“Hitting
the mark on a number of levels,
Johnnie To’s Vengeance follows a
French restaurateur who is gradually
losing his memory but who has a score
to settle with the three hit-men who
wiped out his family and their brutal
employer...”
HAVING CROSSED A PROMINENT CHINESE GANGSTER, a Mr Thompson (Vincent Sze)
and his wife Irene (Sylvie Testud) are brutally shot down by three hit-men in
this slick thriller, Vengeance. But the couple's two children
witness the slaughter and are also killed.
Miraculously Irene survives but is critically ill in intensive care and
is unable to speak. So when her devastated father, Parisian restaurateur and
chef François Costello (Johnny Hallyday: The Man On The Train), arrives,
she gives him some vital clues by indicating words in a newspaper.
The hit-men, however, have made a big mistake. The grieving Costello is himself
a former hit-man and he vows that the killers and the man who ordered the hit
will pay for the violent attack on his family. But Costello is running on borrowed
time because he has a bullet that has lodged in his brain and is progressively
robbing him of his memory and he increasingly relies on Polaroids in order to
recognise faces.
Meanwhile, Triad crime lord George Fung (Simon Yam) has family problems of his
own. His beautiful wife (Gwendolyn Chen) is having an affair and he is out to
trap her and her lover. As the three hit-men Fung has hired carry out their
orders, Costello passes them in the hotel corridor and instantly recognises
them for what they are. Just the men to help him carry out his Vengeance.
But there is one problem. The men Costello has hired work for the Chinese gangster
who ordered the hit on his family and their own families could be at risk. Are
assassins Kwai (Anthony Wong), Chu (Lam Ka Tung) and Lok (Lam Suet) — all
three actors are To regulars — prepared to face the inevitable dreadful
repercussions if they go against the Triad law?
Nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes 2009, the slickly-executed Vengeance
is an absorbing, uplifting, poignant, emotional, tense and exciting revenge
thriller that also features: Siu-Fai Cheung as Wolf; Felix Wong as Python; Ting
Yip Ng as Crow; and Maggie Siu as Madam Wong. Intriguingly there is a touch
of normality with the appearance of the families of the killers, who see their
own terrible act of slaughter as all in a day's work.
Vengeance (Fuk sau) is filmed in Macau (China) and Hong Kong and
is Produced by Johnnie To, Michele Pétin, Peter Lam, Wai Ka-Fai, Laurent Pétin
and John Chong; Music is by Lo Tayu; Director of Photography is Cheng Siu Keung;
Screenplay is by Wai Fa Fai; Directed by Johnnie To. The film contains scenes
of violence with some blood and gore with one scene of sexual content and nudity.
• The English language debut from acclaimed
director Johnnie To (Election; Exiled), neo-noir Vengeance is
out to own on Blu-ray, courtesy of Optimum Releasing, on 28 June 2010. Running
Time: 109 Minutes | Cat No: OPTBD1730 | RRP: £24.99 | Extras: The Making Of
| Trailer.
"…the slickly-executed Vengeance is an absorbing, uplifting, poignant,
emotional, tense and exciting revenge thriller" —
Maggie Woods, MotorBar
“Hitting
the mark on a number of levels,