Bullets over Summer
This is a film that is made up of some absolutely
terrific scenes some very tense, some very touching. To some degree it
is unfocused going off in many direction and yet much of the film is
very compelling in the way it touches a few lives in a humanistic
manner. Within the structure of a cop film, it manages to say something
about the need for community and sacrifice. Regrettably, the final scenes
feel very misplaced and damage what had been a very different kind of cop
movie.
The acting in the film is terrific all around
from the leads Francis Ng, Louis Koo, Helena Law Lan to the supporting
players and they all will very much make the viewer care about the outcome
of the film.
The first two scenes get the film off to an adrenaline
driven start. Two cops Ng and Koo have been tipped off that a convenience
store is being robbed. From the first moments, the different personalities
of the cops are put on display Ng is like a coiled spring intense and
focused while Koo is nearly the opposite relaxed and casual about everything.
But they are the very closest of friends. A female hostage is taken and
her blouse ripped open and Koo loses his concentration by staring at
her partially revealed bosom but then comments that they look phony which
distracts the bad guy just long enough for them to take him.
Next a really major league bad guy Dragon
robs a jewelry store and without a moments hesitation kills bunches of
bystanders and cops in a bloody shootout. Ng and Koo get another tip that
Dragon may show up at a certain apartment. So they are assigned to stake
it out and thus they commandeer the apartment across the street. The film
abruptly changes tracks here as it becomes practically a warm wonderful
family drama.
Helena Law Lan owns the apartment and she is
this kindly, but quite senile old lady. She soon forgets the two of them
are cops and thinks they are family and starts treating them that way.
And the boys become very fond of her and even get involved in the business
of the co-op! Add to this that both end up with little romances as Koo
courts the sister of their informant Mok Pui-lam and Ng falls for a
pregnant dry cleaner (Lam Mei-jing) who has been deserted by the father
of the baby. Ng who was brought up in an orphanage finally feels that he
is part of a family and there are some very warm understated scenes played
out.
Of course, Dragon does finally show up and the
film once again shifts gears dramatically. The director Wilson Yip (Bio-Zombie)
has a real knack for creating and maintaining a very tense scene. He slowly
unfolds them using freeze frame or slo-mo - increases the tension through
music and keeps quite an edge on them. Two scenes in the film are paced
perfectly.
In one Ng investigates the apartment across the
street while the fellow is out. He of course returns and Ng has to hide
on top of the metal sheeting roof of the balcony. The fellow suspects someone
has been there and listens carefully. Ng accidentally drops a coin and
it rolls and rolls for what seems forever towards where the fellow is standing
below. At the same time Helena starts waving to him, but the bad guy thinks
she is waving and talking to him. It is a brilliant scene.
Later an unthinking Helena invites Dragon and
his men to dinner and he accepts and the two cops immediately know
who he is, but cant do anything. If Dragon finds out during the meal that
they are cops, there will be a deadly shootout. This dinner scene plays
out slowly and every moment is fraught with tension.
Without going into detail, the ending is very
odd and confusing as the behavior of Ng and Koo go very much against their
character and I cant imagine how the director could have made such a mis-step
after having up until then directed a very personable, subtle and intriguing
film. Still this was a very good film and though all the actors are terrific,
the performance from Ng was absolutely outstanding and the smaller role
of the dry cleaner also was very well done. I hope to see more of Lam Mei-jing
in future films.
My rating for this film: 8.0