Andy Lau (third from left) and Sammo Hung (third from right). [Photo provided to China Daily]

The new action flick bears a resemblance with Luc Besson's 1994 hit Leon: The Professional.

As the Chinese film's story is set in a small town along the country's border with Russia, most of the scenes were shot in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province and the coastal Russian city of Vladivostok.

Edko, a Hong Kong-based studio that produced the country's biggest box-office success, Monster Hunt, is the new film's main producer.