Johnnie To is considered by critics and fans to be Hong Kong’s premier movie director. His career dates back to the late 80’s, and he regularly produces and directs two-to-three movies a year.

Like many Hong Kong film directors, To has often struck a balance between his mainstream and artier projects. The mainstream ones, like 1998’s “A Hero Never Dies,” have the bigger budgets, the glossier visuals, and the longer shootouts. They are also far less interesting than his art films, which rarely break any box office records. Between 1997 and 1998, To directed his grittier, less mainstream movies under the pseudonym Patrick Yau. He dropped that in 1999; he has forced fans to accept him as an auteur who won’t reheat the same leftovers over and over for them.

2003 was arguably the best year for the two-headed To. Last fall, his mainstream thriller “Running on Karma” was a big commercial hit. It also took home numerous regional film awards. About eight months earlier, To’s more challenging “PTU” came out. While the low-budget police drama didn’t sell a quarter the number of tickets as “Running on Karma,” critics unanimously lauded it, and awarded To a slew of Best Director prizes at year’s end.

I have seen “PTU,” and I agree that it is a great movie. Its minimalist style (remniscent of Japanese movies I’ve seen) and great acting make it easy to overlook the casual police brutality and awkward ending.

“PTU” has multiple storylines which occur in the course of a single night. Lo, a mad dog cop just begging for his comeuppance, tries to recover his lost gun rather than report it missing. His friend Mike, captain of the Police Tactical Unit, starts probing the underworld with his foot patrol, hoping to help turn it up. A separate PTU, with a female officer named Kay in charge, is investigating a series of car break-ins. These may have nothing to do with Lo’s missing gun. Finally, a mysterious CIB (Internal Affairs) agent with a Louise Fletcher-esque voice suspects that Lo killed a small-time triad boss named Ponytail.

Of course, the audience will know within the first 5 minutes that Ponytail was killed by someone else. Why he was murdered is unknown, but the scene where it takes place is humorously deadpan, and brilliantly choreographed by To. This is followed by a chase scene, an ambush, a second ambush, and a car crash, which add up to a series of strange coincidences which are as funny as they are horrific.

Also great is a scene where Mike and his unit interrogate some punks in an arcade. Notice how To manipulates sound effects from the video games to heighten the tension. Then there’s the scenes of the foot patrol making its rounds, slowly walking down the street like a company of disciplined soldiers. It’s past midnight in Hong Kong, and the streets are quiet and tranquil. The darkness is lit by streetlights and neon signs. Unrealistic? Possibly. But To somehow makes this routine foot patrol seem interesting, and the urban backdrop downright romantic. Watching Mike and company stroll the streets, ready to help whoever needed them, I felt a twitching in my soul. I wanted to gather some friends, dress up in matching uniforms with them, and start a neighborhood patrol. Then I remembered that I live in NYC, which is the exact opposite of HK—MORE violent and dangerous than the movies make it seem.

If “PTU” has a flaw, it’s the ending, which seems unlikely. But I am willing to chalk it up to those urban legends we always hear about. Also, from what I read online about the production, To was making “PTU” in his spare hours, with whatever meager dollars he could scrape together. “Running on Karma” was the movie that absorbed the majority of To’s attention, energy, and commitment. I suspect that he didn’t end “PTU” the way he wanted, but ran out of money. Yet the movie is brilliant, compelling, and not very mainstream.