Now it's Gchat instead of MSN
With Xiao Ying
9:57 PM me: Heys (:
xiaoyiing18: heys!
me: Chloe here :D
9:58 PM xiaoyiing18: yups!
hahah
u wanna start first?
me: Hahas finally finished watching PTU
Took so long to get started on it (ops)
9:59 PM For me, this is my 2nd Johnnie To film, the first I watched is Breaking News (2004)
This is quite different as it actually depicts what happens over 1 night
10:00 PM From the time the fat officer stepped into the steamboat shop
to the morning where he found his gun
& was basking in heroism
I found the whole movie quite anti-climatic
From the build up, I was expecting the biggest gun fight of the century
& in the end, when he found his gun amongst the rubbish
That was just -.-"
10:01 PM So we went to all the trouble to follow his journey to realise this
Did you like how the movie unfolded?
xiaoyiing18: yah!
i think it's so normal and calm ..
like a police kind of show shldnt be that boring
10:02 PM the part where the inspector found the gun was totally lame can
me: Hahas~ It was seriously anti-climatic *sigh
Oh but Johnnie To is more of a mainstream HK director
10:03 PM Most of his films do quite well in box office reception
He does a lot of crime movies
So I guess maybe he was trying something new with this
It has a lot of low key lighting scenes, much of it is set in the dark, and the style is reminiscent of film noir
With shadows and action packed
10:04 PM Although I think most of the hook in this film is not really the plot but the way it unfolds, because we never know what to expect
10:05 PM xiaoyiing18: yeah.. i jus it was just an out-of-the-box show... but i saw 1 review that says he took 3 years to complete this film..and he was interested to portray more of teamwork rather than actions
me: Hahas, that's quite different from most action films in Hong Kong
10:06 PM Realise that most HK mainstream action films don't major on plot development or character development
But its style is usually cinematographically appealing with action packed sequences
So in some sense, what draws the audience to HK action films is mostly "spectacle"
10:07 PM Anyway I was looking at the wiki of PTU (2003)
& saw that it won best screenplay at Golden Horse
10:08 PM I guess the dialogue is really quite well written
Watched it in Cantonese, think it brought out the Hong Kong-ness of the film very well
10:09 PM xiaoyiing18: it;s the actions that attracts the audience i guess.. for me i was anticipating alot of actions too.. but cos it wasnt so i was damn bored..
but the last part where there is actions right..i tink johnnie to did a very good job is doing the "foreplay" of it
10:10 PM like the progress was really good in my opinion..
it seems like PTU won alot of awards after seeing the wiki link u sent
10:11 PM me: hahas it was nominated but sadly didn't win that many (:
Mmm agree, I think he did a good job with the shoot out sequence
With so many characters, it's very difficult to edit comprehensively
10:12 PM I think his usage of Wide Shots help us as the audience to establish the setting clearly
& where the characters are in relation to one another
We see some shots of Lo standing under the street light
& the 2 bosses looking at him & cursing him
10:13 PM The eyeline match helps to establish the continuity
Like you mentioned, I think PTU feels longer than 80 minutes
Mainly because of To's stylistic choices
10:14 PM There's this sequence I feel which is overextended
The expansion of time when the PTU team is going to Ponytail's lai
*lair
The build up of tension is meant to be suspenseful and exciting
But once again, he disappoints us when we don't see Ponytail's men there but just a bunch of girls
10:15 PM & there was a part where the team were really close to shooting one another in the darkness
that was a little draggy for me
xiaoyiing18: oh yah.. i rmbed that!
10:16 PM at the moment i tot they would be able to find the guys..
and i agree with u that was quite draggy too..
like the way he uses his shots kinda suspense us lidat
but end up there's nothing
10:17 PM i never watch any action films by johnnie to before.. so it's like the 1st one
i was really quite disappointed with the film..
10:18 PM but after reading the review right..abt him wanting to portray teamwork and things lidat..
i find that actually he did a good job in portraying what he wants to
me: Hahas I think he did a good job in exploring the dynamic relationship between law enforcers and law breakers
10:19 PM How Lo actually knows the 2 bosses
& even has their cell phone numbers
Even though he's a policeman
Kinds of makes me question the boundary between the white & black, good and evil
Especially in a triad-infested place like Hong Kong
10:20 PM The use of underhand methods to get what they want for both sides also left a deep impression
I was particularly shocked that the CID madam was torturing this man by asking her men to force feed him some liquid
10:21 PM & after that they revealed that he's a mole
There are many scenes of this too
10:22 PM Like in the arcade when the PTU team captain Mike slaps the man of Ponytail's cousin
That was really cruel for me
& how he actually deliberately picked something like a dirty tattoo, rub it off
Which is totally impossible
It just brought out the idea of justice
and how far people were willing to go in the name of it
10:23 PM xiaoyiing18: i actually think it's quite normal for HK police force to do such thing
probably is becos of all the other action movies i've watched from hk are lidat
llike they will usually use brute force to make them speak
10:24 PM but the part where u mention the CID madam torturing the mole right.. i still cannot figure out why she did that
like she noes he is a mole wad
den shldnt they meet at somewhere more discreet to prevent all this torturing?
like abit no purpose behind it
10:25 PM i guess the part which happened in the arcade right..i see it as a spike in the boring film
10:26 PM like not much action throughout so johnnie to include this kinda action
like to spice up the plot a little
10:27 PM me: Hahas, maybe the CID madam did it because she just wanted to show the mole who's boss and remind him of whose side he should be on
LOLS
10:28 PM I guess what I'd remember from watching PTU is still its style, thanks to To's cinematographer Cheng Siu Keung.
