While perusing my local independent video store’s Hong Kong new release section the other day, I stumbled across a new Johnny To flick. I’ve only seen two Johnny To films that I’m aware of—the incredibly fun Hong Kong superhero chick-flick The Heroic Trio and its sequel, The Executioners. Both films were highly entertaining affairs, with some great direction and dreamy imagery, not to mention three of the island’s biggest female stars filling the lead roles. ‘So, a new Johnny To film,’ I thought to myself—and then I took a closer look at the cover—six well-dressed men in suits, your typical triad guys who tend to populate most Hong Kong action fare—but wait, what’s this? Our first well-dressed gangster is none other than the inimitable Simon Yam, one of my favorite Hong Kong actors…things are definitely looking up. I scan the rest of the cover, and there, on the right hand side, staring back at me is Anthony Wong. Wong is, hands down, my favorite Hong Kong actor (which puts him pretty high in the running for my favorite actor period). Simon Yam and Anthony Wong together again in a new action film? (See Ringo Lam’s Full Contact someday—you get Yam, Wong, and Chow Yun-Fat—the movie’s a classic.)—Yep, no doubt about it—The Mission was a definite rental—and a good call on my part.
Mr. Lung (Eddy Ko-hung) is a prominent triad boss who’s made some enemies during the course of his life—and now, one of them is trying to take him out of the picture. We know this, because as the film opens, we see Lung being stalked by two assassins through the Super-Bowl restaurant. Lung survives this encounter though, thanks to his cell-phone and some quick-arriving backup. However, his security personnel were obviously not up to snuff—something he needs to remedy.
Lung orders his brother Frank (Simon Yam—Full Contact, Dr. Lamb) to assemble a new team to protect him—and not just some rent-a-cops, either—Lung wants a precision team of killers. Frank recruits five men from completely different backgrounds—James (Lam Suet: Where a Good Man Goes) is a pudgy guy who likes to eat peanuts. Shin (Jackie Lui in his debut role) is a pretty boy—something that will cause problems later in the film. Mike (Roy Cheung: Beast Cops, Organized Crime and Triad Bureau) is a lone wolf. Roy (Francis Ng) is a bar owner with a take no cr*p attitude and an intimidating scowl. And finally, there’s Curtis (Anthony Wong: Beast Cops, Hard Boiled, Ebola Syndrome)—who has earned the nickname ‘Ice’. Curtis is a killer—cold and calculating and good with a gun or a razor blade.
These five men come together in order to protect Lung and to try and figure out who exactly wants him dead. Their different backgrounds and personalities make for an uneasy mix at first—but eventually, they come together and learn to function as a unit. However, a conflict arises in the second half of the film that threatens to not only break them apart, but leave some of them dead, as well.
The film, which won numerous awards (including Best Director and Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and Best Director at the prestigious Hong Kong film awards) is a marked departure from To’s earlier work on movies like The Heroic Trio. There’s a very diverse, yet very distinctive mélange of film influences at work in The Mission—and half the fun of watching is picking them all out. The hired bodyguards, with their quirky personalities and their stylish good looks tend to recall the films of Quentin Tarantino…particularly Reservoir Dogs. The scenes of these men bonding, playing practical jokes on each other with explosive cigarettes and kicking around a paper ball in the boss’ office are more reminiscent of Japanese director ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine than anything else. In fact, there appears to be a lot of Kitano influence here—from the quiet, static, long takes of characters who say nothing, to the protracted, yet oddly restrained gun battles, one can’t help but be reminded of Kitano’s style of Zen filmmaking.
Other influences aside, The Mission simply oozes with a style all its own. To moves the camera about confidently, panning and dollying back and forth through some scenes to give us various perspectives, yet remaining still and quiet in others. The gunfights are particularly stylish—with To managing to capture all five killers in one frame, each of them facing different directions, frozen guns aimed at unseen assailants. In short, it just looks totally cool. Nevermind that there’s none of the overtly flamboyant John Woo style of action here—these scenes were designed to work in a different way…showcasing the men who shoot the guns as opposed to who they’re shooting at and what they hit--and they work quite effectively.
Of course, all this technical wizardry would be for naught if the actors weren’t capable of filling their roles—which isn’t the case here. There’s no weak link in this cast—each actor manages to bring his character to life, and make him distinctive and unique as well. Even though both Shin and Mike are somewhat similar (both seem to be the men that women would swoon over), they’re completely different characters who come across as real people.
Still, the really great performances come from the places you’d expect—mostly. Simon Yam doesn’t have a ton of screen time here, but he’s always captivating to watch when he’s in front of the camera. Anthony Wong is brilliant as Curtis—a killer of few words who works with a chilling sense of efficiency. Honestly, there’s zero doubt in my mind that this is the best actor working in Hong Kong today. I’m glad that he didn’t bolt for America so that he could collect moderately large paychecks to star in less than impressive Hollywood films. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Francis Ng. Ng’s Roy is just as impressive as Wong’s Curtis—just in a different way—which is witnessed throughout the film, but most impressively near the climax. I’m hoping to see Francis Ng get some more recognition from western audiences—the man is a great actor.
Chung Chi-wing provides the film’s intriguing score. The music here is essentially repetitive, with a bouncy little synthesized tune played over and over. While this little number seems too light and bouncy for a film with gun violence, it actually manages to add to the overall mood of the movie. Again, while listening to it, I was reminded of ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano’s films—which utilize a similar kind of minimalist score, provided by the impressive Jo Hisaishi.
Ultimately, The Mission is another recent film to emerge from Hong Kong that demonstrates that many of the fears concerning artistic freedom after the 1997 handover were unfounded. Directors on the island are still making gritty, artistic films with violence and intriguing subject matter. For proof of that, one need look no further than this 1999 film, or 1998’s Beast Cops—two films made after the handover, but also films capable of standing up to the best Hong Kong films of the last 15 years (the last ‘Golden Era’ in a lot of critics' eyes). Granted, it’s hard to make a value judgment on the scene as a whole seeing as the newer movies only seem to reach the States in small trickles, but what I have seen seems to bode well for the island’s filmmaking future. As long as directors like Johnny To and actors like Simon Yam and Anthony Wong continue to work there, Hong Kong cinephiles can expect to see more quality films—films like The Mission, which gets a highly recommended from me. Track this one down and check it out—you won’t be disappointed.
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