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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
View All Daai si gin (Breaking News) News
All Critics (18) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (4) | DVD (3)
[Breaking News] is one of [director] To's typically tangled meditations on the smearing of good and evil, in moments where instinct overcomes morality.
Prolific Hong Kong lenser Johnnie To delivers another solid action picture with this latest effort.
To, Hong Kong's best action auteur since John Woo left for Hollywood, doesn't disappoint.
Generally good performances from the Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Mainland cast, plus kinetic widescreen photography, deliver solid enough entertainment.
A film filled with terrifically choreographed action and very little on its mind.
Well executed but ultimately unsatisfying ...
This is a film Michael Bay would green light in a heartbeat.
A brainless but harmless display of senseless slaughter!
Starts with an astonishing tracking shot lasting nearly seven minutes that could rank with Orson Welles' much-admired Touch of Evil opener.
Veteran Hong Kong director Johnny To (Fulltime Killer) has turned out yet another slick, expertly shot action thriller.
...another in a long line of expertly made Johnnie To films. While it may not be the director's best work, it has some knockout sequences.
To takes on the relationship between the media and the police in this taut, cynical thriller.
Breaking News lives up to its title and is another successful Hong Kong crime thriller for Johnnie To.
The story only takes 90 minutes to unfold and it starts off on the right foot. The 10 minute introduction does what it's supposed to do; introduce the characters, set up the story, and deliver flying bullets. To top it all off, it is done in one continuous cinematic shot. The film does move at a slower pace, but the concept of the story helps to avoid complete boredom.
The action is unleashed at the right moments, which isn't a whole lot in comparison to the rest of the story; however, those segments are nicely written.
Richie Ren is cool, calm, and collected. The trio of major cast members is rounded out by Kelly Chen and Nick Cheung.
The opening sequence alone is worth a checkout. The rest of Breaking News is also recommendable.
Super Reviewer
"Breaking News" starts with a stakeout of Yuen's(Richie Ren) gang going badly awry as it devolves into a running shootout. To make matters worse, a policeman is killed, the criminals get away and the whole fiasco ends up on the nightly news. Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Fong(Kelly Chen) comes up with the idea of the police videotaping the arrest of the criminals in order to reassure the public that they can do their job properly. Inspector Cheung(Nick Cheung) is one step ahead of them and still on the case, by the way, has cornered the criminals in an apartment building. There is a lot in "Breaking News" that might seem familiar to viewers with its media coverage of an ongoing police situation. What's different here is the lack of chaos, with both sides vying to be in control of the message and attaining levels of success. So add to that Johnnie To's kinetic style of filmmaking(especially in the opening tracking shot that gets more suspenseful as it goes on) and you have a smart thriller that also entertains. However, the movie is not without its share of faults with inappropriate comic relief and major characters that come and go as they please.
With a highly impressive 7-minute opening scene done in a single take, it raised my expectation level on how enjoyable the rest of the film might be. It just fizzled from that point on.
From the opening 7 minute shootout between the cops and the dastardly group of bank robbers, you known Breaking News is not going to be your average cop movie It is in fact of the most amazingly choreographed and scripted movies I've ever seen. The action is terrific, performances incredible, especially Richie Jen and the filming entirely in the building is just extraordinary.
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