Gun chung (2007)

Director:

Nai-Hoi Yau

Writers:

Nai-Hoi Yau (written by) &
Kin-Yee Au (written by)

Release Date:

21 June 2007 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

I am invisible. I am inaudible. The enemy's fate is in my hands.

Plot Keywords:

Master Criminal | Murder | Police | Disappearance | Jewel Thief

Awards:

5 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Simon Yam	...	Sergeant Wong Man Chin / 'Dog Head'
Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Chan Chong Shan (as Tony Leung)
Kate Tsui	...	Constable Ho Ka Po / 'Piggy'
Suet Lam	...	Ng Tung / 'Fatman' (as Lam Suet)
Maggie Siu	...	Madam Fong (as Maggie Shiu)
Siu-Fai Cheung	...	Chief Inspector Chan (as Cheung Siu Fai)
Ting Yip Ng		(as Ng Yuk Sau)
Yiu-Cheung Lai		(as Lai Yiu Cheung)
Samuel Pang
Suet-sum Tse	...	Master's Wife (as Xie Xue Xin)
Sunny Wong
Au Hin Wai		(as Au Hin Wai)
Chung Him Law		(as Law Chung Him)
Frank Michael Liu		(as Frank Liu)
Kung Chan		(as Chan Kung)

Also Known As:

Eye in the Sky (International: English title)
Surveillance (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

Germany:90 min (Berlin Film Festival)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | France:Unrated | Germany:12 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Sundream Motion Pictures

One of Milkyway's best movies

I'm finding that I like the Milkyway Image movies where Johnnie To is just a producer more than the ones where he is the director, though Breaking News was pretty good. Eye in the Sky starts off with Kate Tsui on a training mission to see if she is good enough to become a cop in a special surveillance unit. She has to study Simon Yam and be able to give every detail of what he did during the day. And just like every Milkyway movie I have seen, they connect a certain scene at the start of the movie with one that happens towards the end. So she gets the job, but just barely. Simon Yam thinks she has potential, so he decides to let her on the force. Tony Leung Ka Fei plays the leader of a gang of bank robbers. He sets everything up, and the rest of the guys do the roberies. So now of course this is where Kate Tsui and Simon Yam come in and try to catch him.

This is a pretty standard story, but well done. I enjoyed the movie a lot. Kate Tsui does a decent enough job in her role, Simon Yam is good just like he usually is, and Tony Leung gives a magnificent performance. I thought the last couple of scenes were kind of disappointing, but the scene towards the end with Tony Leung and Kate Tsui in the restauarant, and the scene where Simon Yam struggles to finish his joke makes up for it.

If you are looking for a good cop movie that has a couple of well done sudden violent moments, then there is a good chance you will like this. If you are looking for an action packed or highly stylized movie, look elsewhere.

And one more note. This movie is a tight 90 minutes (actually more like 85 if you don't include the beginning and opening credits), which is one of the many reasons why I liked it. And it doesn't feel like it should have been longer. Movies to me are just getting too long these days.