When the customs department uncover a plot to bring a large shipment of Heroin into Hong Kong, they attempt a raid that goes horribly wrong when they find themselves hopelessly outgunned.  The SDU team, led by Mike (Wong), are called in to assist so the customs department appoint Minnie (Leung) as their representative to liaise between the two departments.  Mike and Minnie (hopefully not an intentional Mickey and Minnie joke) soon find themselves at each others throats and their failure to communicate ends up ruining all operations to uncover the culprits.  As time progresses and a lack of results begins to put pressure on Mike's job, the two finally realise that their only option is to work as a team so that they can crack the case and bring the criminals to justice.

Despite it's title, 'First Option' is in fact the second outing for the 'Option' series but is supposedly designed as a prequel to the opener - 'Final Option'.   Michael Wong reprises his role at the helm and, despite his annoying habit of switching between English and Cantonese, is quite adept in the part he plays.  He creates an enjoyable on-screen chemistry with Leung and both clearly display some of the more subtle traits to their characters (even though Leung is a little wooden) but its the script that really holds the film back.  The lack of background explanations and often cringe-worthy dialogue really prevents it from ever moving outside the standard genre boundaries.  Therefore, its the action that takes pride-of-place here and Bruce Law certainly does us proud by providing the film with some exceptionally well laid out gunplay sequences.  Most of these involve huge SWAT style operations that see the SDU storming buildings or fighting their way out of the jungle which is a refreshing change from the over-stylised shootouts that were prominent at this time.  It's also nice to see such a wide selection of realistic weaponry on display which, coupled with the accurate settings, really helps to add to the realism.  There is just one minor drawback though in that with so much going on and everyone in similar clothes, it is often difficult to tell one person from another which tends to distract you from enjoying the action to it's fullest.

'First Option' isn't likely to become a top movie for anyone as the actual story and characters are far to shallow to make it the complete article.  However, the action was always the major ingredient here and in that, Law has provided an outstanding effort that clearly went onto inspire an entire sub-genre.