Breaking News - Johnnie To
I'm not really fond of Hong Kong crime films until a friend introduced me to Johnnie To. I've seen a couple of his films in Star Mandarin back then (if i remember t'was Running Out of Time 2 and Fulltime Killer) but didn't paid much interest. Recently, I blind-bought Breaking News, which i heard from that same acquaintance that it was shown at Cannes. Tried it. Liked it. However found the plot as shallow as most Hollywood action flicks tend to be. The action sequences are heavy, right from the start and towards its predictable payoff. The cast are fine, except that he should have casted those that rotated on much of his previous crime dramas (Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Lau Ching-Wan) and give the film certain credibility on how its entirety should be played. Anyway, the gunbattles compensated for To's miscast but I think the ultimate lowdown of the film is its finale---something i believe is a total opposite of how a majority of crime/triad films are resolved. I'd rather see an ambiguous resolution than the usual 'crime does not pay' cliche. I wouldn't complain. To's the master of crime/triad entertainment and to that, he didn't fail on this one.
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