Undercover police officer King Wu (Philip Ng) has infiltrated a drug smuggling ring, but he has already broken one of the three major rules of undercover work—never expose your true identity, never commit real crimes, and never get personal with the target—and will likely break the others soon. Wu has fallen in love with crime boss Bob’s (Suet Lam) daughter, tattoo artist Dawnie (Aka Zhao). Bob knows there’s a mole in his organization, and suspects it’s the dim-witted and unpredictable Tiger (Vanness Wu), but Bob likes to sample his own product, and isn’t the most keen observer. He and his crew are about to carry out a massive drug deal with the mysterious Ha (Andy On), and so he doesn’t have time to investigate.

After Ha arrives, things go awry, and the deal is interrupted by a masked biker, who steals all the money and burns up the drugs. A firefight breaks out between Ha’s mercenaries and Bob’s crew, and Bob is taken out of commission in the process. Bob’s boss, Madame Tung (Carrie Ng), wants Wu to take Bob’s place in the organization, which he reluctantly agrees to. Ha runs a massive drug smuggling and human trafficking operation on a freighter in the middle of the ocean, and is upset with how the deal turned out—he demands that Wu provide him with Bob’s meth cook, but Wu has never been privy to that information, so he and Tiger start to investigate. Meanwhile, two members of the Trident organization—a special force for fighting organized crime in the high scenes—are also after Ha. Magnum (Shuai Chi) and his sniper partner Eva (Wenjuan Feng) have a complex past with Ha, who used to be part of their organization before he went rogue, and are now trying to put an end to his illegal operation. However, Ha has massive resources and a small army of mercenaries on hand, including his own sniper. So the agents are going to have to team up with Wu and Tiger if they have any chance of stopping Ha.

I had mixed feelings about this movie. I enjoyed its comedic tone, and it had some really great fight sequences, but the plot of the film was overly complex and convoluted. It often didn’t make any sense, and there were plot twists and turns that just weren’t necessary and just added to the confusion. The dialogue was also a bit odd, poorly-written, or just plain ridiculous at times. The film is a throwback to the more comedic kung fu flicks of the 80s. It gets a bit campy and over-the-top at times, such as when Ha informs Wu that he’s no longer following him on social media as a way to try to “hurt” him. There are sight gags, such as in the opening when Bob is talking about there being a mole in his organization and the camera lingers on the big, hairy mole on his face. And Tiger is also the source of much humor. He is completely loyal to Wu due to the fact that he has saved his life twice. He is handy with a knife, but gets distracted easily, is quite odd, and isn’t really the brightest guy. However, the film does feature some excellent an entertaining fight and action sequences throughout the film. Wu often finds himself up against a room full of mercenaries with just his fists and feet as weapons. When he’s not showing off his knife skills, Tiger finds himself running across rafters, dodging scaffolding, and clinging onto the roof of a moving vehicle. And Eva often finds herself under fire while trying to take down the mercenaries with guns. Overall, the film is still quite entertaining despite the sometimes lackluster script.

Like most Well Go releases, I started off watching the film with the English dub track, however, it got a bit too cartoony and overacted at times, and some of the characters even had a trace of a British accent. While I generally preferred the original language track, some of the subtitles were a bit poorly written or made little sense, and the spoken dialogue was actually worded a bit better. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds quite good. The picture is for the most part clean and detailed. There are a few scenes that come off a bit foggier or staticy like an old TV broadcast, but it felt like this dreamlike look is what the filmmakers were going for in these sequences. The film utilizes a jazzy score which initially seemed a bit out of place, but ended up actually working quite well. And every kick and punch is over-accentuated on the soundtrack, like your classic kung fu flick. The Blu-ray disc is packed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a cardboard slipcover. Unfortunately there is no bonus material included, and like other Well Go releases, there is no digital copy.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:30:24)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Mandarin Stereo, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Stereo
• Subtitles: Full English, English

Extras:
All trailers play back-to-back once one is selected.

• Trailers:
  • International (1:28)
  • US (1:33)
• Previews
  • The Paper Tigers (2:30)
  • Russian Raid (1:39)
  • Silat Warriors: Deed of Death (1:44)

Final Thoughts:

Undercover Punch & Gun is a fun action/comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously, often going for campy and over-the-top humor mixed with some genuinely exciting action and fight sequences. The story is a bit convoluted and overly-complex with a few too many twists, and suffers from some poor writing at times. Well Go’s release features solid picture and sound, but doesn’t include any bonus material. It is an entertaining popcorn flick, but may be something folks would want to rent first before making a blind buy.