Vengeance (2009)

Written by Ka-Fai Wai
Directed by Johnnie To

Johnnie To has cemented himself as the master of modern Hong Kong action in recent years, with a steady output of fantastic films. Here, he takes the unconventional approach, but ultimately has the same results.

Costello (Johnny Hallyday) comes to China to wreak vengeance on whomever attacked his daughter's family, while she remains in a coma, her husband and children are brutally slain.

Once in Hong Kong, Costello happens upon three men, Kwai (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang), Chu (Ka Tung Lam), and Fat Lok (Suet Lam), who are doing work familiar to Costello. Realizing the task he's up against, in a foreign city, with a foreign dialect, Costello manages to recruit the three men, and his quest for vengeance begins.

Johnny To uses gunfights like Tarantino uses dialogue. They often become the bulk of the screen time, but audiences don't mind because they're exciting, and they manage to propel the story forward, which was one of the things that made John Woo famous.

To, to his credit, makes slower, meditative films, punctuated with loud, epic gunfights. This never becomes a gimmick, he uses death and gun violence as the most desperate actions of his most desperate characters.

On a technical level, To has one of the best crews in all of HK cinema, top shelf photography is firmly guided by meticulous sets and props. Detail shines through as one of To's strengths, and it's one of the many techniques he uses to tell his stories in few words, preferring to let the images and music speak at the most crucial of moments.

A beautiful, tough film, in spirit it's a flashy John Ford western, at its heart it is a classic Chinese fable of a father's redemption. With French pop artist Johnny Hallyday at the forefront, this could have easily been an international crossover that tanked, thankfully the script and To's direction was able to take full advantage of Hallyday's foreign appearance and personal manner as a theme in the story, as the story comes to study the international language of honor and justice.

Not To's best recent film (that would be Election, in my opinion), but still miles better than many American crime thrillers from the same time frame. The rare film that is both an action film, and a drama film, that remains as exciting as it does intelligent throughout. Also, don't miss a particularly cruel performance from the great Simon Yam in a small role.

9.6/10