Customer Reviews

Hit Team

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You won't believe your ears as HIT TEAM (Dante Lam's CHUNG CHONG GING CHAAT from 2001) unleashes a virtual film budget full of lead in this relatively formulaic cop thriller that still manages to pull some excitement from an already explored themes.

When one of their cop partners faces paralysis as the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time on an undercover mission, four friends band together -- three of them resigning in protest over the police dismissing the injured comrade -- in an attempt to come up with enough money for the necessary treatments and surgery. Their plan is simple: steal the money from the exact thugs involved in the undercover mission.

What they don't count on is the Hit Team, a special division of the police force dedicated to solving crime involving heavy artillery, of which the vengeful friends have plenty thanks to their fourth friend -- the one who stayed on the force happens to manage the police artillery.

Fast, frenetic, and fun, HIT TEAM owes a lot of its inspiration to John Woo, Walter Hill, and, quite possibly, Michael Mann (the film's climax has a set-up that is almost lifted out of Hill's 48 HOURS, and one of the film's major gun battle action sequences is strikingly reminiscent of Mann's work in HEAT). This is a film where the ending is predestined; the tension builds as the viewer tries to understand how the good guys are going to convince the police that what they're doing is serving not only their injured comrade but the greater good as well.

The transfer is quite good, with only a handful of grainy shots that probably were originally bad images. The sound is crisp, and you can enjoy every gun blast in the peace and quiet of your home. The subtitles are very good; if they have any failing, it is the common problem that some translations simply carry too much information in the flash of an eye -- I found myself reaching for the remote, rewinding, and rereading what was said a half-dozen times.

Those concerns aside, HIT TEAM definitely deserves to be a HIT!

Pyschological and action packed. I really enjoyed this Hong Kong movie. What do you do when being a cop is the only thing you know...but the you are betrayed by those you serve? This movie deals with the traumas of being a police officer. However the offical synopsis from the back of the cover states:

The police forece has established a special team: Hit Team, which composed of four young and brilliant policemen. They are well trained in using the heavy-armed equipment and each possesses unique special skill. In a mission, Hit Team has to confront a robbery group that is organized by three previous excellent policemen...

Despite this bad blurb...the english subtitles in the DVD are translated quite well. The story moves quickly and the action sequences are well orchestrated. Daniel Wu does a better job of acting here than he did in Gen-X Cops where he rarely spoke any Cantonese. Alex To is a cutie and surprisingly does a good job of acting. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone.

HIT TEAM
[Chong Zhuang Jing Cha]

(Hong Kong - 2001)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

Members of an elite police squad investigate a series of raids on an underground Triad bank, carried out by rogue officers to fund medical treatment for a colleague (Chin Kar-lok) who was injured in the line of duty.

Minor league crime drama, toplined by rising star Daniel Wu Yin-cho as the team leader torn between devotion to duty and compassion for his quarry's altruistic motives. Unfortunately, Wu is much too young for the role, and he allows himself to be upstaged by co-star Alex To Tak-wai (SKYLINE CRUISERS) as the wayward cop prepared to sacrifice everything for his beloved friend (veteran actor/director Chin).

Action specialist Dante Lam Chiu-yin (JIANG HU: THE TRIAD ZONE, THE TWINS EFFECT, etc.) overcomes the limitations of a meager budget to fashion a series of dynamic set-pieces, though he relies heavily on the combined efforts of cinematographer Tony Cheung Tung-leung and editor Chan Kei-hop to shape the material accordingly. Like so many HK movies before it, HIT TEAM is tinged with melancholy, as good men are forced to sublimate their law-abiding instincts for the greater good, regardless of the consequences, and the movie is strengthened considerably by this emotional undercurrent.

Welcome to the wonderful world of police soap opera. "Hit Team" is a fiery action flick masquerading as a deep man's man drama. After an undercover officer is ambushed and paralyzed, his trio of friends, led by Alex To, seek help from the police force and try to secure funds for his treatment. The department refuses assistance and they decide to take matters into their own hands, even if that means going after the underground bank that shot their friend and ignoring their own officer training. Fortunes turn with a raid gone wrong, and soon members of an elite weapons unit begin tailing them. Before long, the team leader, played by Daniel Wu, suspects an internal job and races to prevent the next hit.

This movie is a half-attempt to bring emotional complexity into the tried cops and robbers genre, making no secret that life is unfair and painted dull, foreboding shades of gray. No one wants to do the wrong thing but how does one do the right thing when society doesn't allow it? The ending makes the moral strikingly clear, and in turn, causes the melodrama to appear forced at times. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see some substance injected into an otherwise ordinary gun-fest flick.

Daniel Wu gives a fairly good performance, as far as Daniel Wu performances go. He plays his conflicted cop role and nothing more. In a subplot where his character suffocates under the overwhelming responsibility for his partner's death, he emits only pedestrian guilt. Of the two main characters, Alex To delivers the better performance and stretches the emotional boundaries of his character. His nuanced portrayal of the good-cop-turned-bad magnifies the blurred sense of right and wrong in this picture.