Things are looking bad for Timmy Choi: the drug dealer has been caught, and the law in the People's Republic of China stipulates the death penalty for cases like his. Choi's only way out is his knowledge of the criminal networks: if he spills the beans, Chief Inspector Zha¯ng will let him escape with his life. Zha¯ng and Choi are forced to trust each other - and therefore play a double or triple game ...
Johnnie To's first action film to be made as a People's Republican rather than a Hong Kong production has the ideological gray values to be expected under these circumstances: on the surface, Drug War is a pro-death penalty film. After watching the trailer, you know that Choi ends up strapped to a stretcher in the Omega Suite, hyperventilating as he looks at the tube through which the “Jesus Juice” will flow into his veins. In other words, it's clear how it ends - Choi doesn't stand a chance. And that's exactly how To develops its drama. Rarely has one of his works been as darkly desperate and hopeless - in film noir in general, you think to yourself, the closer the end comes, the more corpses pave Choi's and Zha¯ng's paths, the more grotesque and monumental the shoot-outs become - in the end they are street battles of war movie dimensions. Paint it black.
