Die xue jiang hu

NO WAY BACK is an engaging little crime thriller drawing in street gangs and police corruption in a fast-paced tale of murder and double crossing. The hero of the hour is Max Mok, whose floppy mane of hair has been shorn to give him an older and leaner look here. The story of an undercover cop being sent to join gangsters is similar to that of INFERNAL AFFAIRS which came much later, but it carries some of the same suspense. There's plenty of action in the cast with the likes of Dick Wei proving reliably entertaining although professionals like Philip Chan and Danny Lee are limited to cameo roles. There's some good material about brotherly bonds towards the end.

You will immediately notice: this story is "El Mariachi". Every detail is there, even many dialogue lines. The strange thing is, this film is listed as produced in 1990. El Mariachi is listed as produced in 1992.

Now everybody should know that Reservoir Dogs was a shameless copy of City on Fire, see "Who Do You Think You're Fooling? (1994)". But this one being the original and El Mariachi the copy? I don't think so. I rather guess this is the remake and should be dated to about 1994.

It certainly hasn't got the style and verve of El Mariachi, but still is fun to watch. If you like Hongkong-Style action playing in Mexico with a definitely chinese touch to it, this one is OK. 6/10