Vengeance (February 4th and 6th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[VENGEANCE screens Friday February 4^th at 7:30pm and Sunday February 6^th at 8:30pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

At one point in VENGEANCE (Fuk sau), hit-man Fat Lok (Suet Lam) asks, “what does revenge mean when you have forgotten everything?” He's speaking of Costello (Johnny Hallyday), the man who has employed him and his fellow hit-men Kwai (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) and Chu (Ka Tung Lam). Normally the trio works for crime boss George Fung (Simon Yam), but Costello has offered them not just money, but a possible way out of their criminal lifestyle. In return for all his wealth, including a restaurant in France, Costello wants the hit-men to mete out justice for the assassination of his daughter's family by another trio of paid killers.

Because of a degenerative brain injury, Costello has to constantly keep reminding himself who to trust, who he's after, and why with hand-labeled pictures of his enemies and allies, and even of his dead family members. In the end, though, what To's film asks is not just what revenge means to someone like Costello who can't remember it. Rather, it asks what does revenge mean, period, and is it really worth the pain and effort it takes to get?

If nothing else, VENGEANCE is a great looking film, filled with one great action set piece after another. Writer/Director Johnnie To's camera captures neon drenched city streets and sterile hotel hallways with an artist's eye, making the mundane and everyday seem extraordinary and beautiful. His action scenes are carefully choreographed and often unusual, as in an outdoor gunfight where everyone is hiding behind huge bales of paper that they roll towards each other while shooting. In the tradition of Japanese samurai films from the seventies, blood spurts out in intentionally unrealistic misty geysers.

Hallyday gives a good, understated performance as Costello. He has to show his character's mental deterioration while at the same time making us believe he's still aware of his goal. Wong Chau-Sang and the two Lams create memorable characters who don't act like typical movie tough guys, and we come to like this trio of killers. When they first agrees to work for Costello, it's just a job. Then they start to buy into the fantasy that maybe this is a way out for them. Finally, it becomes something they care about as much as Costello. The movie allows us to like these killers, but it also reminds us they are by no means heroes. They could just as easily have been the men Costello is hunting, and their counterparts Costello's allies with only a slightly different twist of fate. Yam plays his role a bit more broadly than the rest of the cast, but he can be forgiven. When your protagonists are all morally suspect, you need a bad guy who really goes for the gusto with the villainy.

To be sure, much about VENGEANCE is familiar. We've seen the same basic plot countless times, the themes here are nothing new for a revenge film, and Costello's condition recalls MEMENTO or, perhaps even more so, THE MEMORY OF A KILLER (De zaak Alzheimer). VENGEANCE may not transcend its genre, and if anything, it embraces the conventions and cliches of its type. And yet, despite the familiarity, this isn't just some derivative, cookie-cutter action film. It distinguishes itself through bold visual style, strong performances, and minor but important deviations from formula that make borrowed ideas seem fresh. When you have a filmmaker as talented as Johnnie To at the helm, that's more than enough to result in a great film. 3 ½ out of 4 stars.