A young bank worker, Connie (Ning Jing), finds some suspect activity in several accounts, which she brings to the attention of her fiance, Billy (Johnny Lu), who is also one of the bank's top executives. The accounts turn out to belong to one of Hong Kong's biggest crime bosses, who doesn't appreciate people nosing around in his affairs. So, for protection, Billy hires bodyguards, one of whom, Nick (Raymond Wong), is Connie's ex-boyfriend.

Supposedly, Set to Kill is a crime drama tinged with action. But under the lackadaisical direction of the stunningly average Marco Mak, we get very little in the way of drama, and even less action on the screen. Which makes the only real crime present here the headache and/or boredom the viewer will experience if they can actually manage to sit through the whole movie in one sitting.

Like many of his other efforts, Mak (who is also a cinematographer and editor) tends to over-compensate for his movie's weak story and development by going nuts with "fancy" filming techniques. I don't mind a bit of flash, and in fact, if it's used well, these sorts of techniques can add a lot to the flavor of a movie. But here, they simply come off like mindless wankery.

Action director Bruce Law, who is a bit under-rated, but is one of the most consistent and solid people in his field, tries to do what he can to liven things up. Law sets up some fun action scenes, but, once again, Mak goes overboard with the crazy editing, which tends to ruin the flow of the gunfights. It's the last straw towards sending Set to Kill to the realm of the sub-average. While it is by no means a truly horrible movie, there are a lot of other Hong Kong releases in the same vein that are more worthy of your attention.

RATING: 4