Ostensibly a serious police procedural drama that follows a special team as they try and crack a heroin-dealing ring, Vice Squad 633 veers all over the map during its' running time. This sort of thing is fairly common in Hong Kong movies, where a film can be dead serious in one scene and cartoonishly funny the next.

The great movies can pull this genre-switching off effectively, and have done so to make some of the most unique films produced anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, Vice Squad 633 isn't one of those movies. It's not a bad picture per se, but one gets the feeling that if the film-makers had concentrated on the actual police action rather than dopey comedy or T&A, this could have been a much more effective movie.

Vice Squad 633 does hit a lot of things right, though. The whole style of the movie, drenched in 1970's cheese, gives it a wonderful sense of style. Almost like a bad acid flashback, the mise-en-scene -- propelled by an outstanding funk/synth soundtrack -- nails the senses, and makes the proceedings fun to look at, even when some of what's actually going on isn't all that exciting.

There's also a sense of reckless abandon which is a bit infectious. Vice Squad 633 comes off at times like a Wong Jing movie, with so much stuff thrown at the viewer. The problem with this method of film-making is not everything sticks, but when it does, the proceedings can get quite exciting, if a bit puzzling. Case in point: near the end, the cops turn in their guns, which apparently allows them to forget about getting a warrant and just go in and bust the bad guys. The kung fu-filled final confrontation turns out to be pretty solid, but the set up makes little to no sense.

At any rate, despite its' flaws, Vice Squad 633 is a fairly enjoyable cop action/drama. There's nothing award-winning about it, and some parts might have you itching for the fast-forward button. But overall, this is a nice example of Hong Kong movie-making in its' prime, when even the most throwaway of entries could at least provide some decent brainless entertainment.

RATING: 6