Reviewed by Daniel Rutledge
This is a disappointing revenge flick from a wonderful director and some amazing actors.
Vengeance starts off well. A trio of hitmen critically injures a French woman while brutally executing her family in Macau. The scene is filmed very well, but unfortunately things go swiftly downhill from there.
The woman’s elderly father travels to Macau, vowing revenge on the killers. He pursues them to Hong Kong, enlisting the help of local triads on the way.
The fact that most of the film is in English is one of its main problems. Almost every line said in English by the Hong Kong stars comes across as bad acting.
Johnny Hallyday also delivers a less than endearing lead performance.
There are some cool set pieces with hitman-on-hitman gunfights, the most impressive of which is at a rubbish tip. Even these scenes made me cringe in this film though – in a better film I’d be more forgiving of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Commando style gunfight rules, but when the rest of the film isn’t that great it’s hard to overlook such silliness.
Toward the very end of the film, the silliness levels soar to frustrating heights, both during action scenes and with the storyline.
While seeing the likes of Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Ka Tung Lam and Suet Lam wearing suits and shooting at each other on the big screen is always going to please me on a certain level, Vengeance is simply not a great film, which is made even more disappointing by the fact that it’s made by a master like Johnnie To.
Two stars.
This film is playing at the 2010 Hong Kong Film Festival.
Vengeance
:: Director: Johnnie To
:: Starring: Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Testud, Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Ka Tung Lam, Maggie Siu, Michelle Ye
:: Running Time: 108 mins
:: Rating: R18
:: Trailer: Watch here
