They blamed it on Edison Chen. “The Sniper,” Dante Lam’s macho action-thriller, was supposed to open in cinemas last year, but the distributor shelved it for reasons everyone put down to Sexy Photo Gate. It turns out they were right to shelve it, but not because of anything near as rousing as the Chen scandal.

The film bears a suspiciously similar storyline to Bruce Law’s “Double Tap” (2000), starring the late Leslie Cheung as a shooting champion who turns rogue and challenges the police. In “The Sniper,” Huang Xiaoming stars as Lincoln, a former top shooter on the police sniper team who goes mad and turns his rifle on his former comrades.  Lincoln’s arch nemesis is Hartman (Richie Jen), an old competitor who now runs the sniper team, and the prime reason Lincoln went bonkers in the first place. Meanwhile, Chen plays OJ, a talented rookie sniper under Hartman’s supervision who also receives guidance from Lincoln on the side.

That’s pretty much all that can be revealed of the story. Not that there’s much to spoil. The storyline is clogged up with irrelevant details that end up sinking the entire film. Instead of focusing more on the work lives of the Hong Kong police’s macho, half-naked finest, too many of the 87 minutes are wasted on pointless diversions such as the lives of their frustrated wives (Michelle Ye and Mango Wong).

It also appears as if Chen’s scenes have been heavily and brutally cut from the film. The character OJ is supposed to be at the center of the drama, caught between good and evil. Yet we’d almost miss him if he wasn’t played by such a prominent face.

Dante Lam has always been one of the finest directors in the withering local film industry. From his debuts “Option Zero” (1997) and “Beast Cops” (1998) to last year’s “Beast Stalker” (one of the best local films of the year), he’s brought a unique approach to Hong Kong cop films. Sadly, “The Sniper” is going to be the one that taints Lam’s otherwise impressive career.

2 Stars by Winnie Yeung.

Directed by Dante Lam. Starring Richie Jen, Edison Chen, Huang Xiaoming, Bowie Lam. Category IIB, 87 minutes. Continuing.