Presents:
So after having written a review on not one, not two, but three different films from director Park Chan-Wook at the same time, I decided that before I inevitably review a fourth one, I would take a small break from showering that brilliant Korean with praise, and review something else. Something Asian. Something having to do with the theme of vengeance. Something starring renowned French singer Johnny Hallyday.
Wait, what?
In case you didn?t know, Johnny Hallyday is to France what Elvis Presley was to America. His career is still ongoing even though he?s spent over 50 years in showbiz, he?s sold more than 200 million records and has an impressive number of 18 platinum albums. He?s got a lot under his belt, and might just be the perfect man to star in a film like this.
Directing the film is Chinese filmmaker Johnnie To, one of my personal favorites when it comes to Asian Cinema, whose previous work includes the brilliant Election films, a pair of Hong Kong crime movies centering on the process of electing a new chairman for the Chinese Triads.
The film itself is, at least by the standards of other movies I?ve reviewed, fairly conventional. In Macau, China, three men in raincoats break into the house of Irene Thompson and her family, brutally murdering her husband and two children and giving her serious injuries. Her father, Francis Costello, leaves his restaurant in France to visit his now hospitalized daughter. Set on avenging his daughter and her family, Costello decides to venture deeper into China to find and kill the men responsible. To help him out he hires three savvy hitmen, and together they go out on a hunt for blood.
Johnny Hallyday gives a great performance as Francis Costello
The most interesting aspect of this film is how Costello is so different from most vengeance-driven characters. When the vengeance trilogy showed the various different ways people can be motivated by revenge, one almost thought that Park Chan-Wook had perfected the theme, stripped it bare and presented it in a new an unique way that could never be topped, only mimicked for years to come until someone else would reinvent the way we use such stories, starting the circle over again. Yet here is a film that much like Park?s trilogy brings a unique perspective on revenge, and it?s barely 5 years after the release of Mrs. Vengance.
You see, Costello isn?t doing this because he wants revenge. He doesn?t do it because it?s all he has to live for and he doesn?t do it because his thirst for blood will never be quenched otherwise. He does it because someone has to do it. Costello is willing to sacrifice everything he has for something he knows is right, even if he doesn?t feel it?s right.
Such a character motivation might sound familiar or even cliché to some people, but that was the same thing with the vengeance trilogy. Like Park, To hasn?t tried to make a new kind of vengeance-filled motivation, he has reinvented an old one, given it a new perspective. It?s fresh, it?s original, and most important of all, it?s memorable. More than that I can?t actually tell you about Costello without spoiling important parts of the movie, so I?m trusting you, the person deciding to view this film, to piece Costello?s character together when everything about him has become clear, and on your own make sense of what I?m saying.
Of course, Costello isn?t the only interesting character in the film. The three henchmen are all fun and lovable, with extra praise going to Fat Lok, the chubby but skilled comic relief, who has a perfect balance of being funny and serious, never being the victim of poor slapstick during a shoot-out as well as never being uninteresting or colorless during other times.
Speaking of shoot-outs, while the film has its fair share of both good and exiting gun battles, there is one in particular near the end involving the three hitmen that stands out to me as not only one of the most memorable moments in the film, but also one of the best shoot-outs I?ve seen in a long time. Sadly, more cannot be said out of fear for spoiling it.
The main cast on their way to find the killers
The film also has a knack for often being very serene, something unexpected in an action film. For example, in one scene where Costello and the three hitmen investigate the apartment of his daughter, Costello decides to cook dinner. They all then proceed to sit down and eat, and there?s something rather friendly in the atmosphere, even though they don?t really talk about much other than the murder of his daughter.
Another thing that helps the movie?s atmosphere is the use of music. Rarely is the music used unnecessarily, often being saved for shoot-outs or moments of silence (and even then music isn?t guaranteed to play). It helps to make some scenes more poignant than they would be in complete silence, while at the same time doing the complete opposite, having scenes be more poignant because of the lack of music. It?s a fascinating balance that helps the movie stand out.
To has made an excellent film that, while not necessarily jumping into your list of top ten movies of all time, will prove entertaining and touching enough to warrant multiple viewings.
