Breaking News

Nice premise, nice looking but for myself it just doesn't completely fall into place for me.

Probably the most noticeable aspect to "Breaking News" is the cinematography.. No doubt about it, the cinematography of Siu-keung Cheng & editing by David Richardson are first class, but it is also the source of my greatest frustration with this film. For mine the camera moves around too often, too quickly & will come to a holt in a sudden jolt. The opening scene in particular is just nauseating despite the obvious skill in putting it all together.

Well worth checking out & I'm sure that we will see a Hollywood rip-off of this film some time in the next couple of years.

BREAKING NEWS is yet another JOHNNY TO film exploring the theme of honour among thieves. Earlier successes included THE MISSION and FULL TIME KILLER; others would certainly come to mind if I were to peruse his filmography but you can do that yourself on www.IMDb.com!

Mr TO and the CREATIVE WRITING TEAM of MILKWAY have a habit of not giving the viewer a lot of information, and letting the visual elements that define cinema take precedence.

The opening sequence is very tightly and cleverly shot and edited, so much so that it is a pleasure to sit back and play it over again.

That first sequence introduces most of the protagonists, at least those who will do battle; the subsequent act introduces the upper levels of policedom, who decide to stage a publicity coup.

The need for more effective policing to ensure the safety of citizens should be paramount, but the woman in charge (KELLY CHEN) is every bit as ruthless as the gunmen in her sights.

Caught in the middle is DETECTIVE CHEUNG, the police officer in charge of the initial, disastrous stakeout that sets the story in motion.

Every one seems to want to save face: the thieves refuse to surrender even when the odds seem insurmountable; DETECTIVE CHEUNG becomes more an avenger or a vigilante than a lawman, and refuses to back down, even when ordered to desist and give over to SDI, while CHEN in the safety of her control vehicle, uses technology and superior firepower to prove her worth to her superiors.

JOHNNY TO and his team must take pride in making films where the viewer must EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (a superior policier starring the wonderful LAU CHING WAN). BREAKING NEWS is no exception: there are several twists; scenes of quiet humour, which manage to humanize the villains of the piece, and of course, those nice touches that ensure some memorable characterizations.

By the time the credits roll, everything has come together, and the muddle of the various conflicts is resolved, quite eloquently.

I cannot quite fathom the wide variety of music chosen for this film but it all seems to work.

BREAKING NEWS is an entertaining 90 minutes, and certainly does not wear out its welcome. Now that the anamorphically enhanced DVD is out, you can watch it more than once, to savour all its nuances.

Kelly Chen (Infernal Affairs, Infernal Affairs 3) is an incredibly beautiful actress and she can sing, too (Lavender, Lost and Found, Heavenly Music Floating in the Air). Here, she plays a Police Commissioner that has the sense to know that, "if it bleeds, it leads," and makes sure that she manages the press to the advantage of the Hong Kong Police and shows them in the best light possible to convince the residents that they are doing the job.

When a bank is robbed and Inspector Cheung's (Nick Cheung) unit is hot on the trail, the Commissioner thwarts their efforts to get maximum coverage of the police department.

An interesting film, directed by Johnny To, a major Asian director, with robbers who have honor, and massive amounts of shootouts between the cops and robbers.

When a gang escapes from the police and some reporters get the whole incident on tape there is an outcry towards the competence of the police force. Looking for a chance to redeem themselves the police once again track down the gang in an apartment building and stage a real-TV type of event with hundreds of cameras to show the city of Hong Kong that they can do their job properly. Things get interesting when the crooks fire back with their own video of the incident and it is also revealed that there is not one gang in the building, but two.

From the opening 7 or so minute scene that has no cuts and culminates in a shootout to the unpredictability of the rest of the movie this is film that really grabs your attention as if itself were a piece of "breaking news." Interesting is the fact that the "breaking news" almost breaks the reputation of the police. The ability of the media to get information literally everywhere in the blink of an eye is given an interesting commentary in that it can hurt the police as much as a raging shootout. And how can anyone, in such a hectic and tiresome line of work, be able to do anything correctly or according to some procedure if they have everyone else around them breathing down on their neck? It is possible when your success rate is high, but the moment you fail you are treated with a badgering as this film demonstrates.

All in all, this is more a film about the media then it is about the police. The media are in the background throughout and the cops and crooks are the main characters, but it is the effect of an information hungry media that essentially is the driving force for the events in the film. The film's use of news-like footage is another thing - you want to know and see what is going to happen next, but it is that precise constant peering over the shoulder that hinders the police in doing their job. That makes for an interesting take on the crime-caper genre with the traditional drives like greed and corruption almost totally set aside. 8/10

Not rated (yet at least), but contains R level violence.

I've seen this movie at the Oldenburg International Fim Festival and I really have to say: It's quite good. The story - Police and its image in the media - is in interesting aspect in todays media world and it is worth to think about this relationship. This movie does right that and criticizes a too close relationship. Besides the story, the movie is a cool action-movie with a totally different style than the average western Hollywood-like action movie. Cool camera-work, nice different-angle shot and other cool stuff. It's just nice to watch. The viewer can see many shootings, but the humor does not come to short, especially the characters are quite funny. A negative aspect might be the usage of the "Bond-effect" (no bullet hits a good guy). But IMHO a cool action movie needs this effect. Otherwise there would be too many characters and there would be no development of these characters. All in All: 8/10, which means: Watch it!