Jet Li takes his first starring role in a US movie here, playing an ex-cop convict who flees to America to avenge the death of his brother and gets entangled in a Mob war. During his investigation, he continually mixes with the daughter (played by singer Aaliyah) of the rival gang's head thug, yet the film-makers are too cowardly to take the interracial relationship beyond mere friendliness. Even for an American movie, the martial arts sequences are very badly choreographed, and there is far more hip-hop music and lingo than either plot or action. Fortunately, Anthony Anderson provides some welcome comic relief as a dim-witted henchman.

Two warring gang families (one African-American, the other Chinese) maneuver for bragging rights to the Oakland, California, docks. Hang Sing and Trish O'Day uncover a trail of deceit that leaves most of the warring factions dead … or worse!