High body count

I just watched this film, liked it, loved all the action scenes, good acting by Yuen Biao, and Cythia Rothrock showing from the moment she popped on the screen (in one of her early roles) that she was something special. But it seemed that the filmmakers went for a nihilistic viewpoint in that almost everyone (or, in the original ending, everyone) died. I guess in pre-1997 Hong Kong, that was an identifiable feeling. Even with the alternate happy ending, the body count was still high. Absolutely no one was spared, from children to old people, from people you cared about to villains. If I had a bone to pick, this nihilism probably suited more in a John Woo movie than a more traditional action flick like this one.