMDb it holds 7.2/10 from about 6,100 votes, and on TMDB 6.8/10 from roughly 120 votes, the smaller sample suggesting a narrower international audience than its Hong Kong and mainland release.