PTU

A police tactical unit patrols the streets of Hong Kong over the course of a single night. When a plainclothes officer, Sergeant Lo, is beaten by a street gang and has his service pistol taken, the loss threatens his career, since a missing weapon carries serious consequences in Hong Kong. A tactical unit led by Sergeant Mike Ho sets out to recover the gun before morning, but the search repeatedly puts the officers a step behind events, and the night grows more dangerous as it draws them into gangland crime.

Johnnie To directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Yau Nai-Hoi and Au Kin-Yee. It is the twelfth of the twenty-three features he has directed in chronological order, arriving between Wu Yen and Running on Karma. Simon Yam leads the cast as Mike Ho, alongside Maggie Shiu as Kat, Lam Suet as Lo Sa, Ruby Wong as Leigh Cheng, Eddy Ko and Lo Hoi-pang, with twenty-five credited cast members in all.

Released in April 2003, the film runs eighty-eight minutes. It holds a rating of 7 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 5,800 votes and the same score on TMDB from far fewer votes, suggesting a small but broadly satisfied audience. A critics' rating of 5.8 out of 10 from seventeen reviews places professional assessment somewhat below the audience response to the film.