Gritty, pulse-pounding, Chan Tai-Lee's action-drama opus hurls us in a fall-and-rise-again gangster tale that boasts both bone-crunching action and gut-wrenching emotion: Shi Xiu, once a gang leader of mythic proportions known as the "Desperate Third Son" for his almost suicidal loyalty and willingness to risk everything in the name of the jiang hu code, finds himself reduced to a humble working-class worker, struggling to reconnect with his estranged son and atone for a life of crime. Shi's legend was forged through acts of brazen daring, like his infiltration of an enemy stronghold to rescue the wrongly imprisoned Lu Jun-yi from certain execution. Patrick Tam, in a performance of searing intensity, breathes life into a character confronted with the ghosts of his outlaw past, and clinging to hope for rebuilding his fractured life and finding new purpose. Chan, the acclaimed writer of the "Ip Man" franchise, infuses the film with a sense of hard-bitten optimism, suggesting that even in the darkest of times, an indomitable spirit can light the path to a better tomorrow.