If you are familiar with Johnny To's gun movies you know you can expect beautiful almost dancelike gun play sequences. This movie is no exception.
The 1st Johnny To movie (that I know of) was The Mission, the poses, camera angles and shots of guys with guns were breath taking beautiful, almost erotic. Same with the follow up in Exile. Vengeance brought it to a new level. The shoot out in the park added, "moonlight" and "shadows from clouds" to the effect.
The usual suspects of course are great, these guys have portrayed triad hit men so often its probably as natural as breathing. Throw in Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis, into the fray. Johny is OLD, 66 when this movie came out, and he looks old. His acting is still as bad as ever but luckily Johnny To's movies does not require deep acting nor dialogue. In fact i found Johnny rather off putting, especially shots of his face...he looks like a mummy with dead eyes.
The movie is great, the story is the usual gangster fare. Johnny's travels to Macau to avenge the murder of his daughters family. teams up with the local hit men to go after the killers. Plot twist, seems the hit mens' boss was the one that ordered the hit. Big gunfight ensues.....
The part that i found disappointing about the movie was the lack of character development on Johnny's character "Costello". He says he's a chef but can handle a gun. Then he reveals in 1 line of dialogue that he was in the business before as the hit men. Thats it and the point is simply never brought up again. Oh he suffers from Alzeihmers from a bullet tot he head.
Good movie, something I would recommend just on the beauty of the gun "dance".
The 1st Johnny To movie (that I know of) was The Mission, the poses, camera angles and shots of guys with guns were breath taking beautiful, almost erotic. Same with the follow up in Exile. Vengeance brought it to a new level. The shoot out in the park added, "moonlight" and "shadows from clouds" to the effect.
The usual suspects of course are great, these guys have portrayed triad hit men so often its probably as natural as breathing. Throw in Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis, into the fray. Johny is OLD, 66 when this movie came out, and he looks old. His acting is still as bad as ever but luckily Johnny To's movies does not require deep acting nor dialogue. In fact i found Johnny rather off putting, especially shots of his face...he looks like a mummy with dead eyes.
The movie is great, the story is the usual gangster fare. Johnny's travels to Macau to avenge the murder of his daughters family. teams up with the local hit men to go after the killers. Plot twist, seems the hit mens' boss was the one that ordered the hit. Big gunfight ensues.....
The part that i found disappointing about the movie was the lack of character development on Johnny's character "Costello". He says he's a chef but can handle a gun. Then he reveals in 1 line of dialogue that he was in the business before as the hit men. Thats it and the point is simply never brought up again. Oh he suffers from Alzeihmers from a bullet tot he head.
Good movie, something I would recommend just on the beauty of the gun "dance".