My Life Is on the Line

Fong Chin, known throughout the kung fu world as “Minute Fong,” moves with a speed that seems almost inhuman, a talent he times against his father’s gold watch. His swift strikes earn him a fearsome reputation: some seek him out as a hired killer, while others want him eliminated. A particularly desperate scoundrel schemes to kill him to cover up the man’s own crimes, including the murder of his father. In a single, almost clinical moment, Fong Chin ends the threat by taking the life of the would-be killer—and any of his henchmen—before they can react.

Despite the power he wields, Fong Chin carries heavy emotional baggage. His brother does not approve of his line of work and pleads for him to quit fighting, but Fong insists that his violence serves justice—“he only kills those who deserve it.” A flashback then reveals a childhood trauma: the brutal murder of Fong Chin’s parents by bandits, an event that planted a seed of guilt and a moral code that guides his every action.

As Fong Chin wrestles with his choices, a personal crisis presses in. His prostitute girlfriend, Ying Ying, dreams of a normal life with him, but Fong’s life of violence seems incompatible with that dream. He initially tries to shield her by offering money and then stepping away when two men assault her. Yet, after some reflection, he returns, only to learn that Ying Ying has killed herself by poison, a devastating turn that shakes him to his core.

Meanwhile, Chow Sau-tung—the man who has long employed Fong Chin—learns that his star hitman is considering retirement. Rather than accept that possibility, Chow pushes for one more assignment, weaving in new problems by hiring additional fighters and even a corrupt police officer to pressure Fong Chin back into the field. The lure of wealth is dangled before him, but the job Chow offers appears deceptively simple: kill a man in his fifties named Lai in a specific town. Fong Chin agrees, treating it as a final mission, yet the target is not as straightforward as it seems: the town is full of men named Lai, forcing Fong Chin to search for the correct one with care.

In this new environment, Fong Chin finds an unexpected anchor—a local boy who longs for a father figure. The boy’s widowed mother, Chu Hua, recalls Ying Ying in Fong Chin’s memories, and he agrees to teach the boy kung fu on the condition that he attends school. Chu Hua initially resists, blaming martial arts for the family’s tragedies, but she gradually opens up to the idea. As the master-student bond grows, so does the bond between Fong Chin and Chu Hua, and even the elderly grandfather of the boy, Mr. Lai, begins to view him with suspicion, particularly when he notices Fong Chin’s distinctive gold watch.

Immersed in this calmer, more ordinary life, Fong Chin begins to loosen his vigilance about the Lai assignment. Chow Sau-tung grows impatient with the delay and dispatches two henchmen to nudge him along, giving him three days to complete the job. The pressure intensifies as Fong Chin, drawn into a genuine connection with the family he is supposed to destroy, contemplates the consequences of his actions.

When the confrontation finally comes, Fong Chin does strike at Mr. Lai, but tragedy follows quickly. Mr. Lai’s grandson steps in to defend him, and the boy is accidentally killed. The overwhelming grief erupts in a scream from Fong Chin, who flees as Chu Hua and Mr. Lai mourn. In the fragile window of time that remains, Chow Sau-tung’s henchmen strike, and the family is brutally dispatched: Chu Hua is raped and murdered, and the Lai family is wiped out.

Back with his brother, Fong Chin receives a blunt dose of reality. His brother makes it clear that Mr. Lai was innocent, and Chow Sau-tung manipulated events to settle scores with Lai’s family for a grievance long past. Realizing the depth of Chow’s deception and the scale of the harm he helped enable, Fong Chin resolves to pursue Chow Sau-tung and his men, determined to exact vengeance for Lai’s family and to confront the moral rot at the heart of his own life.

In the end, the story remains a meditation on loyalty, guilt, and the heavy cost of violence. Fong Chin’s quest for payback is tempered by the lives he touched along the way—the boy who sought a father, the mother who believed in possibility, and the grandfather who saw too late the danger that lay behind a man’s skill. The film closes on a note of hard-won resolve: revenge may be necessary, but it is never clean, and the price of every choice echoes long after the battle is over.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 10:23