Movie Review



Director: Johnnie To
Starring: Kelly Chen, Nicholas Cheung, Richie Ren, Lam Suet, and a special appearance by Simon Yam

Johnnie To is one of the biggest directors in Hong Kong. I enjoyed his previous works The Mission, Running Out of Time, and Fulltime Killer. These films contained complex character developments while keeping the action tight and the pace fast. Sadly, his latest work Breaking News is just plain bad. It's missing character arcs, original action scenes, and a fast pace (the pace is almost dead in comparison to Fulltime Killer).



Breaking News is about four robbers trying to escape while embarassing the Hong Kong police force. For payback, the Hong Kong police force decides to use the media to its advantage. Rebecca Fong (Kelly Chen) decides that the media can make the Hong Kong police force look more heroic. A rebel policeman (Nicholas Cheung) just wants to catch the criminals instead of putting on a good show for the public.



Throughout the film, a father (Lam Suet) is taken hostage by the leader of the robbers (Richie Ren). I usually like To's films because they are usually action packed and unusual in their execution and style. But here, it feels like To already has directed this type of film before. And for once, the acting in a To film is unsatisfactory. Kelly Chen, who did a great job in Infernal Affairs I and III, is just horrid in this film. Her performance is so stiff then it made me want to punch her. Cheung's performance is also a mixture of glances and snide looks at the criminals. He is just the definition of annoying in this film.



The surprise here is Richie Ren, who doesn't take his role too seriously and adds a bit of depth and humor to his character. His character is the most interesting when he converses with the police and when talking to his fellow robbers. The so-called awesome beginning 7-minute long continuous shot throughout a street underwhelmed me. Instead of the being original and inventive, it feels like a rip off of the hospital scene in John Woo's Hard Boiled. Another scene involving lunch boxes for the media and police officers is just out of place in a film like this. It was too comedic and the music sucked major, major ass.



A few critics have said that people who liked To's previous films would love this film. I, however, disliked more scenes than liked. Only the performance by Richie Ren is the saving grace for this film. Hopefully, the remake (bought by a major Hollywood studio) would be better than this film.

Grade: D+