IN THE LINE OF DUTY IV is widely regarded as the best of the IN THE LINE OF DUTY SERIES as well as a classic movie in general. Once again, Cynthia Khan is excellent as the unstoppable cop. This time she needs to team up with Donnie Yen to bust up a drug ring that unbeknownst to him, his partner, Michael Wong is a part of. When a drug bust goes bad, an innocent bystander is the only witness. Wanted by the cops and drug dealers, he goes back home to Hong Kong. When he arrives, the police are all over him. Cynthia Khan and Donnie Yen must protect him while they unravel the case. When they find the truth, they too, are sought for arrest. When the bystander's mother is kidnapped by Michael Wong, Donnie and Cynthia must rescue her.

This movie features some great direction from Yuen Wo Ping. Cynthia Khan once again excels with some great fight sequences. Her fight on top of a speeding ambulance is incredible. What's amazing is how much abuse her character gets from her adversaries and she always fights back. Donnie Yen is also great. He battles guys on motorcycles and has an incredible showdown with Michael Woods at the end. This movie rocks from start to finish.

The picture quality varies at times. The source print doesn't look as good as the one for IN THE LINE OF DUTY III. There aren't too many specks but there are times when you can see some damage on the film. There are also a few frames with some red flares on them. The print isn't terrible, just not perfect. The transfer is done well. I didn't notice any artifacts and the colors looks as good as the source print could provide. The overall quality is about the same level as the majority of Universe's earlier releases.

The audio is the 5.1 Dolby Digital remix. I watched the movie with the Cantonese soundtrack. Most of the sound comes from the front speakers but there are times when the rear ones have music or ambient sounds. The mixing is pretty well done. The dialogue is never drowned out by music or sound effects.

The subtitles are pretty easy to read. My only complaint is that they sometimes go by too quick. There are also some spelling and grammar errors that sometimes take a second to figure out. It's a little distracting but not enough to ruin this movie. The subtitles appear on the image so if you have a widescreen TV you will not have to worry about them.

The extras consist of short biographies of the Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen and Yuen Wo Ping. Nothing really new but interesting nonetheless. There is also a trailer as well as trailers for YES, MADAM!, IN THE LINE OF DUTY III and IN THE LINE OF DUTY V.

There is a Hong Kong Legends version of this movie that is superior but if you don't have a Region 2, PAL capability, this Region 0 Universe DVD is acceptable. The overall quality is about that with the early Hong Kong DVD's. Regardless, the movie is worth a watch. This is one of the few movies I would recommend a purchase of instead of renting first. From rooftop chases, fighting on top of moving ambulances to motorcycle fights with construction tools, this movie has enough going for it to keep action fans happy. Of course, fans of Cynthia Khan, Michael Wong, and Donnie Yen will be happy, too.