Motorway

I'm not a fan of the "Fast and Furious" style, but this honconguês conquered me, engaging, good chases, but the touch is the relationship between the policeman of the past and the future in opposition, the veteran and novice, one being a mirror of the other, lovely, it sent me deeply to the department in which I work and became personal and special, a good drama, tragic, full of action and good accelerations...

Producer Johnny To and director Soi Cheang have been developing this project since 2009. Through some rewrites, re-shoots and re-edits, Motorway safely released into theaters in June 2012. The script, written by Joey O'Bryan and Kam-Yuen Szeto doesn't offer new things rather than similar plot from The Fast And The Furious, Gone In 60 Second (2000) or Hongkong production itself, Initial D (2005). Well, it won't bother me to watch the movies though.

Jiang is a getaway driver who agreed to help a dangerous criminal escape from jail as his one last assignment. They both plan to rob an expensive diamond within Wui Tai Commercial Building. Veteran cop who's going to retire soon, Lo must train young ambitious traffic cop, Cheung in such short time to catch Jiang especially defeat his mastery driving skills.

Director Cheang have trying to fasten the tempo. Feel bored actually came by some drama that involved Lo's background. Fortunately, these popular names did their job very well despite most of them had limited screen presences. Key characters like Anthony Wong, Shawn Yue and Guo Xiaodong have shone with their own roles. Famous Barbie Hsu gave another memorable minimum time as Cheung's possible love interest.

Don't expect some fancy chasing scenes alongside with exclusive cars being crashed like Hollywood typical. Motorway offers those in smaller scale, judging by the intriguing conflicts between charismatic bad guy and sympathetic good guys into simple yet effective dialog exchanges. Cinematographer Yuen Man Fung and Kenny Tse had done some guerrilla-style, shot without permits inside buildings or across streets and highways in night mode.

Minimum lighting from the natural lights towards the end of the movie quite distracting to see what's going on. Still forgiven though. Overall, Motorway is still impressive to watch despite those familiar ideas and conventional styles. Our hero must get through confidence, deflicted, rise by the great advices before win over his target. Therefore, only smart filmmaking skills make it slightly different this time!

The classic tale of a veteran cop teaching a young rookie the ropes of the job gets a stylish and at times exhilarating twist in Soi Cheang's long-delayed 'Motorway', a movie that aims for 'Fast and Furious' thrills delivered in the understated cool of 'Drive'. It is an intriguing combination to say the least, set against the distinctive backdrop of Hong Kong with its skyscrapers, neon lights and winding Peak roads and cast with two of the best actors from the territory- Anthony Wong and Shawn Yue.

Yue plays the twenty-something brash and hot-headed rookie Chan Cheung, part of an unconventional group of police officers known as the 'Invisible Squad'. Lo Fung (Wong) is his partner, laidback, nonchalant and waiting for his retirement. Their mission? To masquerade as ordinary drivers in their police-issued Audis and go after those caught speeding on the roads and highways. An early run-in with a cocky driver who gives them the slip shows their differing attitudes towards their job- and Cheung's disdain towards Fung.

Their dynamic quickly changes when a daring breakout by serial criminal Jiang Xin (Guo Xiaodong)- whom Cheung had taken into custody- of his partner in crime, Huang Zhong (Li Haitao) at the police station leaves the impulsive Cheung biting the dust and almost losing his life. Not only is Fung responsible for saving Cheung's life, but it comes to light that Fung had once pursued Jiang Xin into the same cul-de-sac and managed to manoeuvre his way out of that very tight corner.

Though Cheung is too proud to ask Fung to coach him, the latter eventually relents after he sees in Cheung a younger version of his own self. The trick is a perfect combination of acceleration, control, steering and patience- each one of these elements useful in their own right when both Cheung and Fung are drafted into a task force formed to apprehend the two fugitives before they strike again. The plotting is that straightforward, but then again, Cheang knows that the story is meant as a device to string together the many and varied car chase sequences beautifully designed by Chin Kar Lok.

And indeed, each one of them is gripping to say the least, eschewing the usual theatrics that Hollywood is too fond of for genuine detail, precision and most of all realism. Flawlessly executed is the film's first major setpiece, the cat-and-mouse chase between Jiang and Cheung that gets the latter into the tight spot in the first place- and Kar Lok never lets the baton drop as the action shifts up onto the narrow winding roads leading up and down the Peak and finally to the iconic roads around the Sheung Wan and Central areas.

It's an exhilarating ride once the gears start pumping, with both Kar Lok and Cheang consummate drivers in keeping the tension and excitement impeccably calibrated to keep their audience on the edge of their seats. Their dedication to ensure that every one of the car chases feel authentic is truly admirable, with Cheang and his cinematographers Yuen Man Fung and Kenny Tse shooting most of the action guerrilla style without the proper permits that they probably would not have gotten.

