Vengeance - 復仇

Vengeance (復仇) is 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Gordon Lam, Lam Suet and Simon Yam. The movie also features a supporting cast of Michelle Ye, Felix Wong and Maggie Siu. A large portion of the film was in English due to scenes with Hallyday.

A family of four is gunned down by hitmen as the movie starts. The wife is of French decent and her father comes to Hong Kong from Paris. The daughter asked her father, Francis, to take revenge. Francis start looking around Macau but doesn't get anywhere. Dejected, Francis head back to his hotel. On his way back, he bumps into 3 hitmen right after a job. Francis than looks for these 3 to help him find his killers. The three hitmen than methodically located the hitmen that gunned down the family. But there a twist to the story. Hitmen hold no grudge against their victims. Someone hired them and Francis is no after the one who hired the hitmen.

The movie plays at a very similiar pace a Exiled. However, due to Hallyday in the lead, the movie doesn't flow so well. Hallyday seemed very one dimensional and didn't express his feelings through his face. If you watch enough Hk films, the face is 90% of the acting most time. In this case, it was like 1% of the acting. The hitmen however were the interesting part of the film. You knew they were bad to the bone and could take on any comers. I would have rather seen a film focused on the hitmen than the father out for revenge.

PTU

PTU is 2003 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Simon Yam and Maggie Siu.

The movie follows two PTU groups during the events of one night. One group is lead by Simon Yam and other is Maggie Siu. Apparently, theirs a little bit of a competition between the two groups. It follows them into a gun fight and the resolution. The action is intense and the stress level is really high.

Johnny To's ode to how police use "special" means to get information from the guys on the street. The movie also deals with the relationship of the street foot soliders and the officers that sit behind a desk passing down orders.

A must watch for any HK film fan. Don't miss this. I need to get the Dragon Dynasty version to check out the extras.

A Very Short Life - 短暫的生命

A Very Short Life (短暫的生命) is a 2009 film out of Hong Kong. The movie's main stars are Leila Tong, and Maggie Siu. There's also a much larger cast, but are too many to name. The subject matter of this film is quite heavy and supposed based on true accounts.

The movie is basically the interrogation of Leila Tong, as Becky. The leader of the interrogation team is Maggie Siu, as Josephine. Becky has accidentally killed her daughter via a beating. But Becky's daughter had been molested by Becky's boyfriend, played by Samuel Pang. But Becky won't confess against him. Josephine does all in her power in the interrogation room to make her confess. At each step of the way, Becky has flashbacks.

The movie is quite heavy in subject matter and the way the interrogation goes. If you're not up for some serious subject matter, you should skip this.