Saw this review & it put this quite aptly about the plot
"With the emphasis on style over substance, the pacing can be at times challenging. It also does not help that the dialogue is at a minimum, while the divergent story lines do not seem to be going anywhere in the film's first half, as Lo, the CID, and the PTU shake every big boss, street urchin, two-bit hood, and informant they come across. Fortunately, To and his scribes (regulars Yau Nai-hoi and Au Kin-yee) make up for it with a terrific ending in which all the loose threads and seemingly unimportant distractions come together in a beautifully shot and elegantly scored guns-blazing shootout. "
10:30 PM Hahas, I guess in this film, the just and the underdog can exchange places in a matter of seconds
& even heroism can be found by sheer luck
=.=
xiaoyiing18: hahha!
yeah man..
10:31 PM i tink it's quite a waste for me to see his first action film and get this kind of reaction..
10:32 PM it's like his other action films are reviewed to be very nice.. like wad u said box office record
me: HAHAS (: Yupz, he's popular in HK because of his action films mainly
Action is also the niche of his production house
10:33 PM Milky Way Productions
Oh but he makes good romance films
I think Turn Left, Turn Right was great!
Directed by him (:
10:34 PM xiaoyiing18: hahh! yeah i noe
i saw it when i was reading up abt him
but im not really a romantic person
me: HAHAS
xiaoyiing18: unless it includes some other genres in it
hahh
10:35 PM but i heard that Turn Left, Turn Right was great too
just not my cup of tea
hahaha
me: Hahas~! I thought you only didn't like horror
:P
10:36 PM xiaoyiing18: hahah!
i dun like to scare myself hahha!
but im not really into romantic too
i prefers action
that's why i quite like the gun battle at the end of PTU
10:37 PM me: Hahas, that was good, but I really have an issue with the 2 triad bosses just shooting at one another until they both died
That was not what I imagined at all
10:38 PM There was no ducking or smart maneuver to get away
Just head on firing at one another with much hatred
10:39 PM Oh yeah, which brings me to one of the themes in the film too, camaraderie
You can see how even the gangsters stick up for each other
Wanting revenge
And even ponytail's men
10:40 PM They vandalised Lo's car and wanted to give him a good thrashing because he took their seats
In their dialogue they mentioned "How will we answer to Boss"
Yet ironically when their boss' taxi nearly crashed into them they called him crazy and ran off unknowingly
That was so ironic!
10:41 PM Even the starting part of the film
Where the PTU teams are sitting in the police van
Waiting to be transported to their duty destination
We hear the news of some policemen dying
& Mike, the PTU team leader was saying that as long as they were wearing the uniform they were brothers
10:42 PM & zi ji ren
& in the end, the young PTU guy was the one who reminded him of the fact of the need to be there for each other, urging him to go down to the showdown site
10:44 PM xiaoyiing18: hahah yah!
the 2 triad bosses one was quite fake!
10:46 PM but i was wondering why dun they jus shoot sgt lo when he saw PTU there.. like i mean.. do u really have to kill each other anot..i mean triad bosses would usually kill those who betray them first wad.. rather than kill themselves in such close distant
like both of them are preparing to die.. or maybe becos the director say they must die at this scene so they die.. not realistic at all
me: HAHAS
10:48 PM xiaoyiing18: and i guess abt the other part u mentioned right.. i guess it's just like so slow..and i mean reall slow progress of how johnnie to depicts teamwork
like often ppl will forget abt wad they were supposed to do when they are helping their frens..so another way show us the realistic part of this film
10:49 PM hahha that's wad i interpret it as
me: Hahas true :D
But I guess there's only so much they can explore with so many characters!
It is difficult to develop any one of them really well
& flesh out their motivations clearly
We just know them as their role
10:50 PM What they do, which department of the police they belong to
Wow we have discussed for an hour!
:) hahas
10:51 PM xiaoyiing18: hahah!
actually i tink the CID team quite extra
hahah!
but like wad u said there's only so much we can explore
10:52 PM becos the whole story talks a little abt the characters..so it's quite hard to dig much things out of it
10:53 PM me: Hahas yupz, I guess that's part of the sadness of most HK action films, so much to see visually yet very little development & depth in exploring themes & issues
10:54 PM :(
No wonder some people still prefer Hollywood
lols~
xiaoyiing18: hahaha
maybe the culture is that more action means good box office?
lol
10:55 PM me: Yupz! Different target audiences
Okies, do you have anything more to add?
:)
10:56 PM xiaoyiing18: haha! nothing much.. just wanna add 1 last sentence .. i really think it's boring LOL
me: HAHAS!
Ok, it was a good visual treat for me, some of his shots are really difficult to accomplish technically
:)
10:57 PM Okies, all the best with the rest of your films!
No comments:
Post a Comment