When I first looked at the poster of Protege, I had expected yet another stylish cop crime thriller in the vein of those Infernal Affairs films or perhaps something like director Derek Yee's previous foray in the genre back in 2004, the fabulous One Nite In Mongkok that roped him a Best Director award at the Hong Kong Awards. And based on the summary I read about the film, Andy Lau playing a big-team drug dealer, Daniel Wu being his apprentice (or protege) who is actually an undercover cop, I thought if this isn't a cop thriller, maybe it'll be like Johnnie To's Election movies, or maybe it might be more like this little-seen 2001 Daniel Wu film, Cop On A Mission, where an undercover cop who infiltrated a triad group gradually becomes a true scum.
