Breaking News

Breaking News. I have been seriously neglecting my Netflix queue lately, which feels like I'm not getting my moneys worth. I gotta knock a few of these out this week. Mugs worked all day, and I had some time before pool, so I decided to watch the current Chinese movie(I usually have one out, and Margo usually isn't into them so it's good to watch while she's at work). Today's choice is Breaking News. I remember adding it to my queue because I like a lot of the main actors.

The story opens with a robbery, where we establish that the criminals are thoughtful and ever-planning, and our main policeman is persistent and plucky. The criminals get away, in a highly publicized police failure, and pressure is applied to both solve the crime, and make sure it looks good. One of the actors I watched for was Simon Yam, playing Asst. Commissioner Wong but unfortunately his appearance was more of a cameo.
Nick Cheung plays inspector Cheung(original I know) very well, following relentlessly like he was trying out for the next Die Hard movie. He is handsome and charming, and plays well off of Kelly Chen. Chen herself does well as the 'straight man', yelling at Cheung and manipulating the media. Richie Ren impresses as the bad guy who has thought of everything; Robbing, shooting, taking hostages, even showing off his cooking skills. The scenes in the apartment between Ren and Chung are actually touching, and some of the action is cool despite over reliance on the grenade as element of danger.

The beginning of the movie is an astounding 7 minute one shot take. Worth seeing if you have some time and like HK action films, but don't go out of you way to see it.