Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Whether you’re one of the people who discovered Johnny To only recently, thanks to FULL-TIME KILLER, or you’ve been a fan for a while now thanks to classics like THE MISSION, you’re probably curious to see what his latest looks like, and one reader already has. Here’s the scoop:
Harry,
I'm sending you a review of Johnny To's "P.T.U.", starring Simon Yam, perhaps the greatest Hong Kong actor never to be given his due, right up there with Francis Ng ("Bullets Over Summer") and Raymond Wong ("Colour of the Truth"). I'm not even sure if this review will get to you, what with Sobig running around and what not. (I know it's filling up my own mailbox every single morning for the last week or so.)
Anyways, I saw the movie a while back, and wrote a full-length review for my own site, but it slipped my mind to send you a review in case you wanted to feature it. It's a good movie, and if you know Johnny To, then you know he's back to the same form that made "The Mission" such a masterpiece of Hong Kong cinema.
Below, find a shorter review that hits all the points, and is filled with SPOILERS.
THE PREMISE: Simon Yam is head honcho of a Hong Kong uniform police unit (the P.T.U. of the title) that walks the dangerous night beat in groups of 4.
THE STORY:
(Note: Depending on what version of the film you see, the character names may be different (a common thing with Hong Kong films), so I'll just use the actors' names.)
The movie takes place on a single night, when a Detective played by Suet Lam loses his gun to some hoodlums and has to retrieve it or risk punishment by the department. Worst for Lam, the hoodlums have plans to use the gun to shoot a rival. Simon Yam takes it upon himself to help out a fellow brother in blue. So begins one crazy night.
After Lam is beaten by the hoods and has his gun taken, he drives around town in search of the hoods. Things get more complicated when the leader of the hoods get shank in his car, thus sending the dead hood's father on a quest to get revenge on the rival gang he believes is responsible. The father plans on using Lam's gun to do it, unless Lam does something first. Lam is caught between committing a felony and getting reprimanded for losing his gun. And being that Suet Lam is, well, Suet Lam, the guy is completely hapless.
Meanwhile, Yam goes through a sea of young hoods to find leads on the gun, showing himself to be both a brutal authority figure as well as a good friend to those who feels deserves his friendship. Someone has the gun, but the cops don't know who it is. Also in the background is a bureaucratic cop trying to get a promotion off the bones of other cops. Yam has to run interference while at the same time trying to learn if a new uniform who has just joined his unit is a rat or not.
What you need to know about "P.T.U." is that it's understated. Dialogue is kept at a minimum, and almost everything important is said with a look or a non-look. Like "The Mission", what the characters don't say speak louder than what they do say. Reading between the lines is a must with this movie. No lazy viewers need apply.
The whole thing caps off with a shoot out of "Reservoir Dogs"-like proportions, with everyone cutting loose on the street. And oh yeah, some bank robbers who we hear about in the beginning but never see until the end shows up to join the fun.
THE GOOD:
Simon Yam, who once again proves once and for all that no movie that showcases Yam, Anthony Wong, or Francis Ng in a big role can be completely bad. Suet Lam is also his usual affable self, although if you're not used to him you might not "get" him. Director Johnny To is working with a screenplay that is short on dialogue but heavy on mood and atmosphere. The film looks GOOD. Besides that, it moves well and the narrative deserves attention.
THE BAD:
It runs the risk of being too much style and not enough substance. By movie's end, everything comes together, but one gets the feeling nothing really matters. Even the lost of Lam's gun is resolved in a rather silly fashion. As it turns out, the hoodlums didn't steal his gun at all, he just lost it in the street where he fell after being beaten up! All this time, the hoods were just using his paranoia to get him to do the dirty work for them.
THE FINAL WORD:
If you like To's "The Mission", then "P.T.U." is right up the same alley. This isn't the To behind "Full-Time Killer", which is all sound and fury, or the To behind all those costume comedies. This is the serious To, the man who uses brevity as a means of telling a story, and where mood is of utmost importance.
Thanks, man. Sounds like it owes at least a slight debt to one of my favorite underrated Kurosawa films, STRAY DOG. I’ll keep my eyes open for this one, and feel free to send along any other reviews you’ve got ready to go.
"Moriarty" out.
