Motorway

I am not particularly interested in cars of any type, and with the over exaggerated things in "The Fast and the Furious" movies, then it was nice to see "Motorway". It is a lot more realistic than many other car movies, and best of all, it has proper actors in it who actually possess an ounce of acting talent.

The story is about Cheung (played by Shawn Yue) and Lo (played by Anthony Wong) who work in a specialized department of the Hong Kong traffic police department. When they learn of a planned heist, all bets are off, and their driving skills are put to extreme limits.

Story-wise then "Motorway" was alright, although the story did lack a more comprehensive depth. But it was easy to follow, straight forward and right to the point.

The movie was full of car chases, and does put "The Fast and the Furious" to shame. It was elegantly filmed and it was as if the audience was right there in midst of the gasoline-injected action.

But the acting in the movie was really outstanding. And what made me buy this movie, aside from my love for Asian cinema, was that Hong Kong heavyweighter actor Anthony Wong was in it. And he performed very well, and together with Shawn Yue, they managed to make an otherwise flaccid movie genre interesting to watch.

If you like Asian cinema, and if you like cars, of course, then you should most definitely sit down to watch "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...

Motorway being the international title of the movie! But while the money shots (obviously I'm talking about the scenes involving cars, but you did know that already) are really good and exciting, especially if you are really into cars, the story and the acting is not up to par. Anthony Wong is a regular and good actor in not only crime movies, but even he can't save this movie from mediocrity.

You have to ask yourself, if it worth your time watching the whole movie or just enjoying the trailer, that must have at least some, if not all of the best scenes in it. There is no real depth to the whole thing, which might be something you'll be missing, especially if you are fond of Hong Kong action/thriller movies.

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!

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!