The film
begins with the triad boss (Eric Tsang) planting several gang members in to the police force.
It focused on a specific man named Lau (Edison Chen). We were then introduced to another
young police officer, Yan (Shawn Yue), who has a great attention to details. And because of
this impressive trait, he was expelled from the force so that he could instead
become an undercover cop. This fact was known only by Yan himself,
Superintendent Wong (Anthony Wong), and another police. However, as years passed, only the
former two knows.
We then see
the two main characters, Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Lau (Andy Lau), grown up, each performing their roles as
moles. Although they were in the same police academy and had a brief glance at
each other as Yan was leaving the force, they were not able to recognize each
other, even when they hold a conversation together at a stereo shop. And while
Lau is rising in ranks at the police force, with possibilities of a promotion
on the horizon, Yan was getting more and more desperate, trusting no one but
the therapist (Kelly Chen) he’d fallen in love with. Promised that it would only be three
years, it had already been nearly ten years since he’d left the police academy.
We also see his relationship with Wong –
although he resents having been put in this situation, he still cares a lot for
Wong and vice versa.
During an
operation, these two men were once again placed against each other. On one
hand, Yan was communicating with Wong about the cocaine with the Thai drug
dealers using Morse code. On the other, Lau had to find a way to let the triad
boss know what the police are planning while appearing to be trying to capture
them. This incident reveals a turning point in the film: both sides now that
there is a mole, but they are both unsure as to who it is. We also see the
relationship between Wong and the triad boss – it was obvious that the triad
boss was doing illegal activities, but Wong never seemed to be able to find
enough evidence to prosecute him. They also both know that one of them are
going to lose this battle.
What is
probably the most ironic part ensues, as both Lau and Yan were assigned to
locate the mole in their group respectively – themselves. And so, Yan follows
Wong in an attempt to find out who the mole is in the police force, and then
follows this mysterious mole, only to be discovered. And now, both mole knows
about the existence, and even clues, of each other, but they did not see each
other’s face.
In a meeting
between Yan and Wong, the triad boss suddenly called for a meeting where the
one who does not show up must definitely be the mole. In an attempt to protect Yan,
Wong sacrificed himself while Yan escapes – Wong was beaten up when he got onto
an elevator and was thrown down the building. A gunfire fight began between the
gang members and the police. Yan, filled shocked, was taken away from the scene
by a fellow gang member, who later died because of a fatal gun wound. It was
reported that this deceased man, Keung (Chapman To), was an undercover cop. This now begs
the question of if this was true or if the police planted this information in
the news in order to protect Yan. However, because the only other person who
knows about his true identity is dead, I’m going to lean toward the former.
This might also explain Keung’s last words to Yan, which was an advice on how
to identify cops dressed civilian/plain clothes. Perhaps Keung was also a
police once himself and behaved the same way. And perhaps this was why he chose
to take Yan out of the gunfire fight. On one hand, it could be because he feels
like Yan is his good friend, but on the other, it could be because it was his
duty to protect him. Whichever it was, his death led the triad boss to believe
that he was the only mole, and thus felt less suspicious of Yan and the other
triad members.
Using Wong’s
cell phone, Lau contacted the mole, and together, they worked on a plan to rid
the triad boss. The plan works, and this should mean that Yan was allowed back
into the force, correct? But no, to make things more complicated, Yan found out
that Lau was the mole when he noticed a certain marked envelope in his
possession. Lau realizes this, and because he badly wants to become a
legitimate cop, he, with the help of Yan himself, deleted the secured
undercover file from the police database with the password “undercover” in
Morse code, which he was unable to access before. And thus, the last strand of
evidence that could bring Yan back into the force was destroyed. But it didn’t
end here. Yan has an ace up his sleeve – a recording of a conversation between
Lau and the triad boss. Yan and Lau met again on a rooftop, Lau’s fellow police
officer, Inspector B (Gordon Lam), showed up and killed Yan, coincidentally in an elevator,
just like Superintendent Wong. It was then revealed that Inspector B was also
one of the moles that the triad boss has implanted into the police force. This
poor guy obviously did not know Lau’s true goal in becoming a true cop, and he
was also met with the fate of death for knowing too much.
But was Lau
truly a bad guy who only wanted the mask of being a good guy? Shortly before
meeting with Yan, Lau left a message for his wife (Sammi Cheng), a password for evidence that
would prove Yan as truly a cop. And so it appears that Lau was indeed
attempting to be “good”. Or perhaps it was just sympathy, as a previous
conversation possibly highlights this. Lau was told by Yan that he would not
understand how his ten years of being an undercover feels. But of course, if
there was anyone in the film who could understand this, it was Lau.
And in the
end, Yan was finally revealed to be the undercover cop to the world – dead, but
known as a good man, buried next to Wong, and the mole in the police force was
determined by the police force to solely be Inspector B. A flashback of Lau shows
that Lau had always wanted to be a good cop – a scene where when Yan left the
academy, the police asked who wanted to trade place with him, and Lau says that
he does. And so perhaps he knew – he knew that this guy being expelled wasn’t
because he broke any rules and rather, it was because he was to become an
undercover cop – but for the good guys. And now, at the end, Lau got what he
wants – to be part of the good guys.
As for the
film itself, it was well-made, fast-paced, and had no unnecessary scenes. You
can feel the tension intertwined in every moment, invisible battles being
fought. Entertaining, and yet, filled with so much depth, this is a thrilling
film with not police chases and over the top gunfights, but a beautifully woven
story about the contrasting and yet paralleled lives of Yan and Lau.
