Breaking News starts off simply enough. Undercover cops at a stake-out. Thieves reveal themselves. Real cops unknowingly screw everything up. Big gun fight. More cops screw things up. Media unintentionally captures on film. Hong Kong mad.
In an effort to patch things up, Rebecca, head of a special police force, launches an operation on the thieves holed up in an apartment building—and she has hundreds of cops, a hard-boiled renegade officer bent on finishing his work and the media at her disposal.
Can silly action clichés, gorgeous one-shots and a fun, overblown sardonic story outweigh odd casting and uninteresting gunfights? Breaking News seems to be the proof as Johnnie To pounds in a high-stakes cat and mouse theme and adds surmounting pressure and tension to be released in rushes of grenade explosions and tactical shoot-outs.
Does it work? Occasionally. It works in the quieter moments when both sides cleverly find new ways of out-doing each other and winning over the media’s sympathy. It works when the viewer gets a closer look at the thieves and Ritchie Ren as the know-it-all charismatic leader with the plan for everything.
The premise is an interesting one, as both sides play two games--one with their lives, and one with their public images. The pic uniquely ties in the news as the main concern rather than the typical two-second cutaway in most action films. However with this new focus, the film’s main characters suffer.
The story begins with several instances where the Hong Kong police are kicked around by thieves, the media and in turn the public. The viewer is expected to sympathize with the cops, especially the tough, determined Cheung who missed his opportunity at glory, but there is little unique or memorable about the bland character or Nick Cheung’s performance. Kelly Chen’s cold, stern Rebecca is hardly a likeable heroine and the viewer’s allegiance is more likely to fall in with the (deep-down) kind-hearted thieves, led by Yuan, who would prefer to befriend his child hostages rather than kill them. Ren does a fine job as Yuan, except in the moments when the script throws in an awkward, watered-down male companionship between him and a hitman (who by chance encounters the group). Suet Lam works wonders in his supporting role as a hostage with his two kids.
Poor character foundations might be forgivable for an action movie, but most of Breaking News’s apartment gunfights are either lackluster or frankly unbelievable. The shoot-outs between the cops and thieves never amount to much because everyone in this world seems to have been born with the worst aim imaginable. Trained police officers commonly miss enemies five feet in front of them, simply because the plot needs to be kept going.
But even with its many flaws, Breaking News is a fine return for To because of those tiny auteurist touches of originality. The most notable one occurs in the first ten minutes as a camera drifts around a simple neighborhood until a showdown between cops and robbers ignites. In one take, To explores the peaceful atmosphere with tight, tense camera angles, surveys the elements about to come to boil, and immerses the viewer in the literal center of the fight with a sprawling 360-degree panning camera, capturing all the action. The stunning opener builds up high expectations that are never fulfilled, but it also firmly asserts the film’s appeal. Even if it is impossible to care for most of the characters, To’s dynamic ways of unfolding the story and the engaging unity of place is enough to keep the viewers in their seat for the full ninety minutes, eager to see how it all ends.
Reviewed by Tarun
