PTU stands for “Police Tactical Unit,” and I’m booking this Hong Kong copper crime drama in the C+ column. It exudes potential from the outset, but tosses much of it out for a clichéd, slo-mo final shootout.
Chronicling one crazy night for the PTU, Election director Johnnie To’s film starts off just fine — even a little funny — as the rotund, chain-smoking Sgt. Lo (Suet Lam) crosses paths at a late-night diner with the wrong guys: neighborhood thugs who think they’re hot shit and all that and a bag of shrimp crisps.
Soon, the gang’s leader, the aptly named Ponytail (Chi-Shing Chiu) is dead from a knife through the back, but not before he runs down the street and tries to drive himself to the hospital, while Lo slips into unconsciousness after an alleyway fall in pursuit, and the other gang guys steal his gun.
From there, Lo’s colleagues — headed by the stoic Sgt. Ho (Simon Yam) — try to retrieve his weapon, which leads into an ever-the-more-muddled, loosey-goosey narrative that grows too messy in its second half. At least To makes the proceedings look slick. I liked the slight seriocomic, near-episodic approach, and the decision to make the cops corrupt assholes; its score, however, is atrocious. —Rod Lott
And then the corpses she leaves behind become reanimated and pick up her bad habits. And the cops show up, bringing the Army with them, and they seal off the building and won’t let anyone out.
Crossing their paths is Lucky (James Franciscus), who owes $13,000 in gambling debts to a mob boss, but is really a Justice Department agent undercover. To that end, Lucky befriends a circus midget named Samson (Billy Barty), gets a job shoveling elephant poo, and falls for Justice (Barbara Eden), who rides Wonder Horse under the big top in a bejeweled bikini that highlights her great ass. 
Many of the film’s visuals are derived from period photos taken by Charles Van Schaik, including a lot of children in their coffins, and the narration by Ian Holm comes entirely from newspaper articles and obituaries of the time. Many of the incidents are re-created using actors.