Action quickie from the screenwriter of the ‘Ip Man’ sequels and ‘Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In’, ‘Fierce Cop’ can’t quite escape its low budget melodramatics but is buoyed by frequent bouts of high-impact action from Kenji Tanigaki.

Richie Ren plays tough-as-nails mainland cop, Tu, raising his son as a single parent. Said son is bullied by some local teenagers, and when Tu teaches the bullies a lesson (in a brutal martial arts takedown), the father of the leader of the bullies retaliates by kidnapping Tu’s son. A known human trafficker, the gangster whisks the young lad across the border, sending Tu on a frantic mission to locate his son and break up the trafficking ring.

Rattling along from one preposterous situation and unlikely coincidence to another, ‘Fierce Cop’ is relatively light in narrative as Ren is quickly sent on a quest to rescue his son, frequently almost rescuing him only to lose him again, time after time. It all gets a bit eye-rollingly repetitive after a while, and Ren’s emotional outbursts at the (understandably) horrible situation of having his son kidnapped come across more overly melodramatic rather than emotionally devastating. Likewise, Waise Lee as his superior is far too over-the-top for the dark material, proceedings coming off more exploitative than serious.

However, the filmmakers don’t shy away from the darkness of human trafficking, especially child trafficking, with several scenes just stopping short of being uncomfortable but certainly conveying the awfulness of the traffickers. While ‘Fierce Cop’ flip flops between melodramatic exploitation and a serious examination of trafficking, it thankfully keeps proceedings thundering along with Kenji Tanigaki’s excellent action design.

There’s a multitude of blistering fight scenes where Richie Ren wholeheartedly commits to being a fierce cop. He’s a one-man wrecking machine taking on swarms of bad guys with broken bottles in a nightclub, sledgehammers on a work site, and an awesome blade-infused one-on-one. Kenji Tanigaki keeps the action crisp and clear and squeezes out an impressive amount of creativity despite the seeming lack of budget.

A mixed bag with a wayward tone but ultimately entertaining thanks to a brisk pace, a great supporting performance from Chen Yao as the put-upon female who aids Ren in his quest, and lots of quality action design from Kenji Tanigaki.