Exiled (2006)

Hong Kong’s martial arts movie genre may be in serious decline yet the triad/crime genre is not only healthy, it’s providing serious competition on the world stage with festival programmers, distributors and Hollywood producers all scrambling for rights to screen, distribute and remake some of the territory’s most recent hits. For the past decade, Johnnie To has been one of the leading forces in this arena. Ever since 1998 with the release of A HERO NEVER DIES, To and his regular team at Milkyway Image Co. have been building on one success after another and EXILED, their latest to come to the U.S. is a fine example of their refining process that continually strives for perfection.

With Anthony Wong re-teaming with co-star Francis Ng in a story of five loyal triad brothers brought to the brink of civil war at the behest of a ruthless crime lord, EXILED is essentially a loose remake of To’s own popular 1999 film THE MISSION. Its worth going back to that film to see just how far To has come as a director. Taking a similar premise and most of the same actors, he has crafted a finely tuned gunplay saga where lush production design, a subtle yet apt score and sophisticated cinematography from longtime partner Cheng Siu-keung provides a dazzling tapestry that accentuates fine acting performances and a loose, pulsating story that could have come straight out of a Sergio Leone Western.

The year is 1998 and Macau is in the eleventh hour of regime change as China prepares to step in to assume control. Amid this uncertainty, internal conflict within the Triads is brewing. A member named Wo (Nick Cheung) is hoping to put his criminal past behind him and settle down with his wife (Josie Ho) and child. However, his involvement with an attempted assassination of Boss Fay (Simon Yam) has made him a marked man and two former associates, Blaze (Anthony Wong) and Fat (Lam Suet), turn up to take him out. Two more associates, Tai (Francis Ng) and Cat (Roy Cheung), are waiting to defend Wo with their lives.

This tense standoff kicks off a frantic pace that never lets up with additional hard-boiled confrontations and suspenseful buildups to multiple shootouts filmed with the poetic style of John Woo and the sophistication of Michael Mann. The gun battles are beautifully staged and tap into everything that makes Hong Kong cinema and one of its leading directors great. A major shootout in an apartment complex about midway through is absolutely brilliant in its set up and execution, especially when the running battle spills out onto the streets and the heroes struggle to rescue one of their own. The film’s bloody end battle is like a modern update to Chang Cheh’s classic ANONYMOUS HEROES although it may be best remembered for possessing one of the coolest product placements ever for Red Bull energy drinks.

What holds all the action together beyond a genuine desire to see what happens next are the characters and the players behind them. Part of the fun is getting to see a powerhouse ensemble of Hong Kong acting heavyweights completely in their element. Simon Yam has a relatively small role but completely dominates the screen when he menacingly strolls in to confront a quietly defiant Anthony Wong.

Francis Ng has always had a lot of potential that has gone to waste in small roles or lesser films like THE WHITE DRAGON. He’s starting to find his footing though and he’s looking and acting about as good as he ever has in EXILED. Nick Cheung and Ritchie Ren, both stars from To’s BREAKING NEWS, are perfectly cast. Ren’s character provides a completely unexpected element that spices up the second half of the film. I love interesting side characters that come out of no where late to flesh out a story or just add a measure of unpredictability.

As the only female with a substantial role, Josie Ho (THE TWINS EFFECT) definitely holds her own and makes me wonder if she could become the next Maggie Cheung. She has managed to navigate through potentially career crippling supporting roles in genre films like HOUSE OF FURY and MEN SUDDENLY IN BLACK 2. With a role in THE DRUMMER following EXILED, it’s nice to see one of Hong Kong’s more substantive actresses taking on meatier roles. Ho’s role sees her transform from an impotent victim to a potentially deadly vigilante and adds yet another random factor where her decisions could have a major impact on the course of the plot. The film smartly keeps the viewer guessing till the end.

Something Johnnie To and his team are getting really good at is wiping away the extraneous details that often weigh down a script and emphasizing emotions and moods at any given moment. EXILED is meticulously crafted in every scene but all the attention is drawn to experiencing the moment, when a hand slowly reaches for a gun and eyes take in the arrival of a new threat. It’s visceral and unpredictable, stylized yet meaningful. To is careful not to let his obvious skill with crafting attractive and technically challenging gun battles get out of control. What holds the viewer is the brotherhood, the bonds that tie five men together closer than love of money, women or loyalty to a crime boss. Like the heroic bloodshed films of Chang Cheh and John Woo that have come before, EXILED is a romantic depiction of the underworld that extols the virtues of brotherhood above all else. It is a theme that has appeared elsewhere but is always most prevalent in Hong Kong action cinema.

Combine a satisfying spaghetti Western with an equally satisfying Eastern gangster movie and you have EXILED in a nutshell. It’s Johnnie To, Hong Kong’s leading genre filmmaker today, doing what he does best and doing it very well. Audiences familiar with To’s past work or lots of other Hong Kong gangster films may sense a little déjà vu but that should be looked at as a good thing. There isn’t much in the way of innovation yet To has virtually mastered the modern crime genre after nearly a decade and he just keeps getting better at it.