Full Alert is a 1997 Hong Kong action film directed and co-written by Ringo Lam. The film's plot is set in 1997 when cops find a corpse and bomb chemicals, Inspector Pao (Lau Ching-wan) arrests suspect Mak Kwan (Francis Ng) hoping that his girlfriend will lead them to his Taiwanese gang, but Mak makes an escape and the girlfriend makes off for Macao. Pao then figures that the gang will go for the $230 million at the Hong Kong Jockey club while Mak plans his escape from prison.
Mak Kwan (Francis Ng) is an expert in bombs and a highly wanted criminal. After killing off his partner, he is arrested by police officer Pao Wai Hung (Sean Lau), who is in deep guilt due to an accidental killing. Kwan's girlfriend/conspirator, Chung Lai-hung (Amanda Lee) informs the head of the gang that Mak is being held by the police. Since Taiwanese mafia leader Zang (Jack Kao) fears that Mak will reveal their plans, he nevertheless makes a promise to rescue Mak with his underlings and Chan Wah (Raymond Cho), Mak's cousin and another criminal. Knowing the mafia leader's plan, Pao prepares to takedown Mak once more. Although the mafia leader cannot get to Mak, they manage to kill Pao's subordinate Yung (Yung Kam-cheong).
Pao and his subordinate Bill (Chin Kar-lok) are upset over Yung's death and swear to get revenge, and the police force sets off a high alert for the criminals. Chan Wah is then killed by the Zang's men, whose body is placed in a building's radiator in order to frame Pao. Meanwhile, Kwan escapes from prison with the assistance of a fellow prisoner. As he grows to understand Kwan's personality, Pao waits for the latter at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Kwan reacts by tying up Pao's family, including his wife (Monica Chan). When Mak sneaks into the Jockey Club and takes the money, Zang arrives to kill him so that he can take the whole portion of the money for himself. Betrayed, Mak kills Zang. Mak takes the money with Lai-hung and escape, but are followed by Pao. As they engage at a shootout with each other, Pao shoots Lai-hung. Realizing he cannot handle her death, Mak shoots himself.
The Region 2 DVD for Full Alert was released on 17 July 2000. It included a Ringo Lam filmography and the film's theatrical trailer.[4] The BBC referred to DVD's image quality as more poor than average mainstream DVDs but has suffered less print damage than other Hong Kong films.[5]
Outside of Hong Kong, the New York Times praised the film, calling it "one of the best new Hong Kong cop stories (rivaled only by Benny Chan's Big Bullet)" and praising the plot and characters as "well-drawn" and the camerawork as "Mr. Lam's best".[8]Variety gave the film a positive review noting that Ringo Lam "invests the outwardly formulaic crimer with dark character play and a visceral power that are new in his career."[1] A review from the BBC gave the film three stars out of five calling it "far more entertaining" than Ringo Lam's previous film Maximum Risk and that the film "has its moments".[5]Sight & Sound referred to the film as a "bravura thriller" with "car chases and shoot-outs are staged with ingenuity." and that it was "excellently acted by the two leads Lau Ching-Wan and Francis Ng".[9] The review concluded that "Lam tells his story with such verve that we hardly notice it is riddled with clichés."[9]
