''Beast Cops'' () is a 1998

Hong Kong action film Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling an ...

directed by

Gordon Chan Gordon Chan Kar-Seung (), born in 1960, is a Hong Kong film director, writer and producer. His most notable works include ''Beast Cops'', ''Fist of Legend'', ''Painted Skin'', '' 2000 AD'' and '' Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen''. I ...

(who produced with John Ching, and writer with Chan Hing-ka) and

Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-Yin () is a Hong Kong film director, writer and actor who is a major figure in Chinese action cinema. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often wr ...

. The film stars Michael Wong and Anthony Wong. The film was released on 9 April 1998.

Plot

Tung (Anthony Wong) is a street cop in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

who is friends with a triad ''dai lo'' named Fai (Roy Cheung). Fai hires a hitman to murder a business rival; the hit goes wrong and Fai, implicated in the incident, goes on the run. This leaves Tung in the put upon position to look after Fai's affairs. Soon, however, Tung's squad is assigned a new Commanding Officer in the form of Lieutenant Michael Cheung (Michael Wong), a no-nonsense, tough as nails cop who was transferred for having punched out his own previous Commanding Officer. In an attempt to keep tabs on Cheung and similarly introduce him to their precinct Tung takes Cheung to the disco owned by Fai. There, Cheung meets a madam named Yoyo (whose name in dubbed version is sometimes given as

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

), who is also Fai's moll. Angry and upset that Fai left on such short notice without her, Yoyo accepts Cheung's overture and the two soon find themselves genuinely in love. In the meantime Fai's eager underling, Push-pin, moves himself into Fai's role and attempts to force Yoyo to peddle customers drugs through her escorts. Yoyo refuses, an action which results in Push-Pin slapping her across the face. Cheung finds out and takes revenge by inspecting Push-Pin's establishments every night. As Cheung and Yoyo's relationship turns serious, Tung finds his own relationship with a married woman turning sour. She routinely asks him for money ote: seems she's paying him for sex which leaves him constantly broke. When Push-pin realises slapping Yoyo has resulted in Cheung becoming an enemy, Push-pin hands Tung a handful of money, "as a gift." Actually, this act is a bribe, and when Cheung is later attacked by a group of Push-pin's men and Tung, having made the connection, attempts to bring Push-pin in, Push-pin reminds Tung of the money he'd given him. Tung finds himself powerless to arrest Push-pin without exposing himself as having been bribed. Things come to a head when Fai returns to town and learns that Yoyo is seeing Cheung. Fai goes after Cheung; their fight leads to a standoff with Tung between them, and Yoyo proclaiming she and Cheung are in love and are having a baby. Fai storms off, followed by Tung. The two decide it's time to pay a visit to Push-pin, who has now been officially promoted by the area's lead triad boss, Tai, into Fai's place as ''dai lo''. While Tung waits outside the disco, Fai goes in to confront Push-pin. After an emotional confrontation, Push-pin chops Fai in the neck with a machete, killing him. Tung sees Push-pin leaving the club; when he runs inside to see what happened, the sight of Fai's body on the floor leaves him devastated and wanting revenge. Tung, loaded with alcohol and barbiturates, cruises town to find Push-pin. He receives word Push-pin is back at his underground casino and goes there to bring Push-pin down once and for all. This results in Tung taking on not only Push-pin, but all his underlings as well. Cheung shows up with his officers to help, only to find Tung moments later seemingly dead from a steel spike Push-pin has rammed into Tung's gut. Seconds later, Push-pin is killed by one of Fai's men as revenge for his killing of Fai. As it turns out, Tung survives and he and Cheung pay a visit to the lead triad boss, Tai, where the two promise to eventually bring him down.

Cast

* Michael Wong as Michael Cheung * Anthony Wong as Tung *

Roy Cheung Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung (; born 20 July 1963 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong-based actor, best known on-screen for his roles as Triad gangsters in a number of films. Early life and career As a child, Cheung idolized kung-fu legend Bruce Lee but nev ...

as Brother Fai *

Kathy Chow Kathy Chow Hoi-mei (; born 6 December 1966 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong actress and singer who is widely known for her leading roles in Hong Kong TVB series during the late 1980s to 1990s such as ''The Breaking Point'' and ''Time Before Ti ...

as Yoyo * Sam Lee as Sam * Patrick Tam as Push-pin * Stephanie Che as Yee *

Arthur Wong Arthur Wong Ngok-Tai (, born July 2, 1956) is a nine time Hong Kong Film Awards-winning cinematographer, actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director. Career As a cinematographer, Wong was inspired by his father, who was, himself, a ren ...

as Tai Ge *Daisy Woo as Judy Foster *Sammuel Leung as Paul *Kong Kim as Kai *Chan Wing-fai as Policeman *Che Kim-fai *Gary Mak as Policeman Beast Cops at chinesemov.com
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Awards and nominations

Home media

On 27 December 2001, DVD was released by

Hong Kong Legends Hong Kong Legends was a United Kingdom DVD distribution company, based in Hertfordshire and operating from the UK and Australia between 1999 and 2007. Hong Kong Legends was initially part of Medusa Communications, who, along with Soulblade bought ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in Region 2.

References

External links