A short while back, I reported on the proposed remake of Johnny To’s 2004 film, Breaking News. I finally got to see the original on DVD. In some ways the film can be viewed as a contemporary companion to Ace in the Hole which Screenhead compadre Eion wrote about below. For those who just want to check out a good action film, Breaking News kicks serious booty.

Johnny To begins his film with a seven minute shot of a robbery gone wrong. The camera glides back and forth, up and around between the various characters, through the streets, into buildings and back out again. In the story, a television crew films the cops versus robbers by pure chance, with the news showing the cops bungling in getting the bad guys. After it is revealed that Hong Kong residence do not feel safe, Police Commissioner Rebecca Fong comes up with the idea of creating the capture of the robbers as a media event for camera. In the meantime, chance events conspire to keep Fong’s plan from working as the robbers run into a gang of hired killers, and the two gangs hide out in the apartment of a hapless cab driver with two young kids. Meanwhile, Police Inspector Cheung has his own agenda of getting the robbers with his group of plainclothes cops.

Clocking in at a breakneck ninety minutes, this is an action film without much padding. Breaking News is both an examination of a media obsessed culture which sometimes seems to be chasing itself. Additionally, there are scenes which are a very funny examination of Chinese family life. Johnny To has proven himself to be one of the best action directors around. The influence of Sam Peckinpah has certainly permeated his recent films, especially in the way shoot outs are staged. One of To’s recent films, Exiled, is scheduled to open in the US on August 31. I was able to catch this terrific movie a couple of months ago at a film festival. If you can’t see any on Johnny To’s films in a theater, this is one director you want to start seeing on DVD.

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