Once In A While

Vengeance
Directed by Johnnie To, written by Wai Ka-fai, starring Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Lam Suet, Gordon Lam Ka-tung, and Sylvie Testud; also starring Michelle Ye, Berg Ng, Eddie Cheung, Felix Wong, Law Wing-cheong, Maggie Siu, Stanley Fung, Jo Koo, Elena Kong, and Vincent Sze.

Following the brutal murder of his daughter's family, aging French chef François Costello (Hallyday) travels to a hospital in Macau to visit his daughter (Testud). Once there, he promises to avenge her and her deceased family.

Little more than the description provided above is needed for Johnnie To's latest film. Anyone that has seen a To film knows what to expect from the Hong Kong director. Those unfamiliar with his work should know that he is perhaps the greatest crime genre director in the history of cinema.

Read any review from any To crime film and you'll be able to understand what to expect from Vengeance. Loyalty plays a central role, gun-violence is stylish and second-to-none, and the cast (with the exception of Hallyday) is filled with regulars of To and Wai Ka-fai's Milkyway Image production company. What really sets Vengeance apart from To and Milkyway's œuvre is Wai Ka-fai's script.

Prior to Vengeance, To worked almost exclusively without a finished script. Due to the financing deals made for this film, To was required to have a finished script prior to filming. I think this requirement restricted To's creative efforts, resulting in a film that feels almost too familiar. However, the familiarity coupled with Hallyday's character worked.

While many say that Vengeance is a watered-down, "American-ized" version of a true Johnnie To film, I disagree. Vengeance is obviously a more commercialized Johnnie To film, but it does a fine job of blending hints of La Nouvelle Vague with elements of early Akira Kurosawa films (i.e. One Wonderful Sunday, Drunken Angel, Stray Dog) with the aforementioned familiarity of To's previous works.

The final product may not be as indulgent as To's Kurosawa homage, Throw Down, or as tight a film as PTU, but I think it is a fine piece of work from a superb director. That, along with a great cast of Hong Kong mainstays lead by French superstar Hallyday, make Vengeance a good crime film, and a film worth seeing.