Hong Kong Action Auteur Johnnie To's First Movie in English: "Vengeance" (2009)

I've seen a lot of Johnnie To (/Wai Ka-Fai) movies this year; there are a lot of them to see, 'cause the Hong Kong film-maker is very prolific. "Vengeance" (2009) is the first one "in English." More of the dialogue is in English than in Cantonese, but some of it is in French. The one seeking vengeance is Costello, played by French singer/composer/actor Johnny Hallyday (who starred in the original "Diabolique," "Man on the Train"). I'm pretty sure that naming him Costello is an homage to Jean-Pierre Melville's great neo-noir "Le samouraï." With Alain Delon as a hitman at the end of his rope)

Even discussing the set-up, what occurs before the opening title seems to me plot-spoiling. The plot is not particularly convoluted. The story centers on an honor code among hitmen. There are two pairs of hitmen and one more seeming former hitman whose memory is decaying due to having a bullet lodged in his brain. This makes him rely on Polaroids with identifying captions. Though this aspect brings "Memento" to mind, the storytelling does not run backwards with overlaps. There are flashbacks to the occasion for vengeance.

Jonnie To neo-noir film trademark features include (1) long and winding tracking shots (he is the Cantonese Max Ophuls!), (2) characters' total dedication to an honor code even or especially among contract killers, (3) inclusion of meals at junctures when ordinary crime dramas would move to the next confrontation, (4) Lam Suet providing some comic relief, (5) firing a lot of bullets, and (6) "Mexican standoffs" (where one gunman has another one with a gun aimed at him: any even number of them can "play."

All but the last one of these is present in "Vengeance." Like "Exiled," most of "Vengeance" takes place on Macau, though most of the characters (except Costello) seem to be based in Hong Kong. Simon Yam plays a ganglord, as he did in "Exiled" and in many other Johnny To movies (Election, Triad Election, etc.). Anthony Wong and Lam Suet are again contract killers, joined by Lam Ka-Tung (who seems to alternate with Louis Koo as To's matinee-idol gangster: Election, Triad Election, and Mad Detective, T are among Lam Ka-Tung's earlier credits).

Anthony Wong has that "What the f__k?" toughness of Lee Marvin or Eddie Constantine. Johnny Halladay fits into the professional killer ethos, though fully realizing that he needs help in an alien environment (and aides de mémoire in any environment). The "making of" featurette reports that he adjusted without complain to the Hong Kong movie-making ways. Anthony Wong praises him for returning to work soon after sustaining major injuries in a fall.

One thing that mystifies me in many movies about professional killers and/or bodyguards whose marksmanship was involved in their hiring is that shootouts can be so prolonged. To take a Hollywood example, how could anyone possibly have survived in the house shot up in "LA Confidential"? Or the gun battles in John Woo movies? There is a sort of Birnham Woods (moving toward Macbeth) battle in which many, many rounds are fired by our heroes and by a company of assailants. It is so stylish that my wonder of how anyone could survive so long was not paramount, but there was an earlier one in a picnic area that did exceed my ability to suspend disbelief. Four or five of the seven participants did take bullets, but none were fatal. It is difficult for me to believe that professional gunmen who can keep a bicycle moving with gunshots and who seem to hit targets through doors with relative ease can fire off so many rounds that miss. And that Anthony Wong's character does not fire at tires of an escaping van (a miss might hit the gasline, right?).

Other than being primarily in English, "Vengeance" is not very different from other Johnnie To gang movies (not the only genre in which he works: he also makes very offbeat romantic comedies such as "Turn Left, Turn Right" and "Running on Karma"). I enjoy the company of his ensemble of actors (though regretting the departure of Andy Lau from recent ones), the fatalistic sense of irony/humor (reminiscent of Sergio Leone movies), and the phenomenal tracking shots through neon jungles (Macau even more than Hong Kong). I'm a regular Johnnie fan.