It's freshly announced in competition in Cannes. Anticipation based on the collection of talent and first teasers is huge. Is this the film that'll break Johnnie To out of Asia and in to the west in a big way? Time will tell on that but what I know right now is that To's Johnny Hallyday-starring hitman revenge picture Vengeance has a brand new trailer and, good golly, I'm loving the little mists of blood that quickly follow whenever the guns come out. This one is much more focused on story and character than previous trailers have been but there's still plenty of action to be found and it's reassuring to see both Wong and Hallyday pulling things off so very well in English. Check the new trailer below the break along with the earlier teaser and first full trailer!
Trailer Two
Trailer One
Teaser
awesome! is this another French trailer or what? are reels going to be super-expensive? because I've informed some local film festivals of this, in order to see if they can get a reel for screening, such as the Waterfront and Traverse City ones. apparently Waterfront was listed as one of the top 5 films festivals in the world by SAG Indie magazine, and Traverse City's festival was started by Michael Moore, so they have more clout than I thought. whether or not they';ll be able to get ahold of Vengeance is unlikely, but well worth a try!~
very satisfying.
To is really spoiling us with the cool. Sweet merciful crap.
After these trailers, which do look great, I'm just concerned that the "cool" will look way too forced and calculated. Wong's somewhat cheesy "Chef my ass" line seems to fit into that as well.
Exiled was a wonderful film and thankfully barely avoided that trap, but I'm worried To is making this movie for a specific Western audience that by now has him associated with that "John Woo of the 21st century" bullshit.
To be honest, I prefer the more creative To, the To of Running out of Time, Throw Down and Mad Detective.
how did you like sparrow ?
i did find exile bordering on the cheese as well but it was a blast to watch. going back and forth between hyperbole and more interesting characters like the ones in election and mad detective or quirky stories like sparrow are what keeps my interest in To. I think I'm ready for western "cheese" as well as long as he delivers on the action which it looks he will. we'll see if he can stay fresh or become his own parody.
Nothing more to say... than awesome!!!
MUY BIEN.
Noooooo! I had vowed not to watch anymore about this film, but after mentioning Wong had more exposure I couldn't resist. I've always liked the way To shot his films especially his night scenes-does he use the same cinematographer? While yes there are some aesthetics and action choreography that might make some label him as John Woo of the 21st century, I think that To's body of works will have progressed past that. I have confidence he does not overdo it to ridiculous proportions (see any of Woo's post 2000 films). But I will admit I do prefer To's crime genre films.
looks damn amazing.
The best trailer yet! Seems like the film will be a mix of English, French, and Cantonese, but it would appear to be largely English. It almost looks like an unofficial sequel to Exiled! The only thing missing is Francis Ng, but my heart cannot handle the pure awesomeness of it all.
The HK release cannot come fast enough!
It's too bad the whole Red Circle project fell apart. Could this be the one to bring it back?
who told you it fell apart?
Liam Neeson said that in an interview posted on AICN, if I remember correctly; but Neeson said it had fallen apart months before already, whereas a Milkyway spokesperson had confirmed it was still in the works days before the interview was released.
So I guess it's not really clear. Given that we heard absolutely nothing for such a long time, I can imagine it's dead, though.
o__O poster looks like Oldboy