If you're a serious fan of martial arts films and you live in T.O., there was exactly one place for you to be Friday night: At the Ryerson theatre watching SPL.

Note: It's showing at 6 p.m. Saturday too, if you want to try seeing SPL on a last-minute basis.

This was a fantastic martial arts film -- and not a bad movie, as these things go.

SPL stands for Shang Po La, three important constellations in the Chinese astrological calendar -- ones which symbolize the dangerous characteristics of three of the main characters: Two cops and one crime boss.

The three Lords of Asskicking in this film are Donnie Yen, who plays an honest, hardnosed cop (Yen also choreographed the martial arts sequences), Hong Kong veteran Sammo Hung, who played crime boss Wong Po, and relative newcomer Wing Ju, who plays Wong Po's natural-born killer.

Wing Ju's character is named Jet. Coincidentally or not, Wing Ju is a former wushu (Chinese martial arts) champion and was taught the style by the teacher of Jet Li, the current king of movie martial arts stars.

Sammo Hung, in some of his earlier movies I've seen, tends to clown it up. As Wong Po, however, he is note-perfect as a coldhearted, violent alpha male gangster -- not to mention golf-loving family man.

Wing Ju astounds as a white-clad killing machine. The two scenes where he hunts down three of the cops who are under the command of Insp. Chan (Simon Yam) are both chilling and riveting. Think the Terminator doing balletic, lethal chop-sockey (actually, the role that introduced Jet Li to North America was as a killer in Lethal Weapon 4).

The fight sequence in an alley between Wing Ju, with his trademark miniature sword, and Yen, armed with a metal baton, will be talked about for years. In the Q-and-A after the movie, Wing Ju said director Wilson Yip told him and Yen, "'Don't even rehearse too much. Just fight'."

The final fight sequence is between Sammo Hung and Yen, and again, it's a mesmerizing tour de force -- particularly just before you think it's over.

The plot, such as it is, is this: Wong Po has been the nemesis of Insp. Chan and his team for years.

In their zeal to get Wong Po, heightened by the murder of one of the Chan team's members who infiltrated Wong Po's organization, the team loses its moral compass. This turns the regular cat-and-mouse game betwen cop and criminal into war.

Yip did an excellent job of directing. He grabs your attention from the opening sequences and never lets it waver (well, not too far). As befits one of the world's most naturally beautiful and liveliest cities, Hong Kong is particularly colourful at night, and Yip uses this to his cinematic advantage.

If you wanted, you could pick some holes in the plot, but that's a chronic weakness of this style of movie.

But if you're a fan of the genre, for God's sake, don't let that stop you from seeing it.

No timing yet on theatrical release, but if it doesn't make it to a screen near you, look for the DVD.