"The Mission" - questions

[pjshimmer]

Hi,

although I have watched hundreds of HK movies, few have been serious triad genre flicks, which means I am not completely sure how to "read" the genre; forgive me if my questions sound stupid. I finally saw "The Mission" (1999) which seems deceptively simple but I suspect that I missed some clues. Questions:

1. In many street scenes, there is a red taxi in the frame. Coincidence or not?

2. Specifically, who is the red taxi driver that gives Francis Ng a ride, when the others ditched him during their first shootout?

3. Help me grasp this scene: Eddy Ko and the bodyguards walk by a nervous janitor; Lam Suet gives him money; a few guys come out of the elevator to shoot Eddy Ko; the janitor saves Eddy Ko; Anthony Wong shoots a "friend"; everyone goes in the car to follow another car; the other car's driver goes to a warehouse and gets shot in the head.

4. What exactly happened in the end?

5. Any traitors or undercover cops?

[MrBooth]

3. The janitor is the guy that was meant to be guarding the boss in the restaurant at the start, but hid in the fridge. The boss forgives him (with money), and he sacrifices/redeems himself.

The other car's driver is one of the assassins - I can't remember why he gets shot... possibly because the other assassin knew he'd been followed.

4. They acted out the shooting because they were being watched. Why he falls off the chair is not clear - he shouldn't have had time to be "in on it", so it's possible he was just drunk and surprised.

5. No.

[pjshimmer]

Thanks.

still a bit confused about faking Jacky Lui's death. First, Lam Suet delivered a black gun to Anthony Wong, but Wong used a silver gun instead. I presume the black gun was configured to not kill Jacky Lui, so why did Anthony Wong not use it? Also, at the end Anthony Wong tossed a bullet to Lam Suet - What is that all about?

Also, just who (besides Anthony Wong) knew about the fake plan? I don't think Lam Suet knew; he wouldn't need to go bed Eddy Ko if he knew the plan. Not sure if Francis Ng, Jacky Lui, or Roy Cheung knew either.

[MrBooth]

Just Anthony Wong knew, because he switched the gun... I think :p

Need to watch the film again soon!

[Marky]

1. Considering that all taxis in Hong Kong are red (blue on Lantau and green in New Territories if I remember correctly) it might just be a coincidence. It's hard to walk along a street in Hong Kong and not see a red taxi.

I haven't seen the movie since it was first released on DVD though. I've been holding out for that remastered DVD that never appears.

[Zethzen]

3: I'll try to give you a rundown of the whole scene. It started with Anthony Wong being approached by one of his friends, who happened to be working for the "other side." He was trying to distract Wong's attention from Eddy Ko. The Janitor, as Mr. Booth said, was the bodygaurd who turned tail when the shooting started. As for the money though, I believe he was given this because earlier in the movie, the janitor/ex-bodyguard is interrogated with a plastic bag and almost killed, and as one characters says, "If he survives let him go, he doesn't know anything..." So the money was given to atone for the interrogation of the innocent man, who was not in on the first hit on the boss, but just wimped out. So, the ex-bodyguard turned janitor, to atone for wimping out before takes the bullets for Ko, his former boss who just showed him this kindness. Wong shoots his friend because he realizes it's a hit and he has been set up.

4. To my understanding, everyone was left in the dark for that. Meaning that no one knew anthony wong's plan, which was a risky move on his part (creating the tension in the scene) because if Francis Ng decided to try and save Jacky Lui it would be a bloodbath. He predicted that Ng would stand down and the plan would work. The reason that Anthony Wong tosses the bullet to Lam Suet is to show him that it is a rubber bullet, a bullet that did not kill Jacky Lui.

I don't really remember anything about the switching guns. That might just be continuity errors. It didn't seem like it mattered at the time.