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[ Image courtesy of Wikipedia ]
Shamed by the televised escape of five bank robbers, the Hong Kong police pull out all the stops to catch the crooks. When a detective (Nick Cheung) happens upon the gang's hideout, Inspector Rebecca Fong (Kelly Chen) decides to take charge of her department's image and broadcast the stakeout. But ultracool baddie Yuen (Richie Ren) has a few tricks up his sleeve, and soon, news isn't the only thing that's breaking in this fast-paced shoot-'em-up. - Netflix
THE OPENING SCENE
"Breaking News" opens up with a soft-music laden morning in Hong Kong. Just like any typical morning. People are going to places, doing work and etc. That's about the only normal thing as soon enough a shoot-out happens on the streets of Hong Kong. The reason I'm bringing it up as something impressive is that the entire opening sequence is done in one continuous shot. Such a shot of any kind is challenging enough even if it were just simply dialogue. Adding in the elements of weapons and exact timing, well you can just understand why very few movies would attempt such a thing. However it's the creative mind of the director Johnnie To (more on him later) that decided to start off this crime opus with a six minute gun fight. It definitely grabs your attention and I would say it surpasses the oft-talked and (rightfully praised) shoot-out in Michael Mann's movie "Heat."
HOI
With any crime drama, you're always going to have a protagonist that will stop at nothing to get the bad guy. Nothing will ever change in that aspect. Sometimes though, there is a secondary character that balances out the one who the audience is supposed to cheer for. Usually this character is someone that keeps the protagonist grounded and human. And their efforts typically come through innocent humor. This is where the character Hoi (played by Benz Hui) comes into play. Hoi is the elder statesman on the division that Inspector Cheung heads and he is the cut of what you'd normally expect from "the old guy of the group." Just has a little bit of time left until he retires and has the Danny Glover body language of "getting too old for this shit." However Hoi doesn't just lurch around complaining and telling his younger boss to slow down, nope he is as involved as everyone else is on the police force. It's his amusingly as it is unfortunate weak stomach that acts as comedy relief and helps the movie not take itself too seriously. Call it juvenile if you must, but having someone cut a fart in the midst of searching for bank robbers is just funny.
IT'S A STANDOFF...BEST WE EAT
Continuing with the movie not taking itself too seriously, there is an interesting as it is amusing break from the shoot-ups (and there's plenty of it) in which the bad guys sit down and have a meal. Rather than taking this as an insult, the police decide to feed their own as well as the reporters covering the standoff. The whole premise of a "timeout" is kind of funny, but then again, that's what happens when standoffs become well...standoffs. It reminded me of the scene in "Dog Day Afternoon" where the pizza boy makes his delivery and he is full of glee because he got to be on television.
THE SCOPE & SCALE
Hong Kong has a lot of people. Something in the millions, but bottom line, a lot of people. I'm sure it's not necessarily too hard to film a movie and just use a bunch of extras. Even still, the scope and scale of the movie was impressive. I think of how movies are made here where they call for very large groups of people and what is normally done is just take a small group and multiply them ten times over using technology. Obviously there aren't any cities around here that can easily boast having their populous in the millions, however with the movie incorporation quite a few scenes where the shot was continuous, I was impressed.
I HAVE BECOME A JOHNNIE TO FAN
This is the first Johnnie To movie that I've seen and it certainly will not be the last. Once the movie was finished, I just had to see what other films he had done, as well as curious about what the general reception was on "Breaking News." A quick glimpse into the synopsis of his other works has led to my interest in Johnnie To increasing. It's hard to turn away from a movie in which just about everyone gets shot and of course there's the way of doing that in which it just happens, it's exaggerated to some levels that are even too absurd for video games and in the end it just doesn't make sense (I'm lookinng at you "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever"). Then there's the cut of grain where shoot-outs are done properly. Believe it or not, there is a science to a shoot-out. Of course it has to be entertaining, but there still has to be some purpose to it. Much like to people dying in any kind of movie. "Breaking News" is a movie that does the latter. Save for a couple of acrobatic and minor quibbles in which really someone should've at least been more banged up, the action scenes are done well. With the element of the Hong Kong police doing what they can to control the information in a manner that not only restores, but improves their image with the people, is a nice touch of commentary. I found myself chuckling because we all know that happens pretty much all the time, especially in this day and age of never ending media.You can bet that you will see future reviews of other Johnnie To movies on this blog, as this could be a name that is going on my list of favorite directors.
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