Often when a well established foreign director ventures into the international film market for the first time, there's bound to be a major difference and decline to how the director gets to work on movies abroad. Going way back to the 90s, this was obvious when the likes of John Woo (HARD TARGET), Ringo Lam (MAXIMUM RISK), Tsui Hark (DOUBLE TEAM), and Kirk Wong (THE BIG HIT) moved onto the international scene, and from there on they went downhill.

In Johnnie To's case, I feel VENGEANCE (which ends the revenge/brotherhood/love/honor tale started with THE MISSION and followed by EXILED) falls somewhere between that and the fact that he can still maintain his style and keep things as consistent as possible. But otherwise, this was the same case. The same visual style (cinematography, careful use of slow-motion, posing during acting and action scenes etc) is spot on alright but overall the feel (the pace, the acting, the dialogue) just makes the movie seem like another movie done by someone else because it's almost nothing like a Johnnie To movie. Being a Hong Kong/French co-production, I suspect the treatment was responsible by the French producers as it looks more foreign in flavor.

Despite this, I still really enjoyed the heck of the movie. Anthony Wong, Lam Suet, Gordon Lam, Simon Yam, and Johnnie To's regulars (Eddie Cheung and Berg Ng to name a few) all did what they always do brilliantly and they don't disappoint, as does To's technical department (music, cinematography, editing, art direction, action choreography... the usual greatness). And as for Johnny Hallyday (apparently a rock icon in France), he wasn't bad himself and fills the role to the best intentions with less or without any emphasis on conveying emotions to make the character come out more lively, which fits in Johnnie To's movie world anyway.