Given the adrenaline rush it delivers, it's easy to overlook the performances of Wong and Yue. Wong's role as the reluctant mentor is archetypal, but he brings class, charisma and coolness to the role that few actors in Hong Kong can. Next to Wong, Yue is at his assured best playing the impetuous newbie who progresses from naivety to maturity. There is a low-key chemistry that Wong and Yue share, and their scenes together ooze machismo like the best Milkyway Image genre productions do.

It should come as no surprise then that 'Motorway' indeed comes from that Hong Kong factory of cool- produced by Johnnie To and featuring a whole list of To regulars from supporting actors Josie Ho and Lam Kar Tung, to composers Xavier Jamaux and Alex Gopher, and last but not least to editor David Richardson. This is easily Soi Cheang's classiest work to date, the director better known for gritty stuff like 'Dog Bite Dog' and 'Shamo' maturing into one of style and finesse under the tutelage of To.

'Motorway' may seem like Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood car-chase thrillers, but its ability to deliver adrenaline-pumping thrills with its own signature of cool is what sets it apart and makes it one of our favourite movies of the year.

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Having watched many Asian and 'Hollywood' movies about cars / street racing etc..I found this movie quite entertaining and better than many Asian 'car' movies I seen, so basically about a cop (or bunch of them) hot on a trail of a couple of robber who purposely got himself arrested to free his mate that was already captured by police - involving car chases and stunts/techniques and a planned escape routes by using very very narrow roads and the robbers proceed to do a heist / being double crossed by a rival gang etc...The police not being happy from the events of what happened, of course masters some driving techniques and skills, maybe he's been watching too much Tokyo Drift ! Title 'Motorway' itself yeah not very original and a few obvious blunders in that movie like the finale - the car chase Audi A4 (driven by the cop) and the Nissan Skyline (driven by the robber) by the time the chased had stopped the 2 wrecked cars were a Mazda 323 sedan and a Toyota Corolla Levin !!!

For the consummate speed car racer, what better way to drive at high velocity and challenging other speedsters while at it, than to be sanctioned for flooring the gas pedal and not get a speeding ticket at the end. I suppose it's a dream calling if one gets to go over to the side of the law as a traffic cop, put in a special unit given souped up, nondescript and unmarked cars, in efforts to take on other speeding road users by surprise. I know I would sign up immediately.

Shawn Yue goes back to being a racer from his Initial D days, playing Chan Cheung, an impetuous rookie in the traffic police's "Invisible Squad" team. His ride is an Audi A4, going after other souped up cars and their owners careening down the roads of Hong Kong. He's like a bulldog, always determined to get his mark even if they drive more powerful cars, and in his off hours, put in more time to spruce up his own private ride, to go after those that got away in what would be a slight vigilantism effort.

But racer in the night and cop in the day Chan does have his flaws and meets his match in driver Jiang Xin (Guo Xiaodong), who can be described as being in a similar mold to the driver in Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive, being the crime partner of Huang Zhong (Sam Lee), but having no interest in the latter's schemes other than to be the designated driver to get them out of tight situations. He has a penchant to rev things up into a smokescreen, and then maneuvering through what would be an extreme drift technique to rotate the car while almost stationery. A hard trick to master, that gets every pursuing car into a frenzy, coupled with having no qualms at bumper-car-ing any vehicle to shake them off as well.

The highlight of the film is naturally the car chases, which varies from busy narrow streets to the winding routes up and down a mountain trail. They are all beautifully shot and the chases will keep you on the edge of your seat, with deft-defying moves that you'd never thought possible to be executed with a moving vehicle, from slight nudges to full on battles using the car as a weapon of choice. Your adrenaline will be kept pumping each time the stunts shift into high gear, keeping the shots tight and often putting you in the driver's, or co-driver's seat for that first person perspective.

And it's not all loud crashes that pepper the soundscape, but with wonderful music by Alex Gopher and Xavier Jamaux providing rather soothing car tunes to accompany quieter moments, before going for the more punchy, aggressive notes when the narrative gets on its mark to roll in another major action sequence. What made this Soi Cheang film engaging besides the action, are the characters put into the fray. A Milkyway co-production, we get the usual suspects in Lam Kar Tung and Josie Ho playing police head honchos who are almost always a few steps behind the main antagonist, with this, pardon the pun, being clearly a Shawn Yue vehicle, and the evergreen Anthony Wong being Yue's partner in the police force. Barbie Hsu becomes the blip on the radar though with a needless role that's decorative at best, to keep Motorway from being too testosterone laden.

It may be laughable, but the way the story by Joey O'Bryan and Szeto Kam-Yuen had conjured may be a little bit reverent to the Star Wars saga, with the final arc being quite reminiscent of a would be rebel receiving very brief, though effective, training from a more experienced hire, and finally showing his weight in gold. This is Hong Kong's answer to the sleek and cool Drive, and the result is something just as sexy in the crime genre, with brooding hero, and plenty of horsepower hidden under its hood. Highly recommended!