Breaking News (2004)

Thanks for the memories!

Great Film overall

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Nice premise, nice looking but for myself it just doesn't completely fall into place for me.Probably the most noticeable aspect to "Breaking News" is the cinematography.. No doubt about it, the cinematography of Siu-keung Cheng & editing by David Richardson are first class, but it is also the source of my greatest frustration with this film. For mine the camera moves around too often, too quickly & will come to a holt in a sudden jolt. The opening scene in particular is just nauseating despite the obvious skill in putting it all together.Well worth checking out & I'm sure that we will see a Hollywood rip-off of this film some time in the next couple of years.

The script is twisted and not exactly what you consider state-of-the-art in terms of European or American cinema. But it's Johnny To, so you know what you'll get. The cinematography is brilliant, the acting unfortunately mediocre, it isn't as intense as in Johnny To's last movie "Throwdown". But still I like this one better, for the Honk Kong pictures and the astonishing opening scene which was filmed uninterrupted for just about five minutes including camera elevations, camera entering appartments, a decent shoot out and a lot of 180° turns without any single cut. The staging of the action in the giant apartment building is tense and gives a disorientation that prepares you for any surprise. Gangsters on floor 9/C. Police on floor 8/B. But they need minutes to clash and one never knows what comes next. After short shootings everyone spreads in another direction and the situation is anything but clear. This is big cinema and gives a new idea how action and tension can be staged besides boring Hollywood standards. This movie owes greatly to the atmosphere of Hong Kong. Crowded streets, huge apartment blocks with the air conditions sticking out like giant bee hives, big limos... and not to forget all the different branches of HK police that always seem to quarrel with each other rather than fighting criminals. If anyone could explain the different branches of HK police and how they interact, feel free to send me an e-mail. There is no good and bad in this movie as the gangsters reveal sympathetic traits of character while cooking for the family taken hostage - they would have become rather cooks and own a restaurant than being "uncle killer" and "uncle bandit". The police appears to be completely disoriented and rather eager to get publicity than fighting the "bad" guys who are especially clever to use the media in their favor. The movie is probably ment as a satire on public organs such as the police and the manipulation of today's mass media to influence public opinion. As I'm no big philosopher I'm gonna stop evaluating right here. For all HK fans and everyone that enjoys a nice camera work including some shoot outs - you definitely have to watch this movie. I had the honor to attend a screening of this movie during the VIENNALE in Vienna on the giant "Gartenbau Kino" Screen.

I have seen lots of hong kong action movies and most of the time, they are terrible. There are some great hong kong action movies that are great such all of john woo's hong kong movie, the first "infernal affair", "city on fire" and others that I can't seem to remember at the moment. And as for "Breaking news" it did not exceed my great movie experience. although the story was good but it could have been better. The story is a fast pace movie which means there are going to be less characters development. It would have been nice if they would expand on the chemistry between the "leader of the heist" & Rebbecca fong and the "leader of the hired killer" & the "leader of the heist". There are lots of shoot out between the villain and the police. It is one of those shoot out that just kills the action of the movie because they make it too unbelievable. for example, one person is shooting another person about 3 or 5 feet from him or her and they missed. It is just to hard to accept that when someone is that close and you missed. If you want to see lots of shoot out action strategy movie but does not expect much then this is the movie for you.

In Breaking News, Kelly Chen plays Rebecca Fong, a top level Hong Kong cop who runs the show for her boss when the police go after a gang on the run after a shootout with police at a stakeout. Nick Cheung plays the cop in charge of the stakeout, where a wild shootout had left dead and wounded police on the street. His character tracks down the gang, even after Rebecca tells him he is off the case. The gunfight, the manhunt and the hostage incident all become part of a media circus, with Rebecca trying to manipulate the news media, so that the message that the press delivers is that Hong Kong is a safe place and that the police can handle the criminals.With all the gunfire and explosions in this movie, that message seems unbelievable. Breaking News is a very well made movie. The movie has no flashbacks, and runs like a live newsreel. At one point, the lead crook Yuen comments during an Internet conversation on what a good looking a cop Kelly Chen is, while Yuen is ugly. Since this is a movie, not real life, you have Rebecca Fong looking better than any female police commanding officer and Nick Cheung playing a cop who survives a gun shot wound to the head and several hand grenade explosions. Yuen is a criminal mastermind and also a good cook. The movie's film editor, David Richardson, along with the director, pace this movie fast enough so the viewer doesn't have a chance to wonder about what is happening before the end credits roll.