BREAKING NEWS (2004)
Time for one more cops versus robbers thriller on the streets of Hong Kong. Not exactly imaginative stuff, at least on the surface, but this is another Johnnie To feature so things are always a little out of left field. Particularly when it comes to the music... which I will get to in due course. It's also a tale of media manipulation and reality versus narrative, promising to add another dimension to so many familiar character tropes and action beats. But what makes this one stand out from the crowd is the smaller flourishes sprinkled throughout.
The story begins with a stake-out gone awry as uniformed police blunder their way into a criminal deal being watched by plain clothes CID. Inspector Cheung (Nick Cheung) finds the situation unravelling into a gun fight in the streets and the suspects get away in a stolen ambulance. It's a frenetic opening that uses some nifty crane movements to capture the mayhem. Unfortunately for him the failure to arrest anyone involved and the ensuing violence is seen by local news crews. Soon there are stories on TV about police incompetence and their inability to protect the public.
Later a counter story is developed by Superintendent Fong (Kelly Chen) and Cheung's rivals in the OCB (one more part of the alphabet soup). His inability to follow simple orders is certainly a problem, although it doesn't help that his second in command Sergeant Hoi (Benz Hui) is a bumbling oaf. In fact he seems to be playing the same annoying character from To's Running Out of Time... but with added fart jokes. Not a great pick for recurring actors, but fortunately a minor blight on the proceedings. Luckily the director's decisions to give the film personality are better elsewhere.
The score is certainly one of the more unusual choices, with weird chanting in the action scenes and other instruments (again reminiscent of Running Out of Time) standing out. Sometimes there's an electronic rhythm and sometimes there's jazz. It fuels the chaotic texture of the whole story, something which is accentuated by things like masked police point-of-view shots and split screen sequences. During an elevator shaft scene in the third act the narrow space is shown in profile with large black borders on either side, cramming the fugitives into a tiny space.
Of course these moments come and go between more bombastic shoot-outs and explosions, but the pacing is good and the tension levels are kept high. Trapped in a tower block the few men left from the opening chase must figure out a way to avoid arrest, and end up stuck in an apartment. Here they take hostages; loser dad Yip (Lam Suet) and his two kids. It all gets more complicated when some of their associates get stuck in another part of the building, and two other crooks coincidentally become trapped with them in the police net.
Things become rather silly when the crooks find a way to send photos and videos to the press, interfering with the story the police want to tell, but it's another layer of conflict. It's also far-fetched that Fong and gang leader Yuen would chat to each other on a webcam (that she somehow hacked from outside) but it lends the plot some necessary Die Hard-esque interaction. Soon the cops are looking less like heroes and the fugitives are bonding over a meal (as is expected at this point in To's films on this subject). Still, the characterisation is appreciated when things slow down in between the PTU raids.
Not all of these scenes work; Commissioner Wong (Simon Yam) has some romantic tension with Fong early on (which uses some of the most bizarre music) but this is forgotten immediately. Meanwhile hostages in the high-rise being wired to grenades is interesting, but seems like an impossible gambit when the gang is being watched so closely. But overall there's enough action and suspense, and enough creativity, to make it come together; even if the overall storyline about the news isn't very deep. It's got enough thriller power and a lot of small imaginative touches.
4/5
BONUS REVIEW
DRUG WAR (2012)
Elsewhere in a film with a notable personality deficit, Timmy Choi (Louis Koo) finds himself dealing with the cops and Inspector Zhang (Sun Honglei) after a meth lab explosion. Following a series of odd coincidences Zhang, undercover on a drug mule case, arrives at a hospital Choi is being held at. He's also just been at a highway toll booth, where a truck carrying Choi's ingredients drove by. Soon all the pieces come together and Zhang forces Choi to play informant, while Zhang himself will pose as a crooked shipping agent.
It's a very cold and procedural affair (in terms of visuals and music) perhaps due to the crew being on the mainland instead of in Hong Kong. It's a story that really wants to explain, several times, what the penalty for such crimes are there. Ever wonder how gross the consequences are for smuggling packs of cocaine inside someone's body? They make sure to show it. There's also a moment in which Zhang takes drugs to maintain his cover, and his reaction is depicted with the same kind of tone. It's a brutal movie, and these are brutal events, but there's a sense this is overt rather than subtle moralising.
Zhang himself is a fairly uncharismatic figure, headbutting suspects and threatening those who harm the operation (it should have been someone like Anthony Wong). Choi is also unlikeable but more mysterious, and Koo's screen presence is welcome, particularly when he's out of custody and can grieve for those killed in the lab. His time with a group of deaf-mute meth manufacturers feels more genuine than the rest of the story, and the style of the film in these moments also has more flavour. Unsurprisingly the same group being trapped in a raid is also the standout action scene.
The gun fights break up the undercover plot which doesn't have the greatest pacing. Like the drug smoking truck drivers it meanders all over the place as the surveillance goes between hotels and clubs. The saving grace is a desperate finale in which cops and smuggling ring leaders (of course played by Lam Suet and friends) are trapped in a school parking zone. Ideally Choi would have more development and screen time (in lieu of Zhang's expressionless cop) to allow his desperation to grow. However, despite these drawbacks, and a distinct lack of likeable leads, it's still a compelling affair. Grim, but compelling.
3/5
