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PTU -
If one reason you keep coming back to Johnnie To is Lam Suet, this should be the next one you watch. While typically in bit or character parts, he gets a complete arc here as Lo Sa, a sergeant who loses his firearm while pursuing Triads down an alley, a blunder that gets the titular squad involved in retrieving it. What follows is essentially what would happen if Johnnie To made a "one crazy night" movie, and if you're guessing it would be awesome, you would be right.
So, you may be asking, "doesn't a 'one crazy night' movie feature a bunch of young people having a wild time" a la Adventures in Babysitting and Booksmart? That is the genre's norm, but since this one occurs over one night, is in real time and, well, gets a little crazy, I think it qualifies despite no parties breaking out. Hong Kong is the setting, but it's closer to Hong Kong than movie Hong Kong, if you will. Other action movies from the city show its grit and grime, but there are more unflattering locations in this one than you may be used to, kicking off with its filthiest alley, not to mention most slippery, which Lo Sa discovers the hard way. While Lam Suet's sergeant is yet again bumbling, the butt of jokes, etc., he is not all the time. Again, he's afforded more dignity, humanity and dimensions than usual and the actor pulls it off beautifully. One scene in particular where he wrestles with making a deal with the triads to get his gun back may be one of the best acted scenes in a Johnnie To movie. From moments like this to others involving torture and removing crime scene evidence, the movie's claims that the thin blue line is indeed thin are never not dramatic or intense. There is more suspense than action here than usual, but in typical fashion, it saves the best action for last. Besides, this does not mean the suspense is dull: I could have watched the PTU climb the stairs to one of the triads' suspected hideouts for another 20 minutes. It amounts to more proof that few directors understand what it's like to be in the Hong Kong police force as well as Johnnie To does and that none of his tales about them would be the same without Lam Suet. Let's just hope to makes another one where his name is above the title on the poster some day.
If one reason you keep coming back to Johnnie To is Lam Suet, this should be the next one you watch. While typically in bit or character parts, he gets a complete arc here as Lo Sa, a sergeant who loses his firearm while pursuing Triads down an alley, a blunder that gets the titular squad involved in retrieving it. What follows is essentially what would happen if Johnnie To made a "one crazy night" movie, and if you're guessing it would be awesome, you would be right.
So, you may be asking, "doesn't a 'one crazy night' movie feature a bunch of young people having a wild time" a la Adventures in Babysitting and Booksmart? That is the genre's norm, but since this one occurs over one night, is in real time and, well, gets a little crazy, I think it qualifies despite no parties breaking out. Hong Kong is the setting, but it's closer to Hong Kong than movie Hong Kong, if you will. Other action movies from the city show its grit and grime, but there are more unflattering locations in this one than you may be used to, kicking off with its filthiest alley, not to mention most slippery, which Lo Sa discovers the hard way. While Lam Suet's sergeant is yet again bumbling, the butt of jokes, etc., he is not all the time. Again, he's afforded more dignity, humanity and dimensions than usual and the actor pulls it off beautifully. One scene in particular where he wrestles with making a deal with the triads to get his gun back may be one of the best acted scenes in a Johnnie To movie. From moments like this to others involving torture and removing crime scene evidence, the movie's claims that the thin blue line is indeed thin are never not dramatic or intense. There is more suspense than action here than usual, but in typical fashion, it saves the best action for last. Besides, this does not mean the suspense is dull: I could have watched the PTU climb the stairs to one of the triads' suspected hideouts for another 20 minutes. It amounts to more proof that few directors understand what it's like to be in the Hong Kong police force as well as Johnnie To does and that none of his tales about them would be the same without Lam Suet. Let's just hope to makes another one where his name is above the title on the poster some day.