Vengeance
begins with a wonderful opening as a man comes home from work to greet his wife and two children, then is distracted
by a knock at the door.
As he approaches and looks through the front door peephole, he gets shotgunned in the face and chest. The door is then
kicked in and his wife gets shot, although she's not dead, according to what we see during the opening credits.
At that point, her father, restaurant owner Francis Costello (Johnny Hallyday, right), sets out to avenge the death
of her husband, hiring three hitmen, Lee (Anthony Wong, below-right), Chu (Ka Tung Lam) and "Fatty" (Suet Lam),
to find out who invaded his daughter's home and take them out. Costello has a few
problems of his own, such as earlier in life taking a bullet to the brain which is still lodged in there and causing
him to lose traces of his memory, so when he strikes a deal with the hitmen he wants to take photos of them to
remember who they are. It's not easy to find the right men, and he comes across them in a hotel corridor after they've
been sent to kill the adultress wife of their boss, George Fung (Simon Yam). And, without giving anything away of
what's to come, that's about it.
This is the first Johnnie To film I've ever seen, and while I understand he's made many an action film, this really
didn't work for me. The gunshot battles are way too arty for their own good and a bit too muddled in the placing of
all the characters on both sides. In one, at 65 minutes in, some baddies are coming after our hitmen down some stairs,
but a moment later, they're running along at ground level while our guys are working their way down the stairs.
Later on, they're back at a higher level again. Eh?
Inbetween these, there's long periods of nothing much going on and so I did find myself getting rather bored as it
progressed. However, shortly after meeting the hitmen and going to an outdoor space to test some weapons, it's funny
watching them take potshots at a bicycle and not only start it moving but also keeping it going.
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Blu-ray: 
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, there is nothing to complain about other than a couple of
hazy-looking moments that have dogged previous Optimum releases.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
