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IMDbPro

Breaking News

Original title: Dai si gin
  • 20042004
  • TV-14TV-14
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
Breaking News (2004)
ActionCrimeDrama
After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.After a disastrous failure to stop a robber gang, the police attempt to redeem themselves through a series of publicity stunts and shootouts.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
    • Johnnie To
    • Hing-Ka Chan
    • Tin-Shing Yip
  • Stars
    • Richie Jen
    • Kelly Chen
    • Nick Cheung
    • Johnnie To
    • Hing-Ka Chan
    • Tin-Shing Yip
  • Stars
    • Richie Jen
    • Kelly Chen
    • Nick Cheung
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 23User reviews
    • 62Critic reviews
    • 63Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos82

    Breaking News (2004)
    Breaking News (2004)
    Kelly Chen and Eddie Cheung in Breaking News (2004)
    Kelly Chen and Eddie Cheung in Breaking News (2004)
    Kelly Chen in Breaking News (2004)
    Breaking News (2004)
    Kelly Chen and Richie Jen in Breaking News (2004)
    Kelly Chen in Breaking News (2004)
    Richie Jen in Breaking News (2004)
    Nick Cheung in Breaking News (2004)
    Haifeng Ding in Breaking News (2004)
    Simon Yam in Breaking News (2004)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Richie Jen
    Richie Jen
    • Yuen
    Kelly Chen
    Kelly Chen
    • Rebecca Fong
    Nick Cheung
    Nick Cheung
    • Inspector Cheung
    Yong You
    • Chun
    • (as You Yong)
    Shiu Hung Hui
    Shiu Hung Hui
    • Hoi
    • (as Hui Siu Hung)
    Suet Lam
    Suet Lam
    • Yip
    • (as Lam Suet)
    Eddie Cheung
    Eddie Cheung
    • Eric Yeung
    • (as Cheung Siu Fai)
    Haifeng Ding
    • Long
    • (as Ding Hai Feng)
    Haitao Li
    • Chung
    • (as Li Hai Tao)
    Simon Yam
    Simon Yam
    • CK Wong
    Maggie Siu
    Maggie Siu
    • Grace Chow
    • (as Maggie Shiu)
    Moon-Yuen Cheung
    Moon-Yuen Cheung
    • TV reporter
    • (uncredited)
    Mo-Chan Chik
    • CID cop
    • (uncredited)
    Chi Keung Chow
    • Police officer
    • (uncredited)
    Alan Chung San Chui
    Alan Chung San Chui
    • Chun's target
    • (uncredited)
    Chung Wai Ho
    • Grace Chow's assistant
    • (uncredited)
    Han-Chou Ho
    • Target's bodyguard
    • (uncredited)
    Wai Leung Hung
    • Pedestrian at traffic light
    • (uncredited)
      • Johnnie To
      • Hing-Ka Chan
      • Tin-Shing Yip
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      When the Police Commissioner calls a meeting after the humiliating defeat of his police that was broadcast on television, he sits down in front of a large projection screen television that features a Microsoft Windows desktop. The Windows clock at the beginning of the scene displays the time of 10:55. Seconds later it reads 11:10, and by the end of this 2 minute scene, the clock reads 12:53.
    • Quotes

      Long: The most dangerous time is also the safest.

    • Connections
      Featured in Johnnie Got His Gun! (2010)

    User reviews23

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    Thrilling Cinematography, Editing and Mordant Wit of Very Urban Crime War
    "Breaking News (Dai si gein)" is one of the most urban crime thrillers I've ever seen, using the density and verticality of a modern city as an intense frame for the fast-paced action.

    Hong Kong here seems to have visually become like the futuristic cities with satellite cameras of "Blade Runner" and "Code 46," with almost all the action taking place with 360 degree views of narrow streets, crowded plazas, dark hallways and elevator shafts. There's a door-to-door attack in a corridor that throws down the now classic scene from "Oldboy" as so much balletic nonsense compared to this gritty but very beautiful realism, with cinematography by Siu-keung Cheng.

    Director Johnny To grabs our attention in the enthralling opening scene of a shoot-out on a Hong Kong street. With almost no dialog we can figure out that this is a stake-out going horribly wrong. While the scene dizzyingly must have been shot on a cherry-picker zooming up and down and around as if we are on on external elevator or hanging from windows with a zoom telephoto lens, the angles are always important as the camera swoops and narrows and broadens our view from shooter to victim to shooter to victim as we swivel to where the shots are heard. I felt like I was in the antenna of the aliens in "War of the Worlds." The visuals are always directly related to the sounds, as edited by David M. Richardson.

    Though I could only infer some of the internal politics within the police bureaucracy with the significance of some using English names and others traditional Chinese names amidst the various competing levels of authority, some of whom spoke stilted English, it was easy enough to pick up on the techie criminalist statistician vs. the on the ground street cop (a terrific Nick Cheung, who is like a thinking cop's Bruce Willis), let alone the difficulties a woman cop (Kelly Chen) has on the force. Her need to prove herself and her modern approach is a driving theme in the film and gives it considerable difference from a more conventional crime drama. She may be a neophyte at being in charge, but she is not an idiot.

    There are parallel old school/new school, gangsters vs. assassins with different rules and technology that get caught up in the siege though I wasn't sure of the details of all their intersecting plots. The criminals are considerably more charismatic than all the cops except "Inspector Cheung", and have a sense of humor during an amusing hostage taking.

    The instant, real-time new and old media attention in what is as much a door-to-door war between cops and criminals as in "Black Hawk Down" becomes part of their battle plans. It is as violent as a Paul Schrader or Martin Scorcese film, but has the mordant cynicism and humor of Billy Wilder, as the violence mocks the continued blandishments we see from the government officials about the falling crime rate.

    While script writers Hing-Ka Chan and Tin-Shing Yip may have intended the high tech PR-controlling official to be a satire like "Wag the Dog" in having controlling the press be an essential component of controlling crime, it is just a very small step beyond the NYC Police Department techniques innovated under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. So it's a running gag that a kid with access to the Web can outwit their media manipulations. Survival seems to be based more on the results of the battle for public opinion.

    I wasn't sure if the Hong Kong police force always looks like storm troopers or if the production design was making a political point. Clearly there was some point to the hostages being surrounded by commercial symbols of Western capitalism and culture.

    The music by Ben Cheung and Chi Wing Chung supports the tension very effectively, including electronica and traditional instrumentation.

    Unfortunately, the film as distributed in theaters in the U.S. had the worst subtitles I have ever seen. Not only are they filled with spelling and quizzical grammatical errors, as well as frequently white on white, they seem to have been translated using an antique English dictionary. The most egregious distraction is constantly calling these bloody murderers the charming appellation of "bandits" -- how about thugs or gangsters or criminals or crooks or bad asses, and so forth. Why didn't a native English speaker look over these subtitles? At least the credits were mostly bi-lingual.
    helpful•16
    3
    • noralee
    • Feb 14, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 10, 2004 (Hong Kong)
      • Hong Kong
      • Official Site (Chines, English) (Hong Kong)
      • Pathé (France)
      • Cantonese
      • Mandarin
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
    • Production companies
      • Media Asia Films
      • China Film Group Corporation (CFGC)
      • Milky Way Image Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 30 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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