Fridae

Director Dante Lam is going from strength to strength. Fresh from the success of his good thriller Connected, he returns with another well-executed thriller, Beast Stalker. Cheesy title aside, the film features highly dramatic sequences, and an intricately weaved plot that comes together beautifully at the end. Plus, Nicholas Tse gives one of the best performances of his career. Giving this B-grade Hong Kong action picture a much needed boast.

Nicholas Tse plays a policeman who accidentally kills a public prosecutor's (Zhang Jingchu) daughter in a car accident while he is pursuing a wanted criminal. As atonement, he must now help the public prosecutor track down another villain (Nicky Cheung) whom she has been trying to bring to justice.

Packed with many coincidences, the overambitious plot does stretch credibility sometimes. So it is to Dante Lam's credit that ,Beast Stalker rises above its flawed script to be more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Well-developed and surprisingly layered, Beast Stalker is a dark dramatic picture that marks Dante as the face to watch on Hong Kong action scene.