Cheung foh

Five bodyguards find out who plotted the abortive attempt to kill their boss. Their quest in nocturnal Kowloon stands out from most Hong Kong gangster movies. Beautifully shot in widescreen format it has a repetitive score that emphasizes the camaraderie between the five main characters.

i saw this movie at local festival named "the art of enmity", playing several well-known hong kong flicks. those i already knew were the popular "bloods & guts & dance & fight" type. so i expected "the mission" to at best be an entertaining action movie with lots of stereotypes.

it turned out to be quite different, and i felt pleasantly surprised.

the basic plot is rather classic: 5 guys are hired to protect a triad boss, who is assaulted on a regular base.

the difference to other movies from this genre is that none of the 5 turns out to "the hero" (they work as a group), there are no ridiculous stunts, stupid over-reactions, or silly pride (they calmly do their job), and the main character is not the boss or his right hand (his bodyguards are).

of course there is some fighting and shooting, but with comparably small amounts of bullets and blood. the highlight is a scene in a mall, where the bodyguards and the assassins are only a few meters apart, and calmly wait for each other to make the first move. several minutes of people standing around and smooth music in the background - and yet, more tension than in any hollywoodesque thriller.

occasionally, there are small scents of humor (for example when they start a soccer match with a paper ball while waiting for their boss), but no "fun".

we often see the boring side of the work as a bodyguard: drinking coffee, watching surveillance cameras, walking circles, driving the wife shopping. these sequences are short enough to not bore the viewer, but long enough to make him feel glad not to be in their position.

on the negative side, i found that it took the movie unnecessary long to get going. there's not much interesting happening before the 5 get together. clearly, the movie is about their relationships among each other, and their behavior as a group. so the short introduction to the characters alone didn't really add much.

if you are just looking for yet-another-hong kong-flick, you will be disappointed. i myself am glad it didn't fulfill my expectations. 8 of 10.

What an outstanding film this is. Yes, the music is way out of place. But hey. It stars Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Francis Ng, Simon Yam, and Eddy Ko. This has some of the coolest gun fights that I have seen in a long time. The shootout in the mall is just amazing. Listen for the echo of the of the single shot sidearm. Very very cool. The plot is about five people who are in the Triad that must protect a boss at all costs. They come from different walks of life. One is a gun enthusiast, another is wanting to make a name for himself as a gunmen, another owns a club and is being constantly harassed by some guys who think they are tough. Anthony Wong points out their mistake the hard way. Oh yes. And Anthony Wong is a hair stylist...don't let that fool you one bit. If anyone has seen "Untold Story" and John Woo's "Hard Boiled", then you know what I am talking about. Just see this movie with another great film by director Johnnie To called "Fulltime Killer". This movie gets a 10 out 10.

Having sworn to never watch Hong Kong films, save those by Wong Kar Wei, the only reason I saw this film was the good reviews it received from the Hong Kong Film Critic Society. And I must admit it was a most pleasant surprise.

The film is a slick and well packaged story of five strangers in gangland coming together to get a job done, namely that of keeping a triad boss alive. The characters, while still stereotyped to a certain extent, are not the usually uncontrolled triad powermongers that are often portrayed in other less palatable fare. These people are professionals, and they knew how to get a job done. Faced with a sniper, none of them panic, and each of them know exactly what to do. The scene in the mall was tightly controlled and well orchestrated, with minimal movement and gun fire adding more to the tension then any hail of bullets can.

The direction of Johnnie To evokes images of films by John Woo, whose scenes of gun fights have always, in my opinion, verged on poetry in motion. To's characters are restrained, while the same degree of subtlety is employed with the plot. The audience, in my opinion an often mindless group who are unwilling to think and must be spoon fed every little detail, are left to find meanings and hints in little gestures.

The film also reminds me of Things To Do In Dallas, When You Are Dead. Five strangers, called together to serve a mob boss who is past his prime. And again, there is conflict among members of this special 'team'.

In the end, aside from a less than believable plot line, The Mission scores high on its entertainment value, both in its visual style and delivery.

As the movie began, I heard some cheesy, yet haunting, music sounding off. "Oh, great," I said. "Another lame Hong Kong shoot-em-up flick!" This film is definitely not that. The story may be simple, but that fine. It's solid. It's more of a character driven film anyway. I really liked the characters a lot. The gunplay was realistic for the most part and provided good action. The ending is excellent.