During an orchestrated drug bust at a marine loading dock, Detective Stan Zedkov (Michael Rooker) kills Triad lieutenant Peter Wei (Yau-Gene Chan). Zedkov had cornered Peter Wei and had injured him with a gunshot. Peter ran across the marine dock, trying to find an escape route, but Zedkov had the entire place locked up. Zedkov wanted to capture Peter alive and had told all units to back off and not fire on Peter. But when Zedkov tries to arrest him, Peter tries to shoot at Zedkov, forcing Zedkov to gun him down and kill him. Peter is survived by a wife and a toddler son. Zedkov attends Peter's funeral and tells Peter's father Terence that it was Peter who made his choice. But Terence says that Zedkov made his choice when he decided to pursue a vendetta against him and his organization. Looking to exact revenge for his son's death, crime boss Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang), sends for professional assassin John Lee (Chow Yun-Fat). Paying off on an old debt, Lee has already killed two targets for Wei, and the crime boss tells him that this third and final job will wipe out the remainder of his obligation. Lee is a sophisticated killer and not the usual gun for hire profile. Terence wants a child for a child. Because Zedkov is a cop, Terence needs an outside who cannot be traced back to him. However, Lee's conscience prevents him from completing his final assignment: to murder Zedkov's seven-year-old son Stevie (Andrew J. Marton) before the detective's eyes. Realizing that his actions will result in retaliation against his mother and sister, Lee prepares to return to China, enlisting the help of old friend Alan Chan (Randall Duk Kim), a monk in a local Buddhist temple, to make arrangements to have his family moved to a secure location. Alan says that Lee would not be able to protect his family for long, and the only way out is an attack on Terrence himself. Infuriated by Lee's disobedience, Wei orders his men to hunt for him and has his men in China begin the search for Lee's family. Wei also hires replacement killers to finish the original job of killing Zedkov's son. No longer able to use the Triad network to get out of the country, Lee searches for alternative means outside Wei's sphere of influence. Lee Triad contact Eddie (Frank Medrano) refers him to skilled forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to have her create for him a new passport. Lee is willing to pay her price but wants the passport in one hour. Before she can finish the job, Wei's men storm her apartment, destroying the computerized tools of her trade in the ensuing shootout, but Lee manages to escape after gunning the men down. Coburn is picked up by the police, unsuccessfully interrogated by Zedkov, and released as bait so the detective can see who tries to kill her. Meanwhile, Wei hires two skilled out-of-town contract killers named Ryker and Collins to take over the hunt for Lee and the Zedkov contract. Having been made aware that the Triads are involved, Coburn wants out, but Lee forces her to finish her original task of creating a forged passport. Getting pictures from a photo booth, Lee phones Alan, who offers the use of his own passport to create the forgery. When Lee arrives at the temple, he discovers that Alan has been tortured to the point of death. Alan tells Lee that his family was moved to Canton-but he told his torturers they were in Shanghai. Lee has little more than 24 hours before his family is found. The monk gives Lee his passport before dying in his arms. Coburn later concludes the procedure of forging a passport for Lee. Feeling compelled to stop the killing of Zedkov's son before leaving the country, Lee forces one of Wei's informers to reveal the plan, which is to kill Stevie while he and his father are at a cartoon festival in a movie theater. Lee and Coburn arrive barely in time to prevent contract killers Ryker (Til Schweiger) and Collins (Danny Trejo) from killing the boy, and Ryker is killed in the subsequent gunfight. Concerned that Lee and Coburn will make their way back to Wei's base of operations, the crime boss makes plans to flee the country and hunt down Lee's mother and sister himself. However, when two guards open the main gate for Wei and his entourage leave in an SUV, Lee stands ready, firing handguns in different directions killing many Triad soldiers. Coburn surfaces moments later driving a truck through the melee, incapacitating Wei's head consort Michael Kogan (Jurgen Prochnow), and later killing him. When Collins fires from a high perch on Lee and Coburn, Lee soon outflanks him, killing him from behind. Finally, Lee corners Wei on a fire escape platform. Though both men have emptied their guns, Lee is first to reload. Wei promises Lee that the boy and Lee's family will still die, but Lee replies, "Not in your lifetime," and kills him. Though Zedkov arrives before Lee and Coburn can get away, he lets them go, taking only their guns. Coburn reluctantly bids goodbye to Lee at the airport, presenting him with one last gift, passports for his mother and sister
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