To's smooth, balletic style, noirish lighting schemes and compositions are made for the big screen, and because his work is (sadly) not distributed well in the United States, take this opportunity to see it in a theater.
Vengeance(復仇)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Hong Kong, France · 2009
1h 48m
Director Johnnie To
Starring Johnny Hallyday, Anthony Wong, Gordon Lam, Lam Suet
Genre Action, Thriller
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Francis, a French chef and former assassin, travels to Macau to find the gang of triads who killed his daughter’s husband and children. He enlists the aid of three local hitmen in his quest for revenge, but the truth is rarely simple in this violent action-thriller.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Both newcomers to Mr. To and longtime admirers should be prepared for a master class in directing.
Village Voice by Nick Pinkerton
More than once does To's grandiose imagism miraculously grant this rote thriller a gleam of the sublime, as in a trash-dump face-off staged as an epic field maneuver, or a campground shoot-out timed to the fickle light of the moon.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
A formula thriller done as an elegant genre exercise. Johnny Hallyday was brought in by To as a last-minute sub for Alain Delon, and could have been the first choice: He is tall, weathered, grim and taciturn.
Few directors make action movies with the pizazz of Hong Kong's Johnnie To, although his films rarely get runs in New York. That's all the more reason to see his Vengeance.